RSWC #140 Frank Tait

Riding Shotgun With Charlie
#140
Frank C Tait
NRA Board of Directors Candidate

You never know who you’re going to see when you’re roaming around SHOT Show. I ran into Frank C Tait in Las Vegas in January 2022 and we exchanged info. This year is the third year that he’s been running for the NRA Board of Directors (BOD). Hopefully this will be the year for him!

Frank and I met in Philadelphia and started the show at the Betsy Ross house, where we snagged a selfie. We headed toward the downtown area, near Independence Hall, then to Market Street and the Philadelphia City Hall, and towards the Museum of Art, where Rocky Balboa ran up the stairs. We drive around City Hall and I include a couple photos of the William Penn statue and how it can be seen from different angles.

Frank grew up in a home in Philly without firearms. His Uncle Tony, a veteran of the Spanish Civil War, took him shooting with his gun collection. At 18, he got a hunting license and bought his first firearms. For one of his jobs, he had to carry a firearm and got into PPC (Practical Pistol Competition). LIke many folks, he ended up taking time off due to career and family.

When a friend needed to get some family firearms, they got to talking and that led to Frank getting into IDPA and USPSA and other competitive shooting. Shooting led to volunteering and that led to becoming an RSO and instructing. One of the members of a local range was Walt Rauch. Mr Rauch was a famous instructor, author, and expert in firearms. Frank learned a lot from Walt. He became a firearm instructor teaching nearly all the NRA disciplines, eventually becoming a Training Counselor.

Frank was one of a group responsible for bringing the Appleseed Project outside of North Carolina. He learned the Appleseed rifle instructor method, which he thought was superior to the NRA’s rifle course in helping diagnose where students need help. He also started Revere’s Rider, which focuses on the events leading to April 19, 1775. They share some stories about the people who were involved with the Revolutionary War.

After years of a career in educational software technology and serving on boards for over 25 years, Frank has been working hard to get on the NRA BOD to make the changes he thinks the NRA needs. Frank lays out the changes that he believes will help the NRA BOD do what it needs to do. Things like making the board smaller so they can make decisions to get things done. Getting onto the board is difficult and often seems like a loyalty test to let things be the way they are. He also believes that the BOD needs to be looking to the future and seeing who is up and coming and who can take some leadership roles.

We cover much more about what he would like to see the NRA doing and how he likes the changes to look, act, and progress. He’s been working hard and finally made it to the ballot. Please “bullet vote” for Frank, which means only vote for him. If you vote for several people then his odds of getting onto the board decrease. The impression I got is that Frank is a big NRA fan despite what is going on with the current BOD. I think with someone like him, maybe a few more, they can make the NRA stronger for the future of our Second Amendment.


Favorite quotes:
“What helped me become a good instructor is having great mentors.”
“Marksmanship made a difference in founding our country.”
“Boards are supposed to be strategic and they spend all their time doing tactical stuff.”
“The way you fix this is you come clean and make it right.”
“There are things that the NRA does that are phenomenal.”


Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:36 Frank C Tait
03:55 First shots
05:08 Competitive Shooting
09:25 Teaching is great
110:33 Appleseed Project
11:55 Revere’s Riders
14:17 The Intolerable Act (where Amendments 1-5 come from)
15:55 Philly City Hall Square
17:08 Appleseed/NRA credentials
18:52 NRA TC & other disciplines
20:58 Other 2A groups
25:25 NRAAM 2019
28:57 Frank’s blog & NRA plans
32:47 BOD’s responsibility
35:32 Future talent
36:13 Risk management
40:02 Petitions
43:01 Education & training
48:20 FNRA
50:11 Wrap up



Frank’s Substack
https://taitnra.substack.com/

Appleseed Project
https://appleseedinfo.org/

Revere’s Riders
https://www.reveresriders.org/


Second Amendment Foundation
http://saf.org/

Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms
https://www.ccrkba.org/


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