GRIFTERS? IL Firearms Association blankets state with duplicate fundraising mailings

Many Guns Save Life members and plenty of other gun owners in Illinois received their third mailing from the so-called “Illinois Firearms Association” in March.  The IFA (not to be confused with the Illinois Freedom Alliance!) is a product of the Dorr Brothers, a bunch of yahoos who seem more interested in grandstanding and self-dealing than your gun rights.

Mention their names in polite circles and you get rolled eyes, sighs and head shaking.

Tipped off by our earlier coverage (1 2 3) of this new group’s splash onto the scene in Illinois, one of our GSL family kept the mailings.  He provided all three to us, one each from January, February and March according to the postmarks.  The last two of which remained sealed.

When we opened them, and to our great surprise at first glance, we found them all exactly the same.

Here’s more about these guys from our earlier piece:

When you hear about the Dorr Brothers, please don’t think “scam artists.”  Don’t think “grifters.”  Whatever you do, don’t think “crooks.”

Yes, the Dorr Brothers have arrived in Illinois.  They’ve blanketed the state with fundraising mailers for the “Illinois Firearms Association.”

They have big plans for our state to turn things around for gun owners in the Land of Lincoln.  And they’re going to do it with a rental mailbox at a UPS store in Peoria, IL, a Facebook page and a (burner?) cell phone answered by a guy living in Georgia.   [UPDATE:  They were too cheap to buy a [burner?] phone that would accept text messages!]…

Oh wait!  The Illinois Firearms Association is mounting a MASSIVE grassroots program to flood the legislature with calls, emails and signed petitions.  Well, thank goodness.  Why didn’t we think of that?  Because those work so well in a state where a supermajority of the General Assembly support gun control to one degree or another!

Targeted digital ads?  I’m sure those won’t solicit for additional donations while playing Chicken Little “the sky is falling”!

A powerful texting program?  Because we all don’t get enough spam texts and robocalls already.  With “donate now!” tags, I’m sure.

The biggest direct mail and email program possible!  With letters that look just like this one, no doubt!

Radio and TV ads!  Oh, there’s a new one.  First, does anyone still listen to radio or watch broadcast TV?  Secondly, when was the last time that worked short of multi-million dollar ad buys?…

It’s a familiar template they’ve used in other states.  Like Florida.  And maybe Tennessee too…

Who are the Dorr Brothers and how do I know they’re affiliated with this endeavor?  While poking around into the pedigree of this gun rights organization I’d never heard of soliciting money in the Land of Lincoln, I came across a telephone number on their website.  217.535.9145.  So I called it.

I had the honor and privilege of speaking for 9 minutes and 54 seconds with none other than Alex Dorr.  He sounded like a very smooth-talking professional salesman.  If you didn’t know any better you would be impressed by his rap.  Unfortunately for him, I knew better, and when I pushed back, he denied, deflected and/or squirmed.

Alex reportedly lives in Georgia.  Here’s his bio:

Alex Dorr fights like hell to advance gun rights in State Capitols throughout the South and in D.C.

Living in Georgia, he now handles the day-to-day operations and legislative lobbying for Georgia Gun Owners, but still makes time to chase David Hogg out of hearings in Washington, D.C.

While most gun owners are avid game hunters for trophies, Alex prefers hunting for political careers at election time…

Sure you do, Alex.

Back to our conversation.  I pressed him on a couple of points.  When I asked him about the Illinois Firearms Association’s claim of fighting the AR-15 ban in court, Alex eventually admitted they weren’t in court.

And they didn’t have a lawsuit.

They did sit and watch a hearing last July in Chicago in the Barnett suit.  I guess to them that’s how they challenge the AR-15 ban in court.  By watching from the gallery.

Hardcore, I know.

But wait!  The Barnett case was filed in the Southern District of Illinois Court in East St. Louis, not in Chicago.  Yes, there was a hearing on the appeal held at the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago at the end of June.  Maybe Alex just got his month wrong.  Maybe he’s a big, fat liar.  We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.

After I pressed him about three times he admitted that the American Firearm Association filed an amicus brief (which really was submitted June 22, 2023).    Helpful hint: the fry cook at your favorite McDonalds could file an amicus brief if he hires an attorney to enter it.

What else?  Alex Dorr the non-scam artist registered lobbyist in Georgia complained a lot about Republicans – squishy RINOs – didn’t stand up to fight for gun owners in Springfield.  I asked him to give me specific names and he wouldn’t.  Then I asked for ways they could do so but aren’t, especially as they’re the super-minority party.  “Just what are they supposed to do?”

“Well, they’re not calling bills.”

“Really Alex?  The Democrat leadership controls which bills get called for votes.  They control which committees bills are sent to before that.”

“No, no.  Any two legislators can call for a floor vote on any bill using a procedural motion,” he says.  “That’s fighting back.”

Laughing at his ignorant remark delivered with such authority, I said, “I’m not sure what state you’re from, but that’s not how it works in the Illinois General Assembly.”

Turns out it looks like he lives in Georgia.  My aunt lives in Georgia.  That’s a LONG drive.

Of course, he was repeatedly asking me to join their organization after each time he gave me an answer.

Asked to give me some examples of victories the Illinois Firearms Association’s parent organization has, he said “sure.”  He told me how his organization – the American Firearms Association – is responsible for passing Constitutional Carry in Ohio, Iowa, Georgia, Missouri and a couple of other states.  I’m sorry.  I couldn’t write fast enough to keep up, in part because I was laughing so hard.

And then he called me, John Boch, a FUDD.  Right-o.

Then Alex hung up.

Let me formally introduce you to the Dorr Brothers.  From the Daily Beast:

The ‘Scam Artist’ Brothers Tearing the Gun Movement Apart

by Brian Freskos & Alain Stephens

Updated Jun. 23, 2020 9:39AM EDT / Published Jun. 23, 2020 3:49AM EDT 

Matt Windschitl had one more chance to address colleagues in the Iowa House of Representatives before they voted on his pro-gun bill, the culmination of a years-long effort to produce what one supporter hailed as “the most monumental and sweeping piece of gun legislation in Iowa’s history.” The veteran Republican lawmaker walked up to the chamber podium—and unleashed a counterattack against an unlikely foe.

 

So if you watched that video, does it sound like the American Firearm Association or the Iowa Gun Owners was responsible, or could have been responsible, for passing Constitutional Carry in Iowa?

Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s a rock-hard NO!

It was April 2017, and for years Windschitl had found himself absorbing broadsides from a man named Aaron Dorr, a far-right provocateur who led a gun rights advocacy organization called Iowa Gun Owners. Dorr had recently taken to Facebook to accuse Windschitl of brokering backroom deals to appease anti-gun forces in the state Capitol, saying the lawmaker was “far more concerned about making sure his hair is just perfectly taken care of” than fighting for gun rights.

Standing stern-faced at the microphone, Windschitl denounced the professed activist as a hype man focused on ginning up donations for his group. Dorr promoted himself as the leader of Iowa’s only “no compromise gun lobby,” but Windschitl pointed out that Dorr was not even registered as a lobbyist. When Windschitl asked whether anyone in the chamber had spoken to Dorr about the omnibus gun bill, no one raised a hand.

“If you’re sending this guy money, I’m asking you to stop… It is time for his scam to end,” Windschitl said. “You need and you deserve the truth: Aaron Dorr is a scam artist, a liar, and he is doing Iowans no services and no favors.”

Dorr received an avalanche of criticism in the months and years that followed as he and two of his younger brothers—Chris and Ben—applied their brand of far-right activism to contentious political issues. The brothers, who were raised in Iowa, are part of a circle of far-right activists who manage more than a dozen nonprofits spread around the country, from Wyoming and Wisconsin to North Carolina and Georgia. They have built a massive grassroots fundraising machine that churns out a steady stream of messages beseeching donations to snuff out gun control, abortion rights, and other sources of conservative outrage.

And now they’ve come to Illinois.  They registered the Illinois Firearms Association on October 23, 2023.  They registered their Facebook page on or about January 11, 2024…  yeah, like less than two weeks ago.

More from the Beast:

At the center of the Dorrs’ efforts is the brothers’ own for-profit consulting firm, which has received huge sums of money from their tax-exempt organizations, fueling allegations that the brothers are deceiving their supporters.

“What they’re doing is raising a lot of money by setting up nonprofits and latching onto various conservative, hot-button issues,” said Scott Hubay, an Ohio attorney who specializes in nonprofit compliance and examined findings compiled by The Trace and The Daily Beast. “But instead of spending that money on what they told the public their purpose was, they appear to be using it to enrich themselves.”

Follow the $$$.

The Dorrs’ affiliated outfits have hauled in millions of dollars over the years, tax returns show. But successes on the fundraising front are belied by waning political clout, as the brothers’ tactics draw increasing fire from across the ideological spectrum. Their enemies denounce them as parasitic gadflies bent on using the latest political zeitgeist and alarmist rhetoric to line their own pockets, sometimes at the expense of causes they claim to support. Some of the biggest criticisms have emanated from the pro-gun community, including the National Rifle Association, which accused Aaron and Chris Dorr of being scam artists…

Is the Illinois Firearms Association little brother Alex’s foray into grifting?

Casting themselves as the “most powerful” counterweight to “jelly-spined Republican politicians” and “anti-gun socialists,” the Dorrs have seized the moment to hone their image as the uncompromising wing of gun rights advocacy.

Affirmative.  I got that “we’re the powerful force who can go after those jelly-spined Republicans” who won’t fight back in Springfield from Alex Dorr in the phone call.

The story over at the Daily Beast (and they got it from The Trace, which pretends to be a news outlet), and the story is 4,030 words long… grueling long.  You can read it all if you want, but I think you have the idea.

They also acknowledged the FBI investigating Chris Dorr for threats against Congress.

More here.

Buckeye Firearms in Ohio has more here.

I spoke with one of the main players in Ohio after my phone call with Alex.  It was a treasure trove of information.

The Dorr Brothers were not responsible for Constitutional Carry in Ohio.  In fact, they (and their fly-by-night Ohio state organization) were described as an impediment.

How so?  They worked hard to blow up a proposed Constitutional Carry bill because it didn’t strip private property owners of the right to ban carry on their property.

“We just wanted to make it easier for more people to carry in more places,” one of the people really responsible for passage of Constitutional Carry told me.  “They tried to scuttle that because it wasn’t ‘perfect.’”

So the Dorr “no compromise” peeps prefer a concealed carry license system to constitutional carry because it’s not perfect enough for them?  That doesn’t seem real smart.  Poor English intentional.

How bad was it?  The Dorrs (Chris or Aaron, IIRC) published the list of legislative leaders, with their photos and personal CELL phone numbers, urging their supporters to castigate them for their support of a “less than perfect” constitutional carry bill.

“They just complain,” another person told me.

“Did you hear about the wardrobe changes?” one person asked me.  Seems that the Dorrs liked filming “update” videos and would change shirts to cut another video to make it appear that they were there multiple days.  People saw their guy on camera changing shirts between shots.  He didn’t even bother going to the bathroom apparently.

And then there was the grandstanding at a committee hearing where one of the Dorr clan shouted at the committee chairman, then sat down and put his feet on the banister.  The committee chairman threatened Mr. Big Mouth with contempt and forcible removal.  Nothing like winning friends and influencing people.

There’s more, but you get the idea.  This post is already 2000 words so I’ll quit here and leave folks with this…

If you want to support the Dorr Brothers personal lives and those of their buddies in their well-oiled non-scam and non-grift machine that does what some would say is between little to nothing and outright alienation of our allies, then give generously when you get their fundraising mailings.  You’ll be supporting future mailings to yourself and others as they try to pump well-meaning but lower-information gun owners of hard-earned cash.

And they’ll be calling the people and groups who really get results FUDDs, because when you don’t have any arguments, ad hominem attacks are all scoundrels have.

We have the perfect use for Illinois Firearms Association and its fundraising mailings.