By Tom Reynolds

Napoleon is credited with saying that he would rather fight allies than be an ally. During World War 2, General Eisenhower would probably have heartily agreed with that sentiment as he tried to balance Patton, Montgomery, Churchill and DeGaulle. During twenty nine years as a corporate executive, I saw numerous instances of this, so it should not have surprised me - but it did - to discover the conflict between SCOPE and the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, two organizations sharing the same goal of protecting the Second Amendment. 

Immediately before being elected SCOPE's President in July, I was asked several times what I would do about the divisive relationship between SCOPE and NYSRPA. Privately, I was later told by one former officer that there was zero chance of reconciliation and, frankly, I believe there were those that did not want to see reconciliation. But it was evident that the majority of SCOPE' s board did want to see NYSRPA and SCOPE work together and it was evident to me that we should not be fighting each other. As I often expressed during my career about internal struggles, the enemy is not others in the same organization. SCOPE and NYSRPA should have been criticizing the Cuomos, Clintons and Obamas of the world, not each other. 

Soon after the July meeting, some SCOPE members and a NYSRPA member arranged a meeting between Tom King, the CEO of NYSRPA. and me. A few others from both organizations were also present. Contrary to what some believe, this was the very first time that Tom King and I spoke to each other. Given the history between the two organizations, the meeting was kept very confidential. It is fair to say that everyone in the room approached the meeting with caution. Not cautious optimism, but just caution. 

Over the course of several hours, we agreed that we could not change the past but it was in everyone's interest to move forward along parallel paths. (This was easy for me since I had no history in this but it took a lot of self-discipline and commitment for others who had endured the past few years.) We knew we may not be able to work together on everything but we could and should be moving along parallel paths in pursuit of our mutual goal, the defense of the Second Amendment. If the opportunity arose to work together, we would do it but we were and would continue to be two separate organizations that share a mutual goal. We would keep each other informed so that we stayed on those parallel paths and we also agreed that there might be times when we agree to disagree, but not to do it publicly. 

When I looked around the room at the beginning of the meeting, some of the body language was not encouraging and there were soon a few tough words exchanged. But by the end of the meeting, people were telling jokes and swapping stories. We agreed that Tom King and I would continue our discussions and begin to take "baby steps" together. Very importantly, we recognized that someone from our organizations would probably unilaterally break the truce and if that happened that Tom King and I would talk to each other and work things out rather than immediately blasting the other. We also agreed to keep this confidential for the time being as we had no idea where it would lead. This confidentiality became very difficult for me, as I will explain. 

Shortly after the meeting, I saw a draft of the Firing Lines which contained an article criticizing NYSRPA. My heart sank. Somehow, I had to quietly kill it without telling anyone about what had already occurred. Thankfully, Ralph Esposito, who handles Firing Lines, foresaw that the article would kill any possible future reconciliation and he pulled it. 

Then a public test occurred when an email was broadly distributed that criticized Tom King. I quickly got hold of Tom and it was obvious he was not pleased - and he had every right not be pleased. But I explained this was one rogue letter writer and not reflective of SCOPE. He graciously held off on any return fire and I viewed this as the first real test of our relationship - and it had survived. Without knowing what was happening behind the scenes, several SCOPE members publicly condemned the email which further negated any need for Tom King to respond. A real negative had a positive result. 

There were smaller issues that were quickly resolved and some quiet cooperative interactions. King and I stayed in contact, discussed issues and shared our thinking on state and national politics and ideas for the future. In late October, a group of us again met face to face and Tom King and I recently had a post-election meeting in Albany. We have been very open in our discussions and I am more than encouraged by the possibilities. 

I was most surprised that we were able to keep this effort confidential until October when Tom King spoke at a SCOPE meeting in Canandaigua; I fully expected leaks before then. When news of the Canandaigua meeting was announced, I was free for the first time to discuss the ·details of what had happened at SCOPE's October board meeting. I was pleased that the board unanimously voted to encourage our actions and to condemn any attempts to sabotage our efforts. Just before the election, SCOPE and NYSRPA issued a mutual press release about the election which probably raised some eyebrows to see it signed by Tom and me. 

SCOPE and NYSRPA continue to explore ways that the defense of the Second Amendment can be strengthened through our mutual efforts. There are some who still remember the bad old days but they are a shrinking minority. As I wrote earlier, we are two separate organizations who want to take advantage of the strengths that a united front brings to defense of the Second Amendment. The gun grabbers who were exulting in the divisions between our organizations have reason to fear what we can accomplish together. The energy formerly wasted can now be directed where it belongs.