The NRA awarded more than $7.3 million in grants to U.S. schools and youth programs from 2010 to 2016. While that number has shocked countless citizens, local residents were more surprised to find out Pleasant Valley High School accepted a portion of that total in 2015.
Before becoming the PVCSD Board President, Chris Cournoyer applied for the “Friends of the NRA” grant with the assistance of other parent volunteers. The grant provided the newly instated Pleasant Valley trap team with $14,851 worth of shooting sport supplies. The purpose of the General Grant is to “request funding to be used for equipment, supplies, and competition/marksmanship items for the program.” PV used this money to purchase three firearms, three range boxes, 10 shotgun cleaners, 10 shotgun cleaning kits, 40 shell pouches and 125 boxes of ammunition. The supplies helped to start-up the trap team and gave members in financial need the necessary supplies to participate.
“The grant benefited the program by allowing students who didn’t necessarily own their own equipment the opportunity to learn about the sport, as well as provide firearms, ammunition and cleaning supplies that were essential to practice and training,” commented D’Anne Kroemer, PVHS athletic director.
Aside from the acceptance of money from the NRA, the verbiage on the application itself has raised some eyebrows. The application process requires programs to answer numerous questions regarding the purpose of the group, its financial need, and the community’s benefit. Cournoyer, representing PV’s trap team, wrote of the benefits such a team would provide to the community and the school.
“It has been shown that kids that are involved in at least one extra-curricular activity are more likely to stay in school, have fewer absences and have better grades. This club reaches a group of students that wouldn’t necessarily be interested in sports like basketball and football.” That section concluded, however, with a statement that does carry political bias. She wrote, “We also help to advocate for the 2nd amendment through responsible gun ownership by law abiding citizens, thereby increasing the number of supporters for pro-gun legislation.”
Clearly stated in school district policy, “Pleasant Valley will not be an advocate for a political agenda.” The grant application, submitted under the Pleasant Valley School District, contradicts this policy. When revisiting the document, Mike Zimmer, principal, recalls learning from Cournoyer that the statement was included to help ensure the grant was received, as increasing supporters of pro-gun legislation is one of the NRA’s agendas. He acknowledged the statement’s wrongful placement in the application, saying “That is not even allowed.” Cournoyer recently reviewed the application she submitted some three years ago and cannot recall why the statement was included. “We wrote it in [the application], but looking back at it now, that was not an appropriate place to put that. That shouldn’t have been in there,” she said.
The “Friends of the NRA” grant also requests that applicants list ways their program will recognize the NRA foundation. PV’s grant application promised to place the NRA logo on the team’s website and Facebook page, on their 2014-2015 team banner and team poster, through a press release to local media and through “continued support and membership in the NRA by our adult coaches and volunteers.”
Cournoyer believes the best reason to be a member of the NRA is for the education and training it provides. She said, “There’s a faction of the NRA that has gotten extremely political and that is disappointing to me.”
The focus of these grants, according to the NRA foundation, is to “educate individuals with respect to firearms, firearms history, participation in the shooting sports, hunting safety, and marksmanship.” Schools apply for said grants to fund programs that relate to shooting sports or guns. “It’s an easy sort of money for some of these programs that schools say are really underfunded. That is why a lot of these schools say they’ve been glad to accept the money in the past,” said Collin Brinkley, the AP reporter conducting the investigation into NRA public funding.
In response to the recent events in Parkland, Fla., businesses and schools across the country have been cutting ties with the NRA. Nevertheless, Cournoyer doesn’t see the need to cut such ties. She stated earlier in the week, “There is nothing at this point that would take [accepting another grant] off the table.”
Despite the application’s wording, both Cournoyer and Zimmer agree that the trap team and its coaches are non-political and focus solely on their sport.
Cathy Bolkcom • Mar 24, 2018 at 12:28 pm
Thank you, Ms. Williams , for your research and reporting on this important issue. As a parent of former PV students, this issue here is not gun safety or whether anyone has a right to own a gun or be engaged in shooting. The issue is the use of money provided by an organization with a clear political agenda, one which PV Board President Cournoyer actually addressed directly in the grant application : to advance the pro-gun lobby, to get PV volunteers and staff to join the NRA and to promote the NRA’s view of the 2nd Amendment. Virtually all students drive; not all students choose to be involved with guns. Given the terrible problems we are currently facing in this country as a result of gun violence in schools and elsewhere, the NRA’s positions on responsible gun legislation are very much a partisan political issue. The NRA is a politically partisan group which lobbies for its positions — positions that most people in this country do not support. Reasonable legislation to keep our children safe from people buying and carrying semi-automatic weapons is supported by the majority of people in Iowa and across the country . Asking for money from the NRA and promising them that our PV School District supports the NRA, will encourage new memberships and, in the words of the grant application, “….. to advocate for the 2nd amendment through responsible gun ownership by law abiding citizens, thereby increasing the number of supporters for pro-gun legislation” displays a political bias that is totally inappropriate for our public school.
Charles S Collins • Mar 27, 2018 at 9:20 am
I agree with Ms. Bolkcom. Furthermore I would suggest that PVHS, as a recipient of an NRA grant, launch a serious study of gun-related violence in America and how NRA policies should be reformed in order to mitigate such violence. PV students should be encouraged to join their fellow students nationally to confront the NRA and support a more responsible interpretation of the 2nd Amendment. NRA members themselves are in a position to confront NRA leadership and effect change in NRA policies. They uniquely hold power within the NRA.
Joshua Wendell • Mar 23, 2018 at 6:42 pm
Since when is showing support for a Constitutional Amendment, like the one that protects the right to print this article political?? As an NRA member and an NRA instructor as well as a PV parent, I do not see the problem with accepting the grant or the language used to do so. If not for the grant would the program even exist? An excerpt from the article even says :
The focus of these grants, according to the NRA foundation, is to “educate individuals with respect to firearms, firearms history, participation in the shooting sports, hunting safety, and marksmanship.” Schools apply for said grants to fund programs that relate to shooting sports or guns. “It’s an easy sort of money for some of these programs that schools say are really underfunded. That is why a lot of these schools say they’ve been glad to accept the money in the past,” said Collin Brinkley, the AP reporter conducting the investigation into NRA public funding.
The pressure on organizations to cut ties with the NRA is coming from groups like the media that have engaged in dominating false information about not only the NRA but firearms as well.
I would support the school applying for another grant if needed. As mine and 5 million other NRA members support its mission to protect and advocate for the protection of our rights guaranteed in n the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. And as a NRA certified firearms instructor the mission to train people to safely and responsibly use and handle firearms.
Our children must learn to drive through training because operating a two ton machine at speed is dangerous and carries great responsibility. But in like driving owning a firearm is a right not a privilege, it to is dangerous with out training on safe and responsible handling and use.
No one blames AAA for teens killed in car accidents, or cellphone makers or wireless carriers because of texting while driving causing those accidents. So to all reading this article do not just take what you are hearing as gospel talk to someone that knows about firearms or the NRA, before condemning this grant or the school for this connection to the organization.
Maureen Moeller • Mar 24, 2018 at 11:12 am
I see the PV community has caught NRA fever. The president of the board is so disappointed that a “faction of the NRA has gotten political”. Come on, let’s call a spade a spade. The board president has a political agenda with the most political entity in this country. Funny how the NRA demands their logo on the “equipment” and loyalty to its foundation. Way to go PV. Tarnishing your reputation in exchange for guns.