Former president of Nebraska’s NRA-recognized organization withdraws from both groups

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - When Mike Nollett was 7 years old, he shot BB guns at prairie dogs on his family farm in the Nebraska Sandhills.

At age 19, he bought his first rifle. In 2003, he joined the NRA and eventually became president of Nebraska’s NRA-recognized association, called the Nebraska Marksmanship Association.

While the organization says they defer their lobbying and political efforts to the Nebraska Firearms Owners Association, to be a member of the NMA, you also have to be a member of the NRA.

“The notion that the NRA was there to defend the Second Amendment rights for firearms ownership… In a nutshell, you know, I thought that they were an advocate for that kind of public policy. And I thought, well, I should add my voice and support that organization,” said Nollett, who recently resigned from his lifetime membership.

Despite being a member of the NRA for nearly 20 years and still being an advocate for the Second Amendment, Nollett said he no longer wants to support or be associated with the NRA.

In January, he elected not to run for president of the NMA again; and a few weeks ago, he resigned his lifetime membership to the NRA altogether.

In a letter to the NRA, Mike Nollett said that the association is “fearful of an objective examination of the root causes of the gun violence which plagues the United States.”

While he admits he does not know the cause, Nollett said he believes the NRA needs to support efforts to figure it out.

“If mental health really is a cause of gun violence in the country, and I’m not sure it is, you would think that they would support politicians that would be also supportive of those efforts. But they don’t even seem to do that,” he said.

He also said he believes some form of gun control is necessary to address gun violence — something he and others call an “endemic problem” in the United States.

“It’s kind of like the old saying that ‘there’s no single raindrop [that] thinks it’s responsible for the flood. But everybody does its part.’ All I can do is that much,” he said.

6 News reached out to an NRA field representative for Nebraska, but he did not respond to requests for comment.

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Correction: Mike Nollett’s name was misspelled in a previous version of this story. 6 News regrets the error.

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