At the N.R.A., a Battle Between the Old Guard and the New

The National Rifle Association’s new chief executive, Doug Hamlin, was elected only in mid-May, but he is already confronting a monumental obstacle.

The threat does not come from a gun control group or any pending left-wing legislation. Rather, one of his biggest challenges is the president of the N.R.A.’s board, former Representative Bob Barr of Georgia, who was also elected in May.

Dissent between the two surfaced during a trial this month in Manhattan, in which the N.R.A. was trying to persuade a New York judge not to appoint a monitor to oversee the embattled gun rights organization and its finances.

But the association’s top two leaders have not put forward a unified front, underscoring the management disarray that persists after more than a half decade of corruption scandals and leadership turmoil.

The N.R.A. was founded as a nonprofit in New York more than 150 years ago, giving the state special authority over the group; Letitia James, the state attorney general, sued in 2020 amid headlines about lavish spending by Wayne LaPierre, the group’s former longtime leader, and other top executives.

Revenue and membership plummeted, and the N.R.A.’s role as a political powerhouse in the Republican Party has greatly diminished.