In Memoriam: Second Amendment Champion Allan Cors, 1936-2026

The Second Amendment lost one of its most ardent, longest-serving defenders on August 9 when past NRA President Allan D. Cors died.  He was a lifelong shooter, a dedicated collector, an avid hunter, and, perhaps above all, a great advocate for freedom.  He helped spearhead the modern pro-Second Amendment movement, and his passing will be deeply felt by NRA and the broader Second Amendment community.

While Mr. Cors did not have the same level of national and worldwide celebrity as Charlton Heston, another past NRA President, his contributions were no less substantial.

Before he became a fixture with NRA, Allan Cors was an attorney working for the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1960s.  His work as a minority counsel helped derail many of the most egregious assaults on the Second Amendment when anti-gun lawmakers used the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy to ram through Congress the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA).

While the GCA ushered in many problems we still deal with today, the efforts of Allan Cors and others prevented the most Draconian proposals, including licensing and registration requirements, from reaching Lyndon B. Johnson’s desk in the final bill. LBJ’s undisguised disappointment in the final product was a testament to these pro-gun efforts. He wouldn’t be the last anti-gun politician left bitterly chagrined by Allan Cors’s determination to block restrictions on Second Amendment rights.

Mr. Cors became an NRA Director in 1972, and he was one of the primary champions for the creation of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) in 1975.  For more than half a century, Allan Cors was committed to working on the NRA Board, chaired or served on numerous committees, and led NRA as President from 2015-2017.

Longtime 2A writer and former NRA-ILA employee James O. E. Norell gave a more detailed account of the contributions made by Allan Cors to the pro-gun movement when he was elected NRA President. Particularly during this era of heady progress for our cause, it is worthwhile reading to appreciate how far we have come and the giants who came before us.

“I had the pleasure of getting to know and working with past NRA President Allan Cors during his term of office early in my career at the National Rifle Association of America,” said NRA Executive Vice President and CEO Doug Hamlin. “Allan was a dashing figure who was articulate and well-spoken, a good listener, and highly informed and educated on Second Amendment issues. He was an enthusiast, collector, shooter, and hunter—but mostly, he was a patriot. He loved this country, he loved his family, and he loved the National Rifle Association of America. My thoughts and prayers go out to Allan’s family and friends. This is a huge loss for the extended NRA family.”