Actor Tom Selleck Abruptly Steps Down From NRA Board After 13 Years

Actor Tom Selleck has been a long-time supporter of the National Rifle Association, and one of their most popular members. Selleck has even served on the board of the NRA for the past 13-years.

But The Trace announced today that Selleck has officially resigned his post on the 76-person board of the organization.

Selleck first became a member of the NRA when he was just 8-years-old, and has become revered among members over his many years in the gun group. He is their most well-known celebrity endorser, and received the highest number of votes in 2017 when he was re-elected to the board for a fifth three-year term.

The actor’s publicist, Annette Wolf, confirmed the news that he has stepped down from that esteemed role, effective immediately.

“He has nothing to do with policy. He’s never been active on the board or anything the NRA engages in. He’s almost always been a silent board member. Tom Selleck has stepped down from the board of the NRA due to his work schedule. Mr. Selleck remains a member of the NRA.”

She would not provide any further confirmation whatsoever on Selleck’s stance on the NRA’s “politics, policies, messaging, and mission.”

Tom Selleck has left the NRA board. He's come along way since he participated in the "I'm the NRA" campaign a month before the Columbine shooting. pic.twitter.com/9tgqdnEt1E

— States United (@SUPGVNetwork) September 18, 2018

Unnamed sources that the Trace claims are close to the NRA have confirmed that Selleck rarely appeared at board meetings, but that the popular actor was a good face to have attached to the organization, particularly when it came time for fundraising. Over the years, Selleck has donated plenty of movie memorabilia in the form of guns and rifles to the NRA, some of which is now housed in the gun group’s National Firearms Museum.

He was also the face of a 1999 ad with the message “Shooting teaches young people good things.” Just a month after it ran, both the NRA and Selleck were harshly criticized when two teenagers conducted a mass shooting at Columbine High School.

Selleck is regularly the main attraction at NRA events. In 2014, he was the “keynote speaker” at a Women’s Leadership Forum Luncheon, which included an auction. The actor had donated a number of items from his Magnum, P.I. collection to the auction, including a Rolex watch worn by Magnum that raked in a whopping $45,000 and a Colt 1911 prop gun which sold for $35,000.

Just last year, he spoke at the same annual function, this time sharing the bill with Kellyanne Conway, one of President Donald Trump’s top advisors.

The organization itself has not made any official statement regarding Selleck’s sudden departure.