Ajit Pai won’t get his gun—FCC chair rejects NRA award after ethics review

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai will not take possession of the Kentucky handmade long gun that the National Rifle Association (NRA) tried to give him when he won the group's Charlton Heston Courage Under Fire award.

The NRA and American Conservative Union (ACU) announced the award when Pai appeared last week at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Pai thanked NRA board member Carolyn Meadows for the award during the ceremony and did not decline the honor at the time, but the gun that comes with the award wasn't presented on stage.

"As you know, once my staff became aware of what was happening, they asked backstage that the musket not be presented to me to ensure that this could be first discussed with and vetted by career ethics attorneys in the FCC's Office of General Counsel," Pai wrote in letters sent to the NRA and ACU yesterday, according to a Politico report.

Now, after receiving the advice of ethics attorneys, "I must respectfully decline the award," Pai also wrote. "I have also been advised by the FCC's career ethics attorneys that I would not be able to accept the award upon my departure from government service."

During the award ceremony, Meadows said the gun would be housed in the NRA's museum along with a plaque honoring Pai until he could accept the award. The Charlton Heston award is named for the late actor who was also a former president of the NRA.

Politico wrote that it received the text of Pai's letters to the NRA and ACU from an FCC source. We asked Pai's office for copies of the letters but haven't heard back yet.

Pai “saved the Internet”

The Charlton Heston Courage Under Fire award is presented "when someone has stood up under pressure with grace and dignity and principled discipline," Meadows said during the award ceremony.

"Ajit Pai, as you probably already know, saved the Internet," ACU Executive Director Dan Schneider told the audience when announcing the award. Pai "fought to preserve your free speech rights" by eliminating net neutrality rules approved during the Obama administration, Schneider said.

"As soon as President Trump came into office, President Trump asked Ajit Pai to liberate the Internet and give it back to you," Schneider said. "Ajit Pai is the most courageous, heroic person that I know."

Pai was criticized after the ceremony by Walter Shaub, who was director of the US Office of Government Ethics from 2013 to 2017.

"Anyone care to explain to me why the FCC thinks that the ethics rules allow Ajit Pai to accept the gift of an expensive handmade gun from the NRA, an entity whose interests he can affect (and has affected) by the performance of his official duties? Am I missing something?" Shaub wrote on Twitter last week.

Previous winners of the Charlton Heston award included Rush Limbaugh, Phyllis Schlafly, Vice President Mike Pence, Roy Innis, and Sheriff David Clarke.

FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly also raised ethics questions with his appearance at CPAC when he called for the re-election of President Donald Trump. Advocacy group American Oversight requested an investigation of O'Rielly, saying that he violated a rule against "engaging in partisan political activity while on duty."