Nicole Gaudiano

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Days before the November election, Donald Trump announced the formation of a coalition of gun enthusiasts to advise him on Second Amendment issues. And he hasn't mentioned them since.

The coalition hasn't formally convened, and it's unclear when, or whether, that will happen.

"I suspect there’s more things on the president’s plate of higher urgency," said coalition co-chairman Michael Kassnar, an executive with IWI US, a subsidiary of an Israeli small arms manufacturer. "We're as interested as you are in what role we're going to be able to play."

The White House now says the group is a “campaign coalition.” But a handful of co-chairs said they expect — or at least hope — to play some role in advising the White House.

Co-chairman John Boch believes Donald Trump Jr., an avid outdoorsman, will serve as a conduit between the advisory group and the White House. He and National Rifle Association lobbyist Chris Cox were tapped to lead the group.

“As it was explained to me, this whole thing is about providing policy and legislative recommendations for the new administration through Donald Trump Jr.,” said Boch, executive director of the non-profit Guns Save Life Inc.

Co-chairs' personal goals for the administration vary. But several interviewed said the Trump administration should pursue legislation to nationalize concealed carry permits, a top priority for gun advocates that Trump has said he supports. Another priority is legislation to make it easier to buy firearms suppressors, or silencers. While critics say that’s dangerous, Trump Jr. has said, “It’s about safety and it’s about hearing protection.”

Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., one of the group's co-chairs, said he isn’t sure how Trump Jr. and Cox will lead the group. But he knows how he plans to use it. He wants the group's help to push his legislation to set deadlines for action on appeals when gun buyers' purchases are denied.

“I’m going to try to get every single person on the coalition, and I’m going to ask the chairs — as the coalition — to support what it is we’re advocating for, because that’s only going to help me,” he said. "The best of all worlds would be that I get either Donald Trump Jr. or Chris Cox to say the coalition ... actually supports the bill that I’m promoting."

Trump was still a candidate when he announced the coalition on Nov, 3, identifying Cox and his son as chairmen and 62 others as co-chairs. The announcement said those leaders would continue to advise Trump and then-governor Mike Pence “as they protect our Supreme Court and our right to keep and bear arms.”

But the White House has not launched the coalition in an official government capacity and it referred queries to a Trump campaign official, who did not respond to emails.

“We have no additional announcements to make at this time,” wrote Kelly Love, a White House spokeswoman, in an email.

An interview with Cox, though promised by a spokeswoman, never materialized after repeated queries. NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker lauded Trump’s efforts on gun issues in a statement and wrote that Cox, as coalition chairman, “looks forward to working with President Trump to expand and protect our constitutional freedom of self defense."

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There are legal implications for the group’s status and Donald Trump Jr.’s role in it.

A campaign coalition would be expected to advise Trump as a candidate. But other rules may apply if the coalition advises Trump as president. The Federal Advisory Committee Act, for example, could require the group to have a charter, open its meetings to the public, maintain records, have procedures for public input and be subject to a number of regulations.

“The purpose of (FACA) is to ensure that those groups that are advising the president are open and transparent and accessible by the public,” said Larry Noble, general counsel for the Campaign Legal Center. “But it applies to groups that are really formally established by the president or an executive branch agency.”

Trump’s son’s leadership of an official advisory committee, and any advice he might give to the president, could be problematic, since he has been put in charge of the family's business.

“It would be a somewhat questionable move, given the separation the president claims from his sons because of business dealings,” Noble said. “It would raise issues with ethics laws.”

Boch said members of the coalition communicate via email and are currently working in an advisory capacity. But he wouldn’t say who’s on the list or how often they communicate.

He said he’s glad the coalition isn’t an official administration organization because “all those government rules and regulations in a sense don’t necessarily apply to this group.”

“We can do things privately as a private group,” he said.

Emmer said he doesn’t know whether the group will become an official advisory committee. It may have been a campaign coalition when it was announced, but Emmer noted that Trump has made clear that he’s intent on honoring campaign promises.

“My assumption is it is viable, it is real, and it’s going to operate in some fashion that will help us as we try to move policy that we think is important to protect Second Amendment rights,” he said.

The group includes a mix of industry leaders, sport shooters, lawmakers, National Rifle Association officials, Olympians and even a former Miss Kansas who was convicted last year of illegally killing an Alaskan grizzly bear.

Others are so obscure that gun patent attorney Ben Langlotz hired a freelance industry writer to investigate who they are for his blog on gunpatent.com. Eight of the 62 co-chairs could not be identified and a few others had no clear association with firearms, he said. The search for one individual only turned up “random facts” about a septuagenarian who works on cars, his blog reported.

“Everyone’s saying, ‘Who are these people?’ ” said Langlotz, who said his readers include thousands of top firearms industry executives and inventors. “Most people are saying, ‘Why didn’t they pick me?’ ”

Co-chairs believe they are in a good position to advance a pro-gun agenda with the Trump administration and a Republican Congress. Trump, who says he's a gun owner with a concealed carry permit, regularly talks about protecting Second Amendment rights. Already, he has signed a law overturning a rule barring gun ownership for some who have been deemed by mentally impaired.

They say the group’s activities may ramp up after the administration tackles more pressing issues, such as tax reform. Two co-chairs said they expect to be called on an as-needed basis to advise on gun policy. Two others expect members to confer soon.

“I’m excited,” Boch said. “It’s going to be an opportunity for a lot of these onerous regulations to go away and for good guys to be able get guns to protect themselves against bad people with evil in their hearts.”