After serial revelations of alleged corruption that pervaded (pervades?) the highest levels of the National Rifle Association, New York Attorney General Letitia James sued to have the association dissolved after a long investigation into Wayne LaPierre and the association he’s run for decades. However, despite the AG’s desire to euthanize the pro-gun rights org, the New York law places a high bar over which the state must jump to make the case that a non-profit should get the corporate “death penalty.”
Today, a New York Supreme Court judge ruled that James has failed to make that case.
As Justice Joel Cohen’s ruling states . . .
The Complaint does not allege that any financial misconduct benefited the NRA, or that the NRA exists primarily to carry out such activity, or that the NRA is incapable of continuing its legitimate activities on behalf of its millions of members. In short, the Complaint does not allege the type of public harm that is the legal linchpin for imposing the “corporate death penalty.” Moreover, dissolving the NRA could impinge, at least indirectly, on the free speech and assembly rights of its millions of members.
The ruling is a significant defeat for James. In a press release, she stated that . . .
…we are disappointed that the judge ruled against the dissolution portion of the case. We are considering our legal options with respect to this ruling. We remain committed to enforcing New York law regardless of how powerful any individual or organization may be.
It took two years but NY AG Letitia James’ effort to dissolve the NRA has failed. https://t.co/6pMPnR3322 As discussed in my earlier column, the court was concerned over the impact on free speech. James has been celebrated by liberals for this effort… https://t.co/brOzq8ik3t
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) March 2, 2022
Today’s ruling, however, leaves most of the rest of the AG’s enforcement action against the non-profit in tact. As Business Insider points out . . .
[T]he judge’s ruling had harsh words for the NRA and its former leadership, who James accuses of siphoning off millions of dollars from the organization to fund their lavish lifestyles.
“The Attorney General’s allegations in this case, if proven, tell a grim story of greed, self-dealing, and lax financial oversight at the highest levels of the National Rifle Association,” the judge wrote in the ruling, which was obtained by Insider.
“They describe in detail a pattern of exorbitant spending and expense reimbursement for the personal benefit of senior management,” Judge Cohen wrote, “along with conflicts of interest, related party transactions, cover-ups, negligence, and retaliation against dissidents and whistleblowers who dared to investigate or complain.”
While the NRA as a whole may no longer be in jeopardy, other targets of the AG’s investigation and lawsuit such as LaPierre and a host of current and former officers and directors still have much to be concerned about.
At this point, I will have no problem if LaPierre gets charged and convicted.
He is now more of a distraction than an asset to the NRA.
Clear his ass out, and get the NRA back to the business of advancing gun rights…
Amen to that !
Either shit or get off the pot, new york. File charges or go away. They’ve had plenty of time to lay out a case against the bad actors here.
What they wanted was to take down the NRA.
True, I’m sure they have enough evidence to charge many of the board members as well as WLP. That’s not her real goal. She would let criminals go free. Just like a mugger is set free and not charged. Now the NRA as a organization is much more secure.
I hope she does files charges against the NRA leadership.
Welcome to NY, criminals are welcome but liberty can gtfo………..or at least out to it’s designated island away from civilized folk.
“ I’m sure they have enough evidence to charge many of the board members as well as WLP.”
And yet such hasn’t been done.
While a fair number of NRA-haters around here might believe that, the case has been in the making now by James for several years and was a foundational pillar in her run for AG.
The primary, and oft-stated goal has always been to cause NRA to run out of money with the endless litigation and end it’s influence on elections and national policy by any means available. To believe James and her ilk give a rip about millions of NRA members or the constitutions and laws of either the US or NYS is ludicrous.
Those who also wish for the same outcome in a standard, lynch-mob mentality, should question as to how long their own little 2A “support group” would last against a similar onslaught, even by a small state’s (like, say, North Dakota’s) tax payer-funded litigation.
As for WLP, et al, one might also think that such Constitutional purists, as those around here claim to be, might also afford the alleged plaintiffs the right to an actual trial by peers rather than repeated here-say in the internet cesspool prior to any other legal action.
The current leadership will do more damage to the NRA than her arresting them will which would hopefully force reform; It’s in her interest to leave them in so the NRA stays weak.
BS – you’re a pawn of the MSM and CNN. Its 2022 and you don’t understand how those bastards work? Fools
ALL the little/local gun rights org together don’t have a fraction of the power of the NRA and ILA. AND put fear into the progs.
“ALL the little/local gun rights org together don’t have a fraction of the power of the NRA and ILA. AND put fear into the progs.”
If NRA is that powerful, why all the angst over the future of NRA?
If NRA is all that powerful, what does it matter than some people on this blog wish the NRA would be disbanded, or put under tight oversight?
NRA has a reported membership of 5 million. This blog has readership of no more than 3.2 million, are disorganized, and have no funding. How can this blog do any damage to NRA?
“ If NRA is that powerful, why all the angst over the future of NRA?”
I don’t know, Sam- I don’t sense much “angst” in what neiowa posted, nor in mine above. Just truth.
I’m willing to accept truth, which has yet to be proven. I do question whether or not you, and the others searching for low-hanging fruit to try to make their case, will, as Jack Nicholson read: “Be able to handle the truth” if everything finally is judged to be bogus.
We should expect an instant inflow of contributions to NRA and ILA from all these “never another dime” keyboard warriors should that happen but I’d bet my entire estate that will never be.
He’s saying that even though you have a big chip on your shoulder, it should be clear enough, even to people like you, that the NYAG is overstepping her remit and trying to destroy the NRA for political reasons, and no matter who you are, you shouldn’t want your politicians to act like that, even if you despise the targets of their thuggery.
In any case, the NRA does a lot of great work with firearm training, competition, and yes, legislation. *IF* Mr La Pierre and other board members have acted unethically them I want the NRA to handle it internally without the corrupt NYAG getting involved, unless there is actual criminal behavior—as opposed to tendentiously interpreted tax returns.
James would be doing the gun rights movement a favor if she imprisons WLP and his accomplices on the Board. Then our money would be going to gun rights and training instead of funding lavish lifestyles and lining their pockets. People who care about gun rights would be running things.
“James would be doing the gun rights movement a favor if she imprisons WLP and his accomplices on the Board“
You are absolutely correct.
Every dollar stolen by Wayne Lapierre and his cronies is one less dollar that can be used for firearms training, public education, etc.
And the fact that Wayne and his co-conspirators have been able to so easily fool the vast majority of the membership of the NRA, does nothing but confirm the general population’s view of firearms enthusiasts as a few sandwiches short of a picnic.
It is sad that Wayne Lapierre, just like Donald Trump, loves the poorly educated because they are so easily fooled by a NYC con man in a suit.
Interesting you boys aren’t concerned with all of the money James and her team have been siphoning off from the NYS taxpayers in her well-funded fishing expedition/exposition. That can’t hold a candle to anything anyone in NRA may have misappropriated.
Well said! (from NRA Life Member waiting to donate again).
Got that right. I’ve been sick of LaPierre for years. Get rid of him and I might resume making donations.
Last time they got any money from me was when LaPierre cut off Knox’s mike in Philly.
This is GOOD news. Much as I despise what the organisatin have become of late, it still has soild bones, and a good track record in many important areas. I hope James gets over her whinge and brings real justic to La Pipi and his Pals who have used NRA for a large and bountiful teat on which to engorge their ugly selves. Once there has been a through housecleaning and the trash taken out (hopefully at least quite a few of them wrapped in new orange onesies) perhaps the NRA can rise again and get back to that for which they were created. One can bope.
I do VERY MUCH like the smackdown this Court gave the wretched excuse of an AtG James.
“I do VERY MUCH like the smackdown this Court gave the wretched excuse of an AtG James.”
If LaPierre ends up indicted, I’ll consider that to be a not ideal, but acceptable win-win kinda thing…
“former leadership”? Wayne is still there.
Kick Wayne and the board out and appoint an Overseer from amongst NRA life members to carry out the day-to-day operations of the organization while a completely new board and leadership is selected by the members.
James should continue her cases against the fraudsters and anyone found to have been corrupt shall be barred from the NRA for life (and have to repay the NRA for any legal expense incurred by the organization on their behalf in defense of this case).
“ Kick Wayne and the board out and appoint an Overseer from amongst NRA life members to carry out the day-to-day operations of the organization while a completely new board and leadership is selected by the members.”
Idiotic proposition. Exactly how would that be done?
Allow James to appoint them?
Just pick some $300 Life Member to try to steer a $350 million+ organization?
I suppose Mad Max is up to the challenge. If he was only a Life Member…
I always thought the attempt to break, dissolve, or dispose of the NRA was flawed. Not only would it infringe on free speech, but the right to assemble, and to associate freely.
There’s a lot of problems with the NRA, and I almost wish it would dry up and blow away, but government has no authority to get rid of it. Get LaPierre, send him to prison, along with all his cronies, and leave the NRA to do it’s proper job.
Does this ruling mean the James campaign to take down NRA is ended? Or does it only preclude dissolving NRA cannot be a punishment if NRA is found guilty of malfeasance/crime?
The organization itself will, it seems, not be guilty of malfeasance, given the wording of this ruling, because it was not created or operated to defraud its members. But the senior officers who raided the corporate coffers for their own enrichment are still exposed.
“But the senior officers who raided the corporate coffers for their own enrichment are still exposed.”
Thanx.
I am glad to hear this. This country truly needs a functional NRA. But it’s clear that something does need to be done with it.
Exactly. As a Life Member, I stopped supporting the NRA financially years ago. When the financial shenanigans and overt corruption began coming to light. I have been focusing my $$$, efforts and support at the local and state level. Our state has become 1 of the most 2A friendly states in the nation over the last few years. We currently have over 1/3 (35) of the counties supporting the 2A Sanctuary Resolution and will be voting to adding the Freedom Amendment to our State Constitution on November 8th. I truly believe more can be accomplished at the local and state level. Than can ever be accomplished at the national level. There are simply to many different Agendas to overcome at the national level. The fight to codify the 2 Amendment must be done at the local and state levels first. Then the appropriate pressure can be exerted on your HOR and Senate members through voting to achieve the same support at the Federal level. Keep Your Powder Dry.
The only problem with this article was they kept saying “former” almost all of the bad actors are still there. Wayne and his partners in crime have been criminally fleecing NRA for years and need to be removed and forced to pay restitution. Beyond that whether he goes to jail is a minor concern.
WHO told you about those “bad actors”? CNN same moron progs and commies that for decades have tried EVERYTHING to neuter the NRA. Now they have a scheme to separate the NRA and ILA from gun owners.
OR are you part of the MSM plan (trolls).
CNN et al may be gleeful over the NRA’s problems, but they didn’t cause them. These are self-inflicted wounds. NRA “leadership” were/are corrupt and deserve to be punished, legally and financially. THEY have damaged the cause of the 2A more than all the socialists a-holes could have hoped. I am an Endowment member and have given a decent amount of $$ over the years. Finally about 3 yrs ago I realized I was funding WLP’s mistress and lavish lifestyle. EFF THAT and EFF YOU WAYNE, I want the NRA of Charlton Heston back, you greedy bastard.
If a gun owner is that easily swayed then it’s all on-the-surface talk anyway. The only ones that are actually able to separate the NRA from gun owners are the NRA and gun owners.
Unless of course you think gun owners are just generally that stupid.
Have the founder of Open Source Defense take over the NRA and turn it into a beneficial organization again.
I’ve given the NRA thousands and have been very disappointed with them but glad to see this judge’s ruling. That said, the original still worth saving, even if just for the brand alone. Getting it back to more money for advocacy, training all these new gun owners and putting a truly independent board in place would be dream. James will hate it if she actually winds up helping our gun rights efforts in the end 😀.
Good but they’ll NEVER get a red ¢ from me until Pepé Le Pew is gone.
It always amazes me when so-called pro gun people spend time and effort hating on the NRA. It makes me wonder what they’re really about.
“…when so-called pro gun people spend time and effort hating on the NRA.”
I’m not hating on the NRA, Ralph. I’m hating that the NRA has an unnecessary distraction right now that’s negatively impacting the core mission of civil rights.
NO ONE in the org. should have carte blanch to fleece the member’s money for their own gain.
The fact that WLP refuses to step down on his own is stark proof he’s in it for himself, not us…
WLP isn’t done surfing that gravy wave just yet. If he can just hang on………
They got enough of my money and it pissed me off to hear the abuses. No more until he’s gone and if he has a big ass fat golden parachute….it may be NEVER.
I give money to the 2nd A. Foundation and the NRA can just…..well you know!
“ I’m hating that the NRA has an unnecessary distraction right now that’s negatively impacting the core mission of civil rights.”
Seriously? You think none of this attack would have ever happened if someone else was EVP and there were none of the current allegations?
How long have you been in this arena?
For more than 40 years, NRA, through its members and policies, has been able to keep progressives from ending private firearms ownership and use in the US. It’s always been the single bad guy, never the other 2A “advocates”.
NRA can be “blamed” for the elections of pro gun Congress members in US and state legislatures as well as US presidents, often against heavy lobbying by both political and media hit campaigns. Bill Clinton blamed NRA specifically for the defeat of Al Gore and NRA members figured heavily in the entire 2016 election cycle.
The very same types of concocted stories and innuendo used to to limit DJT’s effectiveness and splitting of the Republican Party, leading also to losses in 2018 and (along with probable heavy fraud) the presidency in 2020, are the same tactic being used to split firearms owners today. And like the “Never-Trump”er Republicrats, the Left is able to use those claiming to be 2A-Faithful to accomplish their goals.
I, for one, do think this attack wouldn’t have happened if not for WLP and cronies. To say it more directly, yes, this happened directly because of their long pattern of misappropriating funds and wasting members’ money.
Would they have been attacked anyway by someone like the despicable Letitia James? Yes, of course. It’s what the “progressive” locusts do. But it wouldn’t have been THIS attack and it wouldn’t have been at all effective in hamstringing the NRA.
We’re just lucky this happened at a time when popular opinion is on our side, progtards are pissing off normies everywhere, and conservative states are (miracle of miracles) taking action to strengthen and advance 2A rights at home. Today’s damaged NRA, faced with a Sandy Hook type incident…? Yikes.
Instead of defending the organization that allowed WLP & co. to hang a “kick me” sign on the NRA’s ass, we should maybe look at this as an opportunity to clean house and restore the vitality of the Second Amendment’s biggest defender. We’re going to need it.
As if being pro gun automatically means loving the NRA.
“It always amazes me when so-called pro gun people spend time and effort hating on the NRA. It makes me wonder what they’re really about.”
Thought the underlying reason for criticizing NRA was about how leadership is not serving the members, about how leadership is misusing funding of NRA for personal aggrandizement, about how the focus of NRA (including ILA) seems exclusively fundraising (without demonstrated efforts to defend 2A), and a host of other financial and lobbying shortcomings.
Wouldn’t the above tell you what critics “are all about”?
I’m not sure many, if any of those claiming they are not being “properly served” by NRA are even members of NRA. You aren’t.
1) would that even matter?
2) do you think the cop that pulled out his pistol on a licensed carry (previous TTAG article) was an NRA member?
“ 1) would that even matter?”
It should.
NRA should, first, be responsible to its membership. NRA is a member organization, not some elected public official who is supposed to represent all citizens in a “republic form” of governance.
Neither GOA, NAGR, the other single issue gun orgs, nor the NRA haters around here claim to owe any allegiance or responsibility to NRA or it’s membership.
NRA is singled out as the “bad guy” simply because it is unquestionably the largest player in the game and is therefor the only one to be blamed by either side of the issue for those things the others hate about where the balance of the Second Amendment hangs at the moment.
Too much citizen liberty for the NYT/Progressives, not near enough for GOA/FPC/et al, so all blame NRA.
In the mean time, NRA continues as it has and will continue in the future. While support for the Second Amendment’s future is but a part of NRA’s mission, all of the other “pro-gun” groups together cannot match us in number, finances, political effectiveness, nor the ability to weather the types of political storms waged against it in the past 50 years or so. Were all of the political capital available to NYS pressed against the leadership of say, GOA or FPC, they’d have fled to Belize or some other refuge by now. (And likely with whatever assets were still remaining.)
I’m not a member, but I used to be. If they demonstrate that they’re focused on their core mission (which I fully believe in), I’ll come back.
“I’m not sure many, if any of those claiming they are not being “properly served” by NRA are even members of NRA. You aren’t.”
One must be currently improperly served in order to qualify as a critic? I joined GOA and FPC. I “see” how they treat their members. The difference is remarkably better for members than I was subjected to by NRA. Is my experience with NRA, GOA and FPC invalid simply because I am not currently being mistreated by NRA?
Your “experiences” as a non-NRA member should have little effect on actual NRA members.
I have no issues with you or anyone else not joining, nor in criticizing NRA. You’ve been trying your best for quite some time, using every means available, truth to hyperbole, to accomplish your stated goals, even to the extent of organizing and aligning with those who would eradicate the Second Amendment entirely, and yet you are gaining little ground over the long haul. It must really stick in your craw that James has been smacked down thus far.
Isn’t it ironic that a New York State Supreme Court judge might be instrumental in returning the NRA to its stated mission of supporting and defending the 2nd Amendment?
NO. Not at all.
The NRA was conceived, founded and formed in NY.
Of course you can’t ignore the ‘N’ part of it either.
You live, do business or incorporate in one of these 3rd world cities you get what you deserve.
I mean, it’s not like LaPierre and the others bought themselves multiple homes with company funds, looking at you BLM.
@Craig in IA
“Be able to handle the truth” if everything finally is judged to be bogus.
– Would be quite excited about NRA having to prove they are a respectable organization. Would “accept” (whatever than means) the outcome, regardless.
“We’d expect an instant inflow of contributions from all these “never another dime” keyboard warriors should that happen.”
– Nope. “Accepting” that the NRA is not defrauding the public/membership does not carry with it a responsibility to contribute to NRA.
Had to join NRA in order to be a member of the local gun range. Chose the cheap “Affiliate” level ($10). Received endless mail* from NRA asking for donations that refuses to be “absolutist”. Never renewed, and the owners of the local range never asked about it again.
*have dumped several charitable organizations who were in fund raising mode 24/7.
@Craig in IA
“That can’t hold a candle to anything anyone in NRA may have misappropriated.”
With that line of reasoning, don’t you agree we have established what the NRA is, and are arguing only over price?
You’d have to convince the courts.
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