The NRA is in deep trouble!

New York State Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to dissolve the powerful National Rifle Association, alleging self-dealing among the organization’s top officials despite being registered as a non-profit.
James accused senior leadership at the nation’s largest pro-gun lobbying group, including chief executive Wayne LaPierre, of diverting millions of dollars away from the organization’s “charitable mission” for trips to the Bahamas, private jets, expensive meals and other luxury items.

The group, which is based in Fairfax, Virginia, but chartered in New York, also appeared to dole out lucrative no-show contracts to former employees in order to “buy their silence and continued loyalty.”
“The NRA’s influence has been so powerful that the organization went unchecked for decades while top executives funneled millions into their own pockets,” James said in a statement. “The NRA is fraught with fraud and abuse, which is why, today, we seek to dissolve the NRA, because no organization is above the law.”
Following an 18-month investigation, James is asking the court to dissolve the NRA and require each of the current and former executives named in the suit to pay full restitution. The suit argues that the four executives, including LaPierre, should be barred from serving on the board of any charity in New York.
The lawsuit claims that the organization had a $27.8 million surplus in 2015, which dwindled by $64 million just three years later as the group reported being $36 million in the red.

At a Manhattan press conference, James said the NRA operated as “a breeding ground for greed, abuse and brazen illegality.”
“Today we send a strong and loud message: No one is above the law, not even the NRA, one of the most powerful organizations in this country,” she said.
LaPierre, who has led the lobbying group for decades, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on private trips for himself and his family, the suit alleges. Those trips include eight visits to the Bahamas and all-expense-paid safaris in Africa with his wife, Susan, according to the lawsuit.
Over the past two years, LaPierre also spent $3.6 million on travel consultants and several million dollars on private security for himself and his family, according to the suit.
The others named in the suit are general counsel John Frazer, former CFO Woody Phillips, and former chief of staff Joshua Powell.
James alleges that Powell’s salary rose from $250,000 to $800,000 over the span of just two years. He and the others are also accused of directing charitable funds to be used for the benefit of family members and friends.
Phillips allegedly lied on financial forms, set up a $1.8 million consulting contract for himself just before he retired without telling his replacement and directed a deal worth more than $1 million to his girlfriend.
Anyone who attempted to blow the whistle on the quartet were allegedly retaliated against by LaPierre, according to the suit.
In a statement, the NRA cast the legal action as a political and “baseless, premeditated attack on our organization and the Second Amendment freedoms it fights to defend.”
The group also filed its own lawsuit against James.
“This has been a power grab by a political opportunist – a desperate move that is part of a rank political vendetta,” the group said. “Our members won’t be intimidated or bullied in their defense of political and constitutional freedom.”
The cash-strapped gun group, which doled out roughly $30 million to help elect President Trump in 2016, has been beset by financial trouble and internal unrest in recent years.
Trump defended the NRA after James’ probe became public last year, tweeting that the group was “under siege” by her and Gov. Cuomo. The president accused the pair of “illegally using the State’s legal apparatus to take down and destroy this very important organization, & others.”
Last year, the organization suspended its top lobbyist and one of his deputies and former NRA president Oliver North stepped down amid accusations of an attempted effort to oust LaPierre.
In calling for the group’s dissolution, James cited a court order secured last year against Trump’s former charity as precedent. In an unusual move, the president admitted to misusing charitable funds from the Trump Foundation to boost his presidential campaign and purchase a $10,000 portrait of himself and was ordered to pay $2 million in damages to eight charities. The charity was dissolved.
Trump called James’ lawsuit against the NRA ”a very terrible thing” and suggested the group register in another state.
“I think the NRA should move to Texas and lead a very good and beautiful life,” Trump said. “I’ve told them that for a long time ... This has been going on for a long time. They’ve been absolutely decimated by the cost of that lawsuit, and it is very sad, but I would suggest that’s what they should be doing.”
Gun control advocates, meanwhile, applauded the action and had little sympathy for the group’s troubles.
“Thoughts and prayers today to the NRA, which is losing money and political power so quickly that by the end of this case, there might not be anything left to dissolve,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. “The NRA is just as out of touch with American voters as they seem to be with NY law, and come November, we’re going to make sure they’re out of power, too.”
John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, said his group has been warning regulators about corruption within the lobbying organization’s ranks for years.
“Even casual observers of the NRA have seen it turn from a safety-focused non-profit into a front group for gun manufacturers and a personal piggy bank for its leadership,” he said. “The NRA has endangered millions of lives and done unspeakable damage to our political system, and we agree with Attorney General James that dissolution and all other remedies must be on the table.”

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MDFF2008 said:

I think one thing that has not been considered is how much of a morale boost for the gun control movement it would be to topple the NRA.
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Engine4 said:

Gee, if only this were at the end of T45's second term. Then he could be elected head of the NRA & really turn the organization around.

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Jake4U said:

Last year I removed my NRA life member sticker from my car. I still get their publication because Life. Of late my money goes to MSI.

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bigmancrisler said:

I just became a member of MSI recently and I plan to make regular contributions. Making one when I get home today.


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erwos said:

5. Shamelessly whore for Trump and turn a non-partisan issue (2A) into a bitterly partisan one

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teratos said:

NRA and SAF/GOA are entirely different organizations. NRA is the only 2A org with any clout lobbying on a national level. GOA doesn't have the clout, though it would be nice to see membership grow to the numbers NRA boasts. SAF fights important legal battles and needs to continue that.

There are 2 options. NRA members need to be very vocal about the organization. WLP and his ilk NEED to go. I am an endowment member, but will not give one more dime to Wayne's wardrobe or vacations. A complete turn-around at the top with people dedicated to protecting 2A rights while having respect for the donations of their members. The second option is a mass migration of membership to a place like GOA, building the kind of political power NRA yields. Frankly, the former is better than the latter. It's easier to fix the machine in place that is working, to a degree, than to try to build a new machine from the ground up.

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