All of us in the pro-Second Amendment community sure know that the National Rifle Association (NRA) has stepped on their collective protruding body parts a few times recently. But we also know that New York’s lawfare case against the NRA, led by the execrable Letitia James – yes, that Letitia James – is over at last, and now the nation’s foremost pro-gun group can get back to business – with a few new faces.
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On Wednesday, New York Supreme Court Justice Joel Cohen ended New York Attorney General Letitia James’ punishing corruption case against the NRA, setting some stipulations already agreed to by the 153-year-old group based in Fairfax, Va.
She had hoped to destroy the group and won several legal battles, including forcing former Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre to pay over $4 million in fines for misspending funds on his wardrobe and travel.
But her larger plan failed and Cohen, in ending the case, called for better transparency and had a few other changes the NRA said it was ready to impose.
The NRA’s CEO and Executive Vice President Doug Hamlin will be taking the organization back to work, focusing on its primary purpose: Training, according to an interview with the Washington Examiner:
In our interview, Hamlin, who replaced LaPierre who resigned in January, said now the NRA can use money set aside to fight legal battles to invest in its education programs. He said the NRA has also decided to stay in Virginia and not relocate to Texas and it might even sublet open space in its sprawling campus just off Interstate 66.
“I’m not sure if it’s winning or losing, is the way I would put it. I would just say it’s over,” said Hamlin of the New York legal case.
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This old organization – the NRA was founded in 1871 – has made some missteps in recent years, and has seen its membership stagnate at a time when the battle over the Second Amendment is being hard-pressed. Their inexplicable endorsement of Democrat Mary Peltola here in the Great Land raised a lot of eyebrows, and that’s just one example.
See Related: NRA Steps on a Rake: Endorses Alaska Democrat Mary Peltola, Earns ‘F’ From Alaskan Gun Owners
Supreme Court Gives the NRA and Freedom a Big Win Over Government Censorship and Bullying
Much of the New York legal case, though, focused on travel and other expenses racked up by former CEO and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, who has stepped down from that role as part of the case. But the suit had also called for the dissolution of the NRA, which was quite a legal overstep.
The NRA clearly has not completely given up their habit of stepping on rakes; they may well regret their decision to retain their headquarters in Virginia rather than removing themselves to much gun-friendlier Texas, as they had planned.
For all their troubles and legal woes, the NRA is still in the game, and in many ways, perhaps despite those rake-steps, they remain the 800-pound gorilla in the pro-Second Amendment debate. When a gun-grabbing politician brags about taking on the pro-Second Amendment community, it is almost always the NRA they claim to want to take on. Sometimes other groups get a mention; the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) and Gun Owners of America (GoA) get the occasional notice. But it has been and remains the NRA that really draws the ire of the anti-gun politicians.
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So, the NRA has come out of this intact. Now, to wait and see what they have learned from the experience.
Full disclosure: My wife and I are both Life Members of the NRA.