The National Rifle Association announced it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and will relocate from New York’s “politically toxic” environment to Texas.
The nation’s leading gun-rights group’s announcement comes amid the coronavirus pandemic, the difficulties of which have resulted in dozens of layoffs, the cancellation of its national conference and contributed to anemic fundraising numbers.
Per NBC New York:
“The plan can be summed up quite simply: We are DUMPING New York, and we are pursuing plans to reincorporate the NRA in Texas,” wrote NRA CEO and executive vice president Wayne LaPierre, adding that the move will have “no major changes are expected to the NRA’s operations or workforce.”
Last year, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that the state was seeking to dissolve the NRA in a lawsuit that accused the organization’s leadership of diverting $64 million dollars for their own personal use.
“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 August. “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,” she added.
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 NRA has called James’ suit “baseless” and a “premeditated attack” on the right to bear arms.