(AmericanProsperity.com) – The National Rifle Association (NRA) has fought for American’s Second Amendment rights since 1871, focusing on safety education, marksmanship, and protecting our right to bear arms. However, both the Washington DC and New York Attorney Generals filed lawsuits on Thursday, August 6, hoping to end the group.
Following an 18-month investigation, New York Attorney General Letitia James claimed the NRA has “a culture of self-dealing.” The suit targets NRA leadership, including CEO and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre who “exploited the organization for his financial benefit, and the benefit of a close circle of NRA staff, board members, and vendors.”
Do the Numbers Add Up?
James also accuses the NRA of filing false compensation reports, ignoring whistleblower complaints, and using company funds for personal expenses. She claims the financial misconduct added up to a $64 million loss over three years.
These allegations came when the NRA already had financial struggles. They had over $27 million in surplus in 2015, but as of 2018, it was a $36 million deficit.
DC Attorney General Karl Racine’s lawsuit is against both the NRA and the NRA Foundation for “misusing charitable funds to support wasteful spending by the NRA and its executives.” His lawsuit shows two $5 million loans from the NRA Foundation to the NRA itself that were extended and modified even as the NRA faced financial difficulties.
Racine added that the NRA Foundation should use their money, by law, to “benefit the public, not to support political campaigns, lobbying, or private interests.”
NRA President Carolyn Meadows responded to these claims:
(1/3) NRA PRESIDENT RESPONDS TO NY AG:
This was a baseless, premeditated attack on our organization and the Second Amendment freedoms it fights to defend. You could have set your watch by it: the investigation was going to reach its crescendo as…
— NRA (@NRA) August 6, 2020
In response, President Donald Trump encouraged the NRA to “move to Texas and lead a very good and beautiful life.” He added that this clear attack on the nation’s largest 2A group is a foreshadowing of what could come in the future.
Just like Radical Left New York is trying to destroy the NRA, if Biden becomes President your GREAT SECOND AMENDMENT doesn’t have a chance. Your guns will be taken away, immediately and without notice. No police, no guns!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 6, 2020
If it turns out there is, indeed, criminal activity, then the guilty parties should be held accountable. However, there’s no need or reason to actually disband the group and it seems that James and Racine are using charges as excuses to carry out their agenda. It’s vital that the heart of the NRA and its mission to protect our right to bear arms stays strong.
~Here’s to Your Prosperity!
Copyright 2020, AmericanProsperity.com
