D.C. Files Suit Against NRA Foundation

The lawsuit against the NRA is probably the biggest gun rights story we have going on right now. There’s a lot going on with that and there will be a lot of attention directed toward that story.

Advertisement

However, it’s important to also understand that it’s not the only story out there right now. There are other stories, to be sure, though many are getting lost in the background noise thanks to the lawsuit.

Yet one of the stories easily lost is that the New York filing isn’t the only lawsuit filed against the NRA this week.

Washington, D.C., Attorney General Karl Racine (D) on Thursday announced a lawsuit against the National Rifle Association (NRA) Foundation, accusing the gun rights group’s charitable arm of misuse of funds.

“Donors gave money to fund firearms safety, firearms education and marksmanship training,” Racine said in a tweet announcing the lawsuit. “Instead, that money was diverted to support wasteful spending by the NRA and its executives.”

Racine claimed the NRA borrowed $5 million from the foundation on two occasions, once in 2017 and again in 2018. Racine also accused the foundation of paying millions in fees to the NRA with no oversight and placing the NRA’s interests above its own, in violation of its articles of incorporation.

“Because the Foundation’s Board of Trustees and executives are dominated by the NRA, and the NRA had subverted the Foundation’s independence, the Foundation has allowed itself to be financially exploited through, among other things, unfair loans and management fee payments to the NRA,” the lawsuit states.

Much like with the New York lawsuit, Racine doesn’t actually care if a gun rights organization actually is acting in the best interest of its donors or if the Foundation is providing what it’s supposed to provide. Racine would just as soon see guns vanish from private ownership overnight, I suspect.

Advertisement

No, this is about trying to destroy an obstacle.

While many gun-rights supporters actually disagree with the NRA on a great many things, the truth is that the NRA is the 800-pound gorilla that keeps our gun rights from evaporating. Other organizations do good work, of course, but they don’t have the political weight of the NRA.

Which is why the NRA is being targeted. They’re in the way.

D.C.’s lawsuit won’t garner the attention that New York’s will, but I find the timing more than a little suspicious. Two lawsuits filed on the same day by two anti-gun governmental authorities? I can’t help but believe there’s been some degree of collusion here, an effort to try and overwhelm the NRA’s ability to fight back against the onslaught from the anti-gun attorneys general.

What I don’t think either one thought about, though, is the backlash. I suspect the NRA’s membership is about to jump up a fair bit. While some may not like the NRA for whatever reason, the truth is they like people like Racine or New York Attorney General Letitia James even less.

It’s time to buckle up, folks. Things are about to get a little wild.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member