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The National Rifle Association said Friday it had filed for bankruptcy and was moving to Texas, where the organization says it has 400,000 members. The NRA is currently based in New York, where the state Attorney General Letitia James sued alleging financial crimes committed by its senior officials and seeks to dissolve the organization.
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection stops all legal and legal proceedings regarding debt or collection while an organization restructures its debts. In May 2020, the NRA, which claims to have 5 million members, laid off dozens of employees and ended fundraising and its national convention amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The hiatus from fundraising and the lack of a national convention in a presidential election year was a huge financial setback for the organization, though Americans bought record numbers of guns in 2020.
The NRA said it was “restructuring” a state that “values the contributions of the NRA, celebrates our law-abiding members and will join us as a partner in defending constitutional freedom.” The NRA has been based in New York since its inception in 1871.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeted the news and wrote “Welcome to Texas – a state that protects the 2nd Amendment.”
Meanwhile, the chairman of Everytown for Gun Safety, one of the largest organizations dedicated to reducing gun violence, called the NRA’s move “an attempt to escape legal guilt for years of financial mismanagement and illegal trafficking “.
“This desperate maneuver is a de facto admission of guilt,” Joshua Feinblatt said in a statement.
James filed a lawsuit in August in New York City alleging that the NRA and four of its top executives mismanaged funds and violated federal and state laws, resulting in the organization losing more than $ 64 million in three years. Senior executives, James claims, abused millions of dollars from the NRA’s coffers on trips to the Bahamas, private jets, luxury hotels and fine dining.
The NRA president denied the allegations at the time, calling the trial “a baseless and premeditated attack on our organization.”
The NRA said on Friday that there would be “no immediate change in NRA operations or numbers.”
Melissa Quinn contributed to this report.
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