New York Attorney General Letitia James. Reuters.
New York State has filed a lawsuit to break up the NRA after allegations of corruption. Reuters. The lawsuit alleges that the NRA's leadership used funds on family trips to the Bahamas, private jets and expensive meals, which caused a $64 million reduction in funds for the group. Four people were named in the suit, including Wayne LePierre. Gun control groups celebrated the suit but the NRA says it was a cynical attack on the organization done for political reasons.
My Comment:
Just as a quick disclaimer, though I am not a member of the NRA, I have given them some money via the Amazon Smile program. It's a trivial amount of money, less than $10, but I thought a disclaimer was in order. Since the donation was free for me and I thought that Amazon would hate having to give the NRA money I thought it was a good way to use the Amazon program.
With that being said, I have mixed feelings about this. For sure, I think this is a politically motivated move which has the main goal of destroying America's biggest gun rights group and hurting the 2nd amendment. It's also an attempt to interfere with the 2020 elections as the NRA are a very large and powerful lobbying group as well.
I would also say that it's very obvious that the goal isn't to punish any possible bad guys in the NRA, it's to break up the organization. If Wayne LePierre is dirty, why not go after him and not the entire organization? By choosing to try and break up the organization they are not looking out for justice, they are destroying their political opponent.
That being said though, I have been uncomfortable with the NRA for quite some time now. Though I am not sure of the allegations against LePierre and the other top NRA officials is true or not, I would not be surprised at all if they were. I have long questioned where the money for the NRA goes and I long suspected that it goes into LePierre's pockets.
I also have been very disappointed in what the NRA has been doing. Far from focusing on gun rights they have been constantly distracted and on the defensive. A good example of this was trying to blame video games, of all things, for mass shootings. Not only was the idea totally idiotic they read younger gun owners completely wrong. I know that those "violent" video games are one of the reasons I'm into guns today and you would think that two groups of people that have been unfairly blamed for violence for years, gun owners and video gamers, would be natural allies. Instead the NRA pissed away that potential ally and blamed them for something they had nothing to do with, which is exactly what the NRA's enemies do to them.
The NRA has also ignored some very important cases. Though I understand why they didn't back Philando Castile, since he wasn't legally allowed to carry a gun because he had drugs in his system, doing so would have gotten them good press and helped with the black community. And not standing up to President Trump on bump stocks was unforgivable. At the very least they should have tried to have President Trump leverage the ban on things that the gun rights community have been demanding for years like legalizing suppressors or CCW reciprocity
It's important to note that the NRA isn't just a gun rights group. They also provide insurance, training and operate gun ranges. They also help with gun manufactures and are generally a very large part of the gun rights community.
I have no idea how this lawsuit will work out. I'm not a lawyer so I'm not sure how strong the case is and how bitter the battle will be. However, I am thinking that the NRA and their allies are going to pull out all stops and they will be right to do so. Even if the NRA is corrupt trying to destroy them is out of line.
That being said, I don't think it would be the worst thing in the world to have the NRA go away. If that happens their donations will go to the Gun Owners of America or the 2nd Amendment Foundation. Both the GOA and the SAF are less likely to compromise and actually tend to get results. Having them in charge of things instead of the NRA might be a good thing.
And it's also possible that the NRA could end up reformed from this. I have said for a long time that the NRA desperately needs new leadership and if Wayne LaPierre and others were forced out by this lawsuit it would probably be a good thing. Though the lawsuit is obviously overstepping their bounds it might end up being the best thing for gun rights in a long time. Even if they aren't corrupt they are clearly out of touch and ineffective in fighting for gun rights.
No comments:
Post a Comment