Wayne Lapierres Unsteady Leadership
The NRAs bankruptcy trial prominently highlighted the failed leadership of Wayne LaPierre. A particularly powerful part of the trial involved testimony from several current and former NRA board members who spoke about the organizations dysfunction and mismanagement. They painted a picture of a board incapable of exercising meaningful oversight over management, in part due to LaPierres stranglehold over the organization and a lack of transparency from his team. Examples include the following:
More NRA Board Members Resign.
Right To Keep And Bear Arms In The United States
| Firearm legal topics of the |
| United States |
|---|
The right to keep and bear arms in the United States is a fundamental right protected by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, part of the Bill of Rights, and by the constitutions of most U.S. states. The Second Amendment declares:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
In the United States, which has an English common law tradition, the concept of a right to keep and bear arms was recognized prior to the creation of a written national constitution. When colonists in the Thirteen Colonies rebelled against British control during the American Revolution they cited the 1689 English Bill of Rights as an example.
The Court Believes The Nra’s Purpose In Filing Bankruptcy Is Less Like A Traditional Bankruptcy Case
A federal judge dismissed the National Rifle Association’s bankruptcy case Tuesday, leaving the powerful gun-rights group to face a New York state lawsuit that accuses it of financial abuses and aims to put it out of business.
The judge was tasked with deciding whether the NRA should be allowed to incorporate in Texas instead of New York, where the state is suing in an effort to disband the group. Though headquartered in Virginia, the NRA was chartered as a nonprofit in New York in 1871 and is incorporated in the state.
Judge Harlin Hale said in a written order that he was dismissing the case because he found the bankruptcy was not filed in good faith.
The Court believes the NRA’s purpose in filing bankruptcy is less like a traditional bankruptcy case in which a debtor is faced with financial difficulties or a judgment that it cannot satisfy and more like cases in which courts have found bankruptcy was filed to gain an unfair advantage in litigation or to avoid a regulatory scheme,” Hale wrote.
His decision followed 11 days of testimony and arguments. Lawyers for New York and the NRA’s former advertising agency grilled the group’s embattled top executive, Wayne LaPierre, who acknowledged putting the NRA into Chapter 11 bankruptcy without the knowledge or assent of most of its board and other top officers.
LaPierre pledged in a statement to continue to fight for gun rights.
Recommended Reading: Toygaroo Company
Sights Still Set On Texas
The NRA remains interested in moving to Texas and has powerful allies who’d be happy to see it set up shop there. But doing so through another bankruptcy attempt would be fraught with risk, and James says she has the authority to block efforts to abandon its New York incorporation.
Hale dismissed the NRA’s case without prejudice, meaning the organization can refile — but he warned a second bankruptcy petition would prompt him to take a hard look at the NRA’s lawyers “unusual involvement” in the group’s affairs.
The judge wrote that the lawyers’ actions raised concerns the group couldn’t fulfill its fiduciary duty, which might lead him to appoint a trustee. That would hand the organization’s reins to an outside official selected by the Biden administration’s Justice Department.
The NRA could still pursue other steps to incorporate in Texas, where it claims to have about 400,000 members. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, said on Twitter that he supports the move.
But neither Abbott’s office, nor that of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who’s voiced support in past, responded to questions about the NRA’s possible path to Texas.
Nra’s Bankruptcy Case ‘deserves Dismissal’ Nyag Lawyer Says In Closing Arguments
The NRA has denied allegations of financial misdeeds.
NRA files for bankruptcy
The National Rifle Association “intentionally deceived” its board of directors when it filed for bankruptcy protection in January and its Chapter 11 case should be dismissed, an attorney for New York Attorney General Letitia James said Monday during closing arguments in a trial over the legitimacy of the NRA’s bankruptcy.
The NRA filed five months after James sued the guns rights organization and its public face, Wayne LaPierre, over alleged financial misconduct. The lawsuit accused the NRA of misusing millions of dollars in charitable funds.
During an 11-day trial in Dallas bankruptcy court, James’ office and the NRA’s former ad agency have sought to have the organization’s case thrown out, alleging it’s nothing more than an attempt to avoid regulatory oversight.
“This case was filed in bad faith and deserves dismissal,” said Gerrit Pronske, an attorney representing the New York attorney general’s office.
“The NRA clearly and undisputedly had no financial reason to file bankruptcy,” Pronske said during closing arguments. “The NRA is vastly solvent and filing bankruptcy is an abuse of this court’s jurisdiction.”
The NRA has denied allegations of financial misdeeds and accused James of having a political motivation.
Read Also: Can You Rent An Apartment While In Chapter 13
In A Year Of Crisis And Upheaval The Nra Doubled Down On Extremism
While NRA leaders have spent decades leveraging the energy of extremists for its own ends, in the past year the NRA went to new lengths to embrace rising extremism and conspiracism: peddling COVID-19 misinformation, advancing false and ridiculous QAnon conspiracy theories, supporting armed demonstrations, and more.
Within weeks of the declaration of a pandemic, the NRA was back to the usual playbook: aggravating peoples sense of uncertainty and offering guns as a solution to their fears.66 The NRA warned that politicians were exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic to deny you and your loved ones your fundamental right to self-defense and your Second Amendment rights . . . against a backdrop of reported prisoner furloughs and law enforcement only arresting for the most serious of crimes. This warning was capped off with an appeal for donations.67 NRA second vice president Willes Lee was more blunt, saying that during COVID-19, You need a firearm to protect from the criminals that Dem are releasing.68 Early on in the pandemic, the NRA released a video that warned, You might be stockpiling up on food right now to get through this current crisis. But if you arent preparing to defend your property when everything goes wrong, youre really just stockpiling for somebody else.69
Judge Dismisses Nra Bankruptcy Case In Blow For Us Gun Lobby
Federal court says claim was not filed in good faith, paving the way for legal bid by New York state to close the group down
A federal judge has dismissed the National Rifle Associations bankruptcy case, leaving the powerful gun-rights group to face a lawsuit from New York state that accuses it of financial abuses.
The judge sitting in Dallas was tasked with deciding whether the NRA should be allowed to incorporate in Texas instead of New York, where the state is suing in an effort to disband the group. Though headquartered in Virginia, the NRA was chartered as a nonprofit in New York in 1871 and is incorporated in the state.
Judge Harlin Hale said in a written order on Tuesday that he was dismissing the case because he found the NRAs attempt to claim bankruptcy in New York was not filed in good faith.
The court believes the NRAs purpose in filing bankruptcy is less like a traditional bankruptcy case in which a debtor is faced with financial difficulties or a judgment that it cannot satisfy Hale wrote, and more like cases in which courts have found bankruptcy was filed to gain an unfair advantage in litigation or to avoid a regulatory scheme.
His decision followed 11 days of testimony and arguments. Lawyers for New York and the NRAs former advertising agency grilled the groups embattled top executive, Wayne LaPierre, who acknowledged putting the NRA into Chapter 11 bankruptcy without the knowledge or assent of most of its board and other top officers.
You May Like: How To Claim Bankruptcy In Massachusetts
Nra Filing For Bankruptcy Cites Toxic Political Environment
Despite a pending bankrupt status, officials wrote in a press release that the organization remains financially strong.
FAIRFAX, Va. Friday afternoon, the National Rifle Association of America announces its plans to file for bankruptcy.
Officials say it will be restructured as a Texas nonprofit to exit what it believes is a corrupt political and regulatory environment.
Despite a pending bankrupt status, officials wrote in a press release that the organization remains financially strong.
The NRA will need court approval to incorporate the Association in the State of Texas.
Read the NRAs full press release below:
In Rebuke To Nra Federal Judge Dismisses Bankruptcy Case
The N.R.A. filed for bankruptcy this year as it sought to end run regulatory action in New York, but a judge rejected the strategy.
- Read in app
-
Send any friend a story
As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.
Give this article
- Read in app
By Danny Hakim
The National Rifle Associations attempt to evade a legal challenge from New York regulators was tossed out by a federal bankruptcy judge on Tuesday, in a ruling that cast further doubt on whether the groups embattled chief executive, Wayne LaPierre, would remain at the helm after three decades in power.
The ruling was a victory for Letitia James, the New York attorney general, whose office is seeking to remove Mr. LaPierre and shut down the gun rights group amid a long-running corruption investigation.
Mr. LaPierre, the face of the American gun lobby, now battered by the N.R.A.s internecine warfare and revelations of extravagant personal spending, had sought to end-run Ms. James by relocating to Texas and filing for bankruptcy there. But the gambit instead proved a strategic blunder: The testimony over a 12-day trial only buttressed Ms. Jamess contentions of corruption, and led the judge, Harlin D. Hale, to declare, The N.R.A. is using this bankruptcy case to address a regulatory enforcement problem, not a financial one.
An appeal could be difficult.
But the future for the N.R.A. itself, and in particular Mr. LaPierre, will become more uncertain.
Don’t Miss: Epiq Corporate Restructuring
Broken & Bankrupt: The Nra In 2021
National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre and the rest of the NRA leadership are on borrowed time after a year of lawsuits, investigations, and personal embarrassments stemming from allegations of gross mismanagement of the organization. While the power and influence they have built will take years to dissipate fully, the bottom line is clear: the past year has been a disaster for the NRA, and LaPierre in particular.
NRA leaders were forced to reveal in bankruptcy proceedings the depths of their mismanagement and incompetence, spent millions just to lose control of both the White House and Congress, and found themselves at odds with the public at every turn as they pushed an extremist agenda.1
In the courtroom, it would be difficult for the NRA to find itself on worse footing. It is facing litigation not only from former vendors but also the New York and District of Columbia attorneys general for the extravagant spending that has come to define CEO Wayne LaPierres tenure. In the face of these threats, the NRA made what might be its most desperate move yet: a Hail Mary bankruptcy filing in Texas in search of a proverbial get-out-of-jail-free card.
Put plainly, the NRA couldnt even file bankruptcy correctly.
It didnt work. In its Chapter 11 filing, the NRA spent millions on legal fees only to get
Put plainly, the NRA couldnt even file bankruptcy correctly.
Jump to:
Texas Judge Blocks Nra From Declaring Bankruptcy
May 12, 2021 / 7:19 AM / MoneyWatch
A federal judge in Texas ruled Tuesday that the National Rifle Association cannot file for bankruptcy, a decision that calls into question the gun-rights group’s plan to relocate its headquarters to escape oversight by New York regulators.
Judge Harlin Hale’s decision comes almost 10 months after New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against the NRA, accusing four of the organization’s top executives of mismanaging funds and violating state and federal laws.
#BREAKING: A judge has ruled in our favor and rejected the ‘s attempt to claim bankruptcy and reorganize in Texas.
The does not get to dictate if and where it will answer for its actions, and our case will continue in New York court.
No one is above the law.
NY AG James May 11, 2021
In January, the NRA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from its debts, declaring its intent to reorganize and relocate to Texas. The NRA is based in Virginia but has long been chartered as a nonprofit organization in New York state.
“Although we are disappointed in some aspects of the decision, there is no change in the overall direction of our association, its programs or its Second Amendment advocacy,” LaPierre said in a statement after the ruling.
“We remain an independent organization that can chart its own course, even as we remain in New York to confront our adversaries,” he added.
Recommended Reading: How Many Times Has Donald Trump Filed For Bankruptcy
Nra Election Failures Underscore Its Waning Influence
If you look at what has happened to the NRAs public image and their public communications in the last three years, its a graduate level course in what not to do in communication. That organization in 2016 was at its pinnacle, and perhaps the most powerful political organization in the United States at the time. And in three years, it has disappeared from the scene, not mentioned, not heard of, and you just got a textbook example of what a national election looks like without the NRA involved.
Tony Makris, Longtime NRA Advisor and Supporter128
Due in large part to scandal, legal bills, and extremism, the NRAs declining influence in the policy and electoral sphere was on full display in the past year. At the ballot box, the NRA lost the three races in which it invested the most organizational resources: the White House and the two US Senate races in Georgia.
The contrast between 2016 and 2020 could not be more stark. In 2016, the NRA was the largest independent group supporting Donald Trumps candidacy, spending a reported $31.2 million on the presidential race.129 In 2020, the amount the NRA spent supporting Trump dropped some 47 percent, to $16.6 million.130 Overall, the NRAs spending on all federal elections dropped from $54.4 million in 2016 to $29.1 million in 2020.131
*** *** ***
New York Attorney General Seeks to Dissolve NRA, Associated Press, August 6, 2020 .
Trial testimony of Owen Mills In RE: NRA Bankruptcy Trial, April 20, 2021, 21:4.
Id. at 22:18-23.
Nra In The News: Nra Bankruptcy Case Is Dismissed What Happens Next
With the bankruptcy case of the NRA dismissed, the NRA says it plans to re-file the case in September. The NRA says that the documents filed in court do not reflect the true financials of the association and that the organization has fallen victim to an anti-gun group that is bent on destroying it. The NRA now claims the Chapter 11 filing was to get out from under its debts that it could not pay.
We shall see what transpires next. In the meantime, New York Attorney General Letitia James is free to pursue the NRA. No doubt we will see NRA in the news soon again.
Don’t Miss: What Is Epiq Bankruptcy Solutions Llc
Early Commentary In Federal Courts
In the century following the ratification of the Bill of Rights, the intended meaning and application of the Second Amendment drew less interest than it does in modern times. The vast majority of regulation was done by states, and the first case law on weapons regulation dealt with state interpretations of the Second Amendment. A notable exception to this general rule was Houston v. Moore, 18U.S.1, where the Supreme Court mentioned the Second Amendment in an aside.
What Precipitated This Announcement
New York Attorney General Letitia James sued the NRA in 2020 over alleged financial irregularities, such as improperly making millions of dollars in payments to benefit longtime leader Wayne LaPierre and other executives. Among the lawsuits allegations is a claim that the NRA tried to disguise trips to the Bahamas and other forms of lavish compensation as business expenses. James seeks to dissolve the organization. Though it disputes many of the charges, the organization has admitted to experiencing a significant diversion of assets through reimbursements for personal expenses. These issues have also resulted in litigation stemming from the relationship with marketing and public relations firm Ackerman McQueen.
A New York state judge on Jan. 21 dismissed the NRAs effort to quash the New York attorney generals lawsuit or move it to a federal court in Albany, the state capital.
Also Check: Leasing A Car During Chapter 13