The Attorney General of New York is trying to get rid of the National Rifle Association, not by prosecuting them, but by outright dissolving the organization via civil suite, including taking their assets to distribute to charities as the state of New York sees fit. The Summons also asks to bar them from soliciting or collecting funds and void transactions entered into or proposed by defendants.
Also, the complaint they filed has exactly 666 allegations!

How and why?
How: New York can get away with this because the NRA was chartered in New York and can’t just reincorporate in another state, but to gain the permission of the Attorney General to dissolve and transfer its assets. They are doing this via civil suite because the threshold for guilt is lowered “from ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ to ‘a preponderance of the evidence.’”
Why: The leadership has been accused by people within the gun community and the NRA itself of using the NRA as a personal piggy bank and appropriating funds for their personal use. Since it appears likely that a good amount of this could be shown with “a preponderance of the evidence” the leadership has not only exposed themselves but the entirety of the NRA to punishment, including total dissolution and confiscation of assets.
For this reason, many in the gun community are cheering on the death of the NRA! They are cutting of their nose to spite their face.
“Look, guys, the largest 2A lobbying organization in the country being dissolved is great for us! Bloomberg won’t be totally uncontested in that space now, because we like to pretend that Southern Valley Gun Enthusiasts sending one letter a year to their local state comptroller can just slide right in and take over for the NRA.
“Also, the only nationwide training certification organization going down will be nothing but great for gun owners. Not to mention all those ranges closing because they just lost the entity that provided them the start-up loan and insurance!
“But most of all, what we really want to celebrate here is that a rabidly anti-gun state can ultimately succeed at dismantling a nationwide organization when their other attempts – such as prohibiting insurers licensed in the state from doing business with the organization – fail. That’s the kind of power we want anti-gun states to have.”
There are complaints, of course, by people who think the NRA does nothing, always caves, and otherwise doesn’t push hard enough for gun rights. This ignores that the NRA is more than just fighting political fights and has the breadth, history, and prestige that no other organization has.
How bad is this?











