7 ms·

NRA Declares Bankruptcy

57 points by Kaibeezy 6y ago

Kaibeezy 6y ago
Seeking an end-run around an investigation by the New York attorney general, the National Rifle Association said Friday that it was declaring bankruptcy and would reincorporate in Texas. ... Typically, non-profit groups that are chartered in New York and under investigation are prohibited from relocating during an inquiry...
carfentanil 6y ago
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beerandt 6y ago
The NRA has expected it would be targeted (whether justly or not) for years. Which is why must fundraising hasn't gone directly to the NRA in probably 20 years, but to other, financially separate entities, like "Friends of the NRA." The segregation isn't arbitrary for legal purposes of piercing the corporate veil because these entities have more specific and specialized purposes, like safety training programs and responsible ownership initiatives. I don't know if the strategy will end up working. In fact, I suspect it's made the NRA's finances look even more suspect, since it's basically designed to absorb liability without accumulating donations. But even if they aren't able to "move" to Texas, I expect there's little direct extractable value from NRA proper, other than the bad PR of the continued investigation. Which of course, will also be used as a reason to send more donations and support.
- Rebelgecko 6y ago
  I think for tax and organizational purposes there's legit reasons to have your PAC, lobbying group, and your 501c3 organizations separate from the overarching 501c4. IIRC any donations to the mothership aren't tax deductible, but a donation to Friends of the NRA would be
  - beerandt 6y ago
    Yea- I didn't mean to imply any illegitimacy. Just that they're more prepared for this than most people realize, and more than the article implies. Everyone considers taxes when setting these things up. Not everyone considers surviving major legal and political attacks.
- masonic 6y ago
  Friends of the NRA isn't "separate". What's separate is the lobbying arm -- the Institute for Legislative Action, and it always has been separate. LaPierre's corruption is why there was a takeover of the Board majority by actual activists (the Knox faction) in the early 1990s. That's when Tanya Metaksa led ILA.
- technologist2 6y ago
  If the NRA is a target, it is because they painted the red circles on themselves. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/The%20NRA%20%20Russia%20-%20How%20a%20Tax-Exempt%20Organization%20Became%20a%20Foreign%20Asset.pdf https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/The%20NRA%20%20... And if you don't trust the US Senate, just use duckduckgo or whatever and just put in "NRA Russia" and check out all the stories and photos of them gladhanding Russian agents in Moscow and the checks they got from it that went into NRA accounts.
  - wtfiswiththis 6y ago
    Their goose was cooked years ago. Now they don't have the cover of a certain someone's department of justice. If they are running to Texas for these reasons, and I suspect they are, there are truly some interesting events in court ahead of us.
pjc50 6y ago
This doesn't appear to be a consequence of their politics but of their grift: the money has been taken from the organization by its officers in what looks like a standard control fraud.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- pseudo0 6y ago
  Typically, that results in the responsible officers facing civil or criminal consequences and being replaced by new leadership. In this case however, the New York attorney general is seeking to dissolve the organization entirely, an extreme step that certainly appears to be motivated by partisan animus.
h2odragon 6y ago
Once, the NRA was a membership organization, where votes from members elected officers that ran the operation. Politics and complications of tax law made stuff "complicated" even in the late 80s. They did do some good things, like the training programs, but they were early victims of the business of activism.
- Simulacra 6y ago
  I'd agree with this. I give every time they ask, but it's gotten to be less and less. The turning point was when they sent me a knife, a nice little pocket knife. I opened it up and written at the base of the blade: CHINA. Could they not find ONE knife manufacturer in America???
D13Fd 6y ago
I absolutely support gun rights, gun advocacy necessary to protect those rights, gun education, and gun safety. But elements of the NRA leadership have been irretrievably corrupt for some time, in my opinion, and I tell them that every time they call to ask for a donation. I'm not paying for Wayne LaPierre's private jets.
- schoolornot 6y ago
  Wayne is the first thing that comes to mind when I hear NRA. Outrageous spending. Dammit.
- syshum 6y ago
  GOA, and Second Amendment Foundation have done most of the legal work in the big cases in the last few decades anyway... If you want to support Gun Rights, Support one or both of them
  - technologist2 6y ago
    I thought about supporting both... but then I went to their websites to check them out and within seconds skipped out with a huge NOPE. GOA's top story was about how the seditionist Boebert is being treated unfairly by Pelosi. That's the exact same turdhole of dangerous partisanism that I bailed from the NRA a lifetime ago on. Same rejects that supported Trump cheered when he said "Take the guns away and worry about due process later". And then he did take firearm equipment away with an executive order, not legislation, not a bill, just whipped out his pen and blammo... gone.
- pseudo0 6y ago
  Yeah, the NRA still does some useful stuff at the local level (hunter education, NRA ranges, etc) but they really need new leadership. For the moment, GOA seems like the best alternative for advocacy efforts.
- mc32 6y ago
  All institutions suffer from inertial rot. Teamsters, UAW, NRA, ACLU, even EFF. Then there are the Federal Agencies and State agencies, especially the commissions. They need to be periodically replaced wholesale with new leadership. Else "interests" take over and the mission is secondary.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

57 points by Kaibeezy 6y ago

Seeking an end-run around an investigation by the New York attorney general, the National Rifle Association said Friday that it was declaring bankruptcy and would reincorporate in Texas. ... Typically, non-profit groups that are chartered in New York and under investigation are prohibited from relocating during an inquiry...

carfentanil 6y ago

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beerandt 6y ago

The NRA has expected it would be targeted (whether justly or not) for years. Which is why must fundraising hasn't gone directly to the NRA in probably 20 years, but to other, financially separate entities, like "Friends of the NRA." The segregation isn't arbitrary for legal purposes of piercing the corporate veil because these entities have more specific and specialized purposes, like safety training programs and responsible ownership initiatives. I don't know if the strategy will end up working. In fact, I suspect it's made the NRA's finances look even more suspect, since it's basically designed to absorb liability without accumulating donations. But even if they aren't able to "move" to Texas, I expect there's little direct extractable value from NRA proper, other than the bad PR of the continued investigation. Which of course, will also be used as a reason to send more donations and support.

Rebelgecko 6y ago
I think for tax and organizational purposes there's legit reasons to have your PAC, lobbying group, and your 501c3 organizations separate from the overarching 501c4. IIRC any donations to the mothership aren't tax deductible, but a donation to Friends of the NRA would be
- beerandt 6y ago
  Yea- I didn't mean to imply any illegitimacy. Just that they're more prepared for this than most people realize, and more than the article implies. Everyone considers taxes when setting these things up. Not everyone considers surviving major legal and political attacks.
masonic 6y ago
Friends of the NRA isn't "separate". What's separate is the lobbying arm -- the Institute for Legislative Action, and it always has been separate. LaPierre's corruption is why there was a takeover of the Board majority by actual activists (the Knox faction) in the early 1990s. That's when Tanya Metaksa led ILA.
technologist2 6y ago
If the NRA is a target, it is because they painted the red circles on themselves. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/The%20NRA%20%20Russia%20-%20How%20a%20Tax-Exempt%20Organization%20Became%20a%20Foreign%20Asset.pdf https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/The%20NRA%20%20... And if you don't trust the US Senate, just use duckduckgo or whatever and just put in "NRA Russia" and check out all the stories and photos of them gladhanding Russian agents in Moscow and the checks they got from it that went into NRA accounts.
- wtfiswiththis 6y ago
  Their goose was cooked years ago. Now they don't have the cover of a certain someone's department of justice. If they are running to Texas for these reasons, and I suspect they are, there are truly some interesting events in court ahead of us.

pjc50 6y ago

This doesn't appear to be a consequence of their politics but of their grift: the money has been taken from the organization by its officers in what looks like a standard control fraud.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
pseudo0 6y ago
Typically, that results in the responsible officers facing civil or criminal consequences and being replaced by new leadership. In this case however, the New York attorney general is seeking to dissolve the organization entirely, an extreme step that certainly appears to be motivated by partisan animus.

h2odragon 6y ago

Once, the NRA was a membership organization, where votes from members elected officers that ran the operation. Politics and complications of tax law made stuff "complicated" even in the late 80s. They did do some good things, like the training programs, but they were early victims of the business of activism.

Simulacra 6y ago
I'd agree with this. I give every time they ask, but it's gotten to be less and less. The turning point was when they sent me a knife, a nice little pocket knife. I opened it up and written at the base of the blade: CHINA. Could they not find ONE knife manufacturer in America???

D13Fd 6y ago

I absolutely support gun rights, gun advocacy necessary to protect those rights, gun education, and gun safety. But elements of the NRA leadership have been irretrievably corrupt for some time, in my opinion, and I tell them that every time they call to ask for a donation. I'm not paying for Wayne LaPierre's private jets.

schoolornot 6y ago
Wayne is the first thing that comes to mind when I hear NRA. Outrageous spending. Dammit.
syshum 6y ago
GOA, and Second Amendment Foundation have done most of the legal work in the big cases in the last few decades anyway... If you want to support Gun Rights, Support one or both of them
- technologist2 6y ago
  I thought about supporting both... but then I went to their websites to check them out and within seconds skipped out with a huge NOPE. GOA's top story was about how the seditionist Boebert is being treated unfairly by Pelosi. That's the exact same turdhole of dangerous partisanism that I bailed from the NRA a lifetime ago on. Same rejects that supported Trump cheered when he said "Take the guns away and worry about due process later". And then he did take firearm equipment away with an executive order, not legislation, not a bill, just whipped out his pen and blammo... gone.
pseudo0 6y ago
Yeah, the NRA still does some useful stuff at the local level (hunter education, NRA ranges, etc) but they really need new leadership. For the moment, GOA seems like the best alternative for advocacy efforts.
mc32 6y ago
All institutions suffer from inertial rot. Teamsters, UAW, NRA, ACLU, even EFF. Then there are the Federal Agencies and State agencies, especially the commissions. They need to be periodically replaced wholesale with new leadership. Else "interests" take over and the mission is secondary.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]