The second phase of New York Attorney General Letitia James’s four-year effort to destroy and liquidate the National Rifle Association, which she called a “terrorist organization,” ended on Monday. James, the far-left prosecutor of Trump and the NRA not only failed to liquidate her enemy, but Justice Joel Cohen of the Manhattan Supreme Court ruled against her demand that an outside monitor, presumably under her control, oversee the NRA’s move to recover its credibility and its membership.
Cohen ruled that appointing an “independent” monitor would be “time-consuming, disruptive, and would impose significant costs on the NRA without corresponding benefits.” He also said he had concerns about the “speech-chilling government intrusion on the affairs of the organization,” adding that James’ demand for an outside monitor for the NRA was too “heavy handed.”
James was not left empty-handed, however, and she made the most of it. While demanding that former CEO Wayne LaPierre be banned from holding any paid position with the NRA for life (he is 74), Cohen reduced it to 10 years. And during the first phase of James’ attack on the group, both LaPierre and NRA’s financial officer, Woody Phillips, were ordered to return more than $6 million they bilked from the organization over the past decade.
James made the most of the half-a-loaf victory. She wrote on X:
A judge just ruled on the second part of our case against the NRA and its senior leaders for their years of financial corruption and found that the NRA’s leaders showed a stunning lack of accountability.
In a separate statement she declared:
The NRA and its senior leaders broke the law, and funneled millions of dollars in cash and lavish perks to themselves, their families, and NRA insiders. As a result of this case, Wayne LaPierre will be banned from the NRA for 10 years for spearheading this fraud, and the court called for additional proposed reforms to the NRA.
After years of corruption, the NRA and its senior leaders are finally being held accountable.
As she noted, her war against the NRA isn’t completely over. Judge Cohen ordered the NRA and its nemesis to meet together starting next week to review and affirm the various changes the group offered to make during the trial. This gives the anti-gun prosecutor more opportunity to inflict additional pain and suffering on the group before she’s done.
Her vitriol expressed during her campaign for AG in July 2018 remains relevant today. In a press release she vowed to “target the NRA” and “investigate the legitimacy of the NRA as a charitable organization.” She further declared that “the NRA is an organ of deadly propaganda masquerading as a charity for public good.” Most famously, she told Ebony magazine in October 2018 that “the NRA holds itself out as a charitable organization, but in fact it really is a terrorist organization.”
Since 2018 the group has lost much of its force for good in the fight to keep the Second Amendment from becoming a “second-class right,” thanks to the corruption at its highest levels. For James it was low-hanging fruit that she hoped would ultimately result in its obliteration. In that period the group has lost an estimated 1.3 million members and the corresponding revenue. As a result, the group will have precious little impact on the November presidential election as it salves its wounds and begins its recovery.
That recovery is already under way. Newly elected Executive Vice-President and CEO Doug Hamlin wrote to his employees:
As we move forward, my primary objective is to restore the trust of our members, our industry, our donors, and our staff.
Once our members see we are making progress with the changes resulting from the efforts of our Board of Directors, they will come back in significant numbers.
A similar note of encouragement came from Jeff Knox, son of Neal Knox, who took control of the NRA in 1977 following the “Revolt at Cincinnati”:
The hard work of restoring trust in the NRA has barely gotten started.
We need our members to keep pressure on the existing Directors to stop following the old establishment that caused this mess, get nomination applications for new Directors into the Nominating Committee before the August 4 deadline, and help us elect New Directors committed to true reform in the 2025 [NRA] elections.
Much progress has been made. We’re moving in the right direction…but this still a lot of work to be done.
Related article:
