The National Rifle Association announced Friday that it has filed for bankruptcy and will move out of New York and restructure the organization as a nonprofit in Texas.
The nation’s leading gun rights advocacy group said that the move to Texas will enable the group to “exit what it believes is a corrupt political and regulatory environment in New York.”
“By exiting New York, where the NRA has been incorporated for approximately 150 years, the NRA abandons a state where elected officials have weaponized the legal and regulatory powers they wield to penalize the Association and its members for purely political purposes,” the NRA said in a statement.
New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit seeking to dissolve the NRA in August, alleging that senior leaders of the group misused tens of millions of dollars, diverting the funds for personal use and other illegal purposes.
The NRA denied the allegations and filed a lawsuit of its own against James, accusing her of violating the group’s free speech rights and requesting that her investigation be blocked. The move to Texas and restructuring of the group could prevent the New York attorney general from seeking the dissolution of the group.
The group filed Chapter 11 petitions in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dallas, listing assets and liabilities of $100 million to $500 million.
However, the NRA insists that the move and reincorporation of the non-profit “comes at a time when the NRA is in its strongest financial condition in years.”
The group said there would be no immediate changes to its operations or workforce and promised to "continue with the forward advancement of the enterprise – confronting anti-Second Amendment activities, promoting firearm safety and training, and advancing public programs across the United States."
