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The National Rifle Association, the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, is shutting down in New York State in order to reincorporate in Texas. By doing so, the NRA hopes to escape the partisan political prosecution (some would say persecution) by New York State Attorney General Leticia James. The NRA has opened a new website with their presentation of the move and the reasons behind it.

From a hasty reading of the press release and the rest of the new website, it looks as though the NRA is declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy to dissolve the corporation currently registered in New York State while simultaneously re-incorporating in Texas, with the bankruptcy court’s approval.

Undoubtedly the NRA will try to transfer as many assets to the newly incorporated NRA as possible. Whether the filing and prepackaged reorganization has any effect on the association’s management or structure remains to be seen.

Obviously NRA members will have lots of questions and the website tries to tackle some of the most common concerns. At the same time, detractors of America’s strongest and largest gun rights organization will see “NRA” and “bankruptcy” in the same sentence and break into champaign-popping celebration. No doubt the mainstream media hacks will characterize the move in the worst possible light.

Image via NRA Facebook page

The “Letter from Wayne” to NRA members starts it off on the NRAForward website:

Dear NRA Members & Supporters:

Today, the NRA announced a restructuring plan that positions us for the long-term and ensures our continued success as the nation’s leading advocate for constitutional freedom – free from the toxic political environment of New York.

The plan can be summed up quite simply: We are DUMPING New York, and we are pursuing plans to reincorporate the NRA in Texas.

To facilitate the strategic plan and restructuring, the NRA and one of its subsidiaries have filed voluntary chapter 11 petitions in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division. As you may know, chapter 11 proceedings are often utilized by businesses, nonprofits and organizations of all kinds to streamline legal and financial affairs…

More from LaPierre with the reasons behind the bold move (emphasis in the original).

But they know today’s announcement makes us bigger, stronger and more prepared for the fight for freedom.

We are leaving the state of an attorney general who, just a few months ago, vowed to put us out of business through an abuse of legal and regulatory power. In fact, the gross overreach of the New York Attorney General and New York Governor has been resoundingly criticized by powerful national groups like the ACLU and a host of prominent legal scholars.

Subject to court approval, the NRA is pursuing plans to reincorporate in the State of Texas. The Lone Star State is home to more than 400,000 NRA Members and the site of our 2021 Annual Meeting being held in Houston.

Texas values the contributions of the NRA, celebrates our law-abiding members, and joins us as a partner in upholding constitutional freedom.

Under this plan, we seek protection from New York officials who illegally abused and weaponized the powers they wield against the NRA and its members. You can be assured the Association will continue the fight to protect your interests in New York – and all forums where the NRA is unlawfully singled out for its Second Amendment advocacy.

On the Q&A page, the NRA leadership offers some explanations, including this one about “Is the NRA going ‘bankrupt’?”:

Is the NRA going “bankrupt?”

No. In fact, this move comes at a time when the NRA is in its strongest financial condition in years.

To facilitate its reorganization, the NRA and one of its subsidiaries filed voluntary chapter 11 petitions in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division. The NRA is not insolvent.

We expect no impacts to NRA programming.

Nothing is more important to the NRA than protecting the Second Amendment rights of our law-abiding members. We will be as effective as ever in advocating for your rights, promoting firearms education and training, and engaging in public endeavors.

“Strongest financial condition in years?” Color plenty of us skeptical about that. And denying that the “NRA is going bankrupt” is patently false. The association is filing a pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. By any measure, the NRA has gone bankrupt, albeit on its own terms.

In better news, later on the Q&A page, they write that they expect to complete this transfer of the corporation, in a sense, from Gov. Cuomo’s hostile Empire State to the much friendlier Lone Star State within six months, again with the court’s approval.

Of course Shannon Watts is doing a Snoopy dance on Twitter with the news, claiming the bankruptcy means the NRA is going away. Just like Hillary fans on election day 2016 suffered a bit of a letdown when reality intruded, Shannon’s excitement may be a little premature.

This move, if allowed to proceed by the courts, is — finally — one of the smartest things Wayne and crew have done in the past few years. Plenty of people have wondered why the NRA remained incorporated in New York State as long as they did given the hostile climate there from the radicals who run that state.

Will this allow the NRA to get itself out, at least to some degree, from under the thumb of Leticia James? Time will tell.

Clearly, releasing this news late on a Friday afternoon of a quasi-holiday weekend, the NRA hoped to minimize the coverage (as if). Give this a few days and hopefully we can more fully discern truth from spin when it comes to the reality of this announcement.

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117 COMMENTS

      • Proud to say I did not partake in the knee jerk rush to jump ship. Didn’t join the NRA for life to be a fair weather friend…I wonder how many of the NRA bashers purchased a one year and after years of no renewals told people they are NRA members?

        Welcome to Texas NRA…The crying is over and there’s a lot of work to be done.

        • “Welcome to Texas NRA…The crying is over and there’s a lot of work to be done.”

          Yeah, like sucking in donations to continue to be flak bait, while the real work of defending the Second Amendment is done by less known groups who know what they are doing.

        • “Yeah, like sucking in donations to continue to be flak bait, while the real work of defending the Second Amendment is done by less known groups who know what they are doing.”

          If they’re effective at that job that would be a plus, no?

          • “If they’re effective at that job that would be a plus, no?”

            Which “they” are you thinking of?

        • Not me. Never was a member, and unless they suddenly start supporting gun rights, I never will be.

          I was relatively young and just beginning to earn enough to really start collecting guns when the 94 AWB happened. NRA sold us out fast and hard. Later on I would learn that it wasn’t the first time they had sold us out. And I personally saw it not be the last time. Being involved in gun activism on the state level for 12 years, I have seen lots of NRA shenanigan’s.

          I won’t say I’ll never forgive them. But they have a lot of making up to do

        • There is a difference between a smart move and a survival move.
          This is a survival move.
          How smart? TBD New place, ….faces and names remain the same.
          The NRA is like the government. Was suppose to work for the people. Over time both have morphed in to something that has turned on its people.

        • Does that one guy who always cuts/pastes the same talking points about how the NRA has betrayed gun owners in every thread about the NRA still post here? I haven’t visited this blog in a while.

          • “es that one guy who always cuts/pastes the same talking points about how the NRA has betrayed gun owners in every thread about the NRA still post here?”

            Yes we do. About 70% of the comments here are me pretending to be everyone else. Cutting and pasting saves so much time when you have so many plates in the air at once. Which of my screen names is “that one guy” you are asking about? I don’t want to punish the wrong screen name.

        • Good to hear Mr. LaPierre, always a smart move to ditch the blue states. Finally some good news in all this…muck.
          Getting hell out of blue state holes is always a good move, but the anti-NRA cunts will bitch about anything WLP does at this point, right or wrong.

    • Now all they need to do is get of Wayne and install someone who doesn’t think they are royalty.

  3. Without reading you whole story unless the board of directors & Wayne are out…..I care as much about them as I do “Heals up Harris” & “Dementia Joe” fuck em!

    • I would think it’s kinda hard for Creepy Joe and his minions to go after the NRA if they filled bankruptcy.

      What laws and regs kick in when a corporation does this?

      • What happens is while the nra is in lingo is the democrats try to pass communist gun laws and the nra will remain more silent than they have in recent past. Im done with the nra.

        • This.

          What a joke. They filed bankruptcy cuz they are taking your money and running with it, fudds. You should have bought gear and ammo instead. Gotten your HAM license. Do something besides give these assholes money.

  5. I don’t know about y’all but until Wayne steps down I’m never going to donate any more money or renew my membership to the NRA.

    • I quit donating to the NRA years ago because of their financial mismanagement. When my membership expires, I’ll fore go my monthly American Rifleman.

  7. Yeah, whatever …. tell me when Wayne LaPayMe!!! and his sycophants have been booted out. That is when I will buy a new NRA membership.

    Not one cent more until Wayne is gone!!!!!!

    • Don’t about how deep in the blue TX will go or if that apparent shift will prove illusory, but there better opportunities for a revamped and remade NRA. In Arizona where the Biden and Kelly wins were about Trump, nothing more. Or Oklahoma, even redder there.

      Where ever the NRA goes, two things matter most:
      1. Wayne must go!
      2. Legal challenges must be pushed hard to the Supreme Court while the 5.5 conservative votes are there.

    • They thought there was going to be a blue wave but it was barely a ripple. NRA, welcome to the future Republic of Texas !

  9. What took so freaking long? It’s not like everyone else thought this should have happened a long time ago.

  10. “Is the NRA going “bankrupt?”
    No. In fact, this move comes at a time when the NRA is in its strongest financial condition in years.”

    Do any lawyers here understand how a company filed Chap 11 Bankruptcy, then claim not to be bankrupt?

    • Seems like a good way to have the bankruptcy judge throw out your filing, to me. “I’m declaring bankruptcy because I can’t pay my bills, but also I’ve totally got more cash than ever before.” Seems like the standard NRA clusterfuckery we’ve come to expect under Wayne’s tenure.

    • IANAL and I don’t know about them anyway, but from what I’ve observed over the years, Chapter 11 doesn’t mean an organization is financially insolvent (which is what we generally assume bankruptcy to mean) or going tits up, but that it seeks a legal restructuring in order to *prevent* itself from going that way.

      So while “we’re in better financial shape than ever” doesn’t pass the sniff test, they could still be in decent operating shape *and* have good reason to pursue a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorg. Maybe. But again, IANAL.

      Side note: Am I the only one that sees IANAL as “I ANAL” and wonders if the user of the acronym really does?

      • “Side note: Am I the only one that sees IANAL as “I ANAL” and wonders if the user of the acronym really does?”

        Wow. Someone needs a beer.

        • Fuck me to tears. I’m laughing my abs tight after reading this.
          This was funnier than the kick a b!tch comment the other day, and I’m still laughing at that one.

          • “Fuck me to tears. I’m laughing my abs tight after reading this.”

            Happy to be here. Grateful for the opportunity. Proud to serve.

        • So, if it really is “I ANAL” does it mean the writer really IS a lawyer?

          • “So, if it really is “I ANAL” does it mean the writer really IS a lawyer?”

            Aren’t there some things even a lawyer won’t do?

        • “his was funnier than the kick a b!tch comment the other day, and I’m still laughing at that one.”

          Thank you, I am honored and aim to please. 🙂

          (As an ex of mine told me all the time – “For cripe’s sake, will you at least please aim?”)

      • Chapter 7 means, “I’m broke and giving up. The creditors can fight over the little that’s left.” Chapter 11 is restructuring so that the organization can survive to pay its creditors something. They will probably take a haircut but will get more under Chapter 11 than under Chapter 7.

        I, too, wonder about the wisdom of reincorporating in Texas. It’s friendly to business but will that be enough? There are other states (e.g. South Dakota, Wyoming) whose politics are more friendly.

  11. To all you antifags/Burn Loot Murder Agent provocuteurs (as DC on Jan 6) with all your your do nothing anti NRA hating basement whining – go away.

    The NRA is STILL the big target that the progs and demtards HATE. The NRA still does the heavy lifting in DC. Every other gun rights org is just a wannabe pimple on the butt. Get INVOLVED at local level and stop pissin in the wind/whining. Worse than the GOP RINOs.

    • FPC and SAF are filing lawsuits all across the country and at the SC. NRA is trying to figure out how to keep their self-dealing officers and board members out of jail. NRA is a shadow of what they were. Nothing new execs and board couldn’t fix. This is a step in the right direction.

    • Bruh, take your own advice.

      Oh, and fuck the NRA.

      Don’t believe the news. You never did before, but now all the sudden it’s leftists infiltrating “peaceful” protests? Man get real. They took it to the source, not one local business harmed, and the government shit bricks and fed you lies cuz it worked. Those assholes got a taste of what 2020 was like, up close and personal. They should have burned the fucking capital to the ground. While you sit back and DO NOTHING. whining.

      Storming the capital was the most patriotic shit that’s been done in america in a VERY long time. Your loyalty to the NRA and fudd mentality turning on patriots is loyalist at best. You are the RINO. Dumbass.

  12. Chapter 11 is nothing special.

    Chapter 7 is super bad news.

    At lest, they are giving NY the FU and going somewhere a bit better.

      • I called member services and put myself on the ‘do not market’ list right after I upgraded to Life. Other than board election ballots, I get nothing from them. No mail, no calls, no emails other than the digital magazine, which I eventually unsubscribed from.

  14. As long as they keep being the bait so that gun orgs can keep getting stuff done.

    I’ll say that I wonder if Wayne can pull the same grift twice. Also, I wonder if chapter 11 would protect them against alleged wrongdoing or not. I am not an attorney but I’m sure they consulted plenty. I’m just wondering if it’s the cure they think it is.

    Also where would this put the state orgs?

    • I’m sure the NRA consulted with (not so) knowledgeable insurance professionals before starting Carry Guard. We know how that turned out. In addition, Carry Guard sucked as a program to cover its clients’ legal bills.

  15. The cause of gun rights had momentum after 2004, but you all urinated it away. Short attention spans, lack of focus, lack of resolve. Prolly 99 percent of people reading this comment – gun rights would be better off without you. It’s too bad you didn’t end up anti-gun somehow and disease the other side with your existence.

  16. I wonder if they got their mandatory credit counseling and how they established an existing domicile under TX law and bankruptcy law.

    It would be typical of their recent blundering if they failed on these points and the venue was transferred back to NY.

    Wayne, the NRA, the Republican House, Republican Senate and Republican Presidency did nothing for the POTG in 2017-2018 when they had the ability. Are we supposed to rejoice that they’re still tripping around and failing to perform their core functions?

    Now it is too late. Now the Dems can stack the Supreme Court and anything can happen. Thanks for the blown opportunities, Wayne. What’s your brilliant plan now that the NRA is bankrupt and the entire legislature and Presidency is lost?

    • “Wayne, the NRA, the Republican House, Republican Senate and Republican Presidency did nothing for the POTG in 2017-2018 when they had the ability.”

      In 2017-2018, they didn’t have the 60 votes needed in the senate, so they didn’t have the ability to do pro-gun things.

      Why is that so difficult to understand?

      • “In 2017-2018, they didn’t have the 60 votes needed in the senate, so they didn’t have the ability to do pro-gun things.”

        The 60 vote requirement is not a provision of the Constitution. A simple majority can change Senate rules to remove the 60 vote tradition. Let’s see how fast Chuck U Schumer changes the rules to simple majority.

        • Someone should remind him what happened in the mid-terms after the ACA shit sandwich was rammed down our throat via cloture. Obama was effectively neutered the next 6 years.

          If Reid does that, he’s responsible when ugly things happen…

          • “Someone should remind him what happened in the mid-terms after the ACA shit sandwich…”

            The Dims have likely learned from the aftermath of jamming Obamacare….they didn’t push hard enough on everything else. Doubling down is the Dim remedy for every failure. Same reasoning they use to explain the failure of socialism/communism.

      • It’s always some weak excuse for inaction. The Democrats have proven they have absolutely no problem using power when they can seize it. They have changed the rules because they rightfully perceive the Republicans as weak and unwilling to go to the mat to really fight for.. well, anything.

        Do you really understand why they’re trying to utterly destroy Trump even when Trump has promised a peaceful transition on the 20th and is apparently going to leave DC without a fuss? Why would they feel they still need to impeach him even when he is gone? Hint: it’s not because they fear him in 2024.

        It is because Trump, with no actual effort on his part and without even asking his supporters to do anything (and actually asking them to be peaceful patriots) showed that he could have had Pelosi and the Crew and all of the Democrats literally torn from their offices and paraded through the streets or hung from lampposts. Is there any doubt that he could have done this thing?

        The reason they want to destroy him is because they *fear* him with a soul-crushing bed-wetting level of visceral terror. They are terrified cowards who have been reminded that this is still supposed to be a government of the people by the people and for the people.

        Democrats hate and fear that and now must destroy it before more people reach that realization. Their entire power base now rests upon the principle of destroying the man who could have destroyed them, but stayed his hand and espoused mercy over strife.

  17. The NRA is deluded if they think this will protect them from lawsuits in NY. If avoiding suits were this simple, no organization would ever need to worry about lawsuits anywhere, they could simply move from state to state.

    This “strategy” has been asked about on numerous websites and forums and every time it’s been punctured as hopelessly naive.

    • “This “strategy” has been asked about on numerous websites and forums and every time it’s been punctured as hopelessly naive.”

      NY may still have reach, but as a former resident in Texas, one can do a lot of things, then escape liability via bankruptcy one day, open back up as a new corp the next morning. Developers stayed alive doing that.

  18. Meh…can you win a presidency old Wayne? Didn’t think so! So much corruption-so little time. Glad I bailed June 1st.

  22. TEXAS NEEDS NRA TO PAY TAXES IN HELP TEXAS ,
    WONDER IF HELP PROVIDE JOBS DOWN HERE .
    TAKE CARE , YA ‘ALL .

  23. Let’s hope this is one of many very big changes.
    We need an NRA. We need a much, much better NRA.

    • Yep, great first step that they should have made 20 years ago. Step two is getting Wayne to exit since even if he wasn’t involved in fleecing NRA his personal brand is poison.

  24. This is a good first step. Any organization any company needs to be in Friendly territory. In order to continue to exist in the long-term. Now they need to get rid of Wayne and shrink the board down to no more than 12 members.

    But was the board consulted on this action before an announcement was made? Or is it just Wayne LaPierre doing what he thinks he needs to do?

  26. We need executives in the NRA to actually shoot on a regular basis. Be actual POTG.

    Have never seen Wayne shoot any gun.

    It starts at the top.

    • They don’t need to be shooters. They need to care more about gun rights and the gun community than filling their own pockets and living high on the hog, like the CEO of a multibillion dollar company.

  29. Not really seeing how this protects them from any legal actions in NY. Those suits are already filed and I suspect the court won’t just go “Oh, you moved to TX. Cases dismissed.”

  31. I did not renew my membership in 2020 because of the squandering of money. When Wayne and the other filthy rich swamp creatures are no longer run the NRA, I will join again. Do the math and see how many individual membership dues it takes just to pay Wayne, it should disgust you.

  32. Yeah, moving from NY to Texas is a great idea. What would be a better idea is to PURGE Wayne LaPierra and all of his cronies from the NRA. Re-staff it with people that actually give a damn about the 2A instead of just Wayne’s $5K suit and cocaine habit.

    • Just wait for the day when the news reports WLP and his mistress, err intern, are found dead with a kilo of primo Colombian White on the table.

  33. TRUE IDIOCY !! Moving to Texas at a point in time when 65% of the population lives in large urban — DEMOCRATICALLY RULED — cities, when it is obvious that the entire state will swing demoncratic in the next election, and they will be ambushed and stomped on by all the anti-gunners with the assistance of the TEXAS congressional delegation. Dumber than Dirt, that’s what they have proven to be.

    Oklahoma, now, would make some kind of sense.

  35. You know the slogan for Austin …”Keep It Weird” ….that’s probably where they’ll fall off the slide! Or I should say where they grab the brass ring on merry-go-round…..

  36. I kind of my doubts about the NRA when Moses the Musket bearing Ape fighter handed the keys to Wyane

    • What are you talking about? WLP was CEO and EVP long before Heston was elected, and he’s still there. The NRA President is largely a PR/honorary position. WLP holds the power.

  37. The NRA should have done the move to a 2nd Amendment friendly state about 40 or 50 years ago. What city will the NRA be in thou? A lot of Texas cities are not friendly to the 2nd Amendment with all the California people moving to Texas.

  38. NRA STILL IS the oldest civil organization in the country.

    It has done a LOT to help gun-rights, as evidenced by the continual harassment from the left ( and from some on the right).
    I’m a proud member, and have been for years, right along with the other 5,000,000 members.

    Especially now, we need ALL the help we can get not to lose our Bill of Rights.

  39. Love or hate them, the NRA is still the main one that makes the politicians quake. I’m kinda-sorta going to commit Godwin’s Law here, but the NRA is like Germany’s Army Group Center on the Eastern front and the gun controllers are like the Red Army. Army Group Center was the core of the German military forces on the Eastern front (the other two were Army Groups North and South). But without knocking out Army Group Center, the Germans remained a force to be reckoned with and no killer blow was doable. The Red Army finally destroyed Army Group Center starting June 22, 1944 (three years to the day of the German invasion in 1941) with Operation Bagration. Similarly, the Left are seeking their own Bagration for the NRA, to wipe it out.

    • No, the NRA makes politicians quiver with excitement, knowing the NRA will sell out like they did repeatedly in the past. Everyone knows they’re a paper tiger.

  40. The NRA has caved into politicians for way too long. They have only represented themselves for the last 30 years. They helped let the so called Assault Weapons Ban of 1993-1994 happen when it was voted on in the 1990s. They promoted the bump stock ban and other things. Show me they are promoted our interests as a 2nd Amendment community. They could not even get a 2 bills through the house and senate when republicans were in control for 2 years. Go with GOA, SAF, and some other organizations the care about our concerns for the 2nd Amendment.

    • You need to back even further than that. The NRA was intimately involved with the writing and passing of the 1934 NFA and were also involved with the 1968 GCA. They have not been a friend of the Second Amendment more than 80 years.

  41. “By doing so, the NRA hopes to escape the partisan political prosecution (some would say persecution)…”

    It is possible for prosecutors in a liberal state to actually have a case against an allegedly conservative group.

  43. I’m a life member so cant let the membership expire, but I wont send them another nickel while LaPierre is there. His $20,000 annual suit allowance tells me all I need to know. I dont even spend half that on my house payments. I sent them money when I was young, had young kids and wasn’t earning a lot. Then I find out every afternoon they rang a bell and everyone went to the lounge to drink 25 year old scotch. Meanwhile my family was eating mac and cheese.
    They are every bit as corrupt as both political parties, who I also dont donate to.

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