The National Rifle Association responded on Wednesday to a federal judge’s decision to toss the group’s bankruptcy filing, saying it “will continue to fight on all fronts in the interests of its mission and its members.”
NRA CEO and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said in a statement that he was “disappointed in some aspects of the decision” after the case was dismissed on Tuesday, adding, “There is no change in the overall direction of our Association, its programs, or its Second Amendment advocacy.”
“Today is ultimately about our members — those who stand courageously with the NRA in defense of constitutional freedom,” LaPierre wrote.
TEXAS JUDGE TOSSES NRA BANKRUPTCY FILING
When Judge Harlin Hale of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dallas dismissed the New York-founded organization’s bankruptcy filing, he claimed LaPierre was using it to “gain an unfair litigation advantage” and “to avoid a state regulatory scheme.”
The NRA filed for bankruptcy in January, claiming the move was “to exit what it believes is a corrupt political and regulatory environment in New York” and move to Texas, which it viewed as more accepting of Second Amendment rights advocates.
In his decision, Hale did leave a possible opening for the group to file for bankruptcy again in Texas.
The dismissal leaves the gun rights group to face a New York lawsuit filed by state Attorney General Letitia James last August, accusing the NRA of financial abuses and attempting to disband the organization.
Despite being headquartered in Washington, D.C., suburbs, the NRA was chartered as a nonprofit organization in New York in 1871 and is incorporated in the state.
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“We remain an independent organization that can chart its own course, even as we remain in New York to confront our adversaries. The NRA will keep fighting, as we’ve done for 150 years,” LaPierre added on Wednesday.
