Opinion
Washington, D.C. –-(Ammoland.com)- Washington, D.C., Attorney General Karl A. Racine has joined New York State Attorney General Letitia James in issuing subpoenas to the National Rifle Association and now its NRA foundation.
The Washington, D.C. subpoena is to see if the gun rights group violated its Nonprofit Act. This is a direct threat to the NRA Foundation, the primary source of all NRA fundraising and monies. The targeting of any of the NRA organizations nonprofit status is an existential threat. If the NRA were to lose its nonprofit status, the organization could be dissolved, assets liquidated and membership disbanded.
“The Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia has issued subpoenas to the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) and the NRA Foundation, Inc., as part of an investigation into whether these entities violated the District’s Nonprofit Act,” Racine said in a statement Friday.
Racine is seeking financial records, payments to vendors, and payments to officers and directors of the two entities.
The Attorney General office in Washington, D.C., has the authority to bring court actions to dissolve a nonprofit corporation. Racine will have to show that the NRA misuses funds or acts in a way that is contrary to its charitable purposes.
The NRA’s attorney William A. Brewer III said that the organization would comply and cooperate with all subpoenas issued by the Washington D.C. attorney general. He insinuated that the NRA has nothing to hide from the city.
“The NRA has full confidence in its accounting practices and commitment to good governance,” Brewer told the Hill. “The Association’s financials are audited, and its tax filings are verified by one of the most reputable firms in the world. Internally, the Association has an appropriate conflict of interest policy, which provides that all potential conflicts are reviewed and scrutinized by the Audit Committee.”
The subpoenas from D.C. follow New York’s subpoenas which the state filed in April. The Empire State subpoenas came after a report from the anti-gun site The Trace. The report alleged financial mismanagement by the NRA that took the form of vendors and executives receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in payouts.
The NRA recently split ties from their long-time advertising agency Ackerman McQueen. The firm produced NRATV. The NRA paid Ackerman McQueen $42 million in 2017, which was 14% of the NRA’s total budget. The NRA requested analytics from the media agency, but Ackerman McQueen was either unable or unwilling to provide the data to the NRA.
The NRA filed a lawsuit against Ackerman McQueen claiming breach of contract. Last month the NRA shut down all new programming on NRATV effectively killing the venture. Stars like Colion Noir and Dana Loesch were employees of Ackerman McQueen and not the NRA. Loesch allegedly was making one million dollars a year.
The NRA has also paid $400,000 to an ex-football star for public outreach. The AGs are claiming that the money spent is contrary to its nonprofit purposes. The two AGs have listed other similar payments. These payments could also be an avenue to bring in donations to the organization.
New York State has also pressured banks and insurance provider to cut ties with the NRA and their Carry Guard program. With the exit of Chris Cox and Oliver North from the NRA over the alleged “coup” [it is not a coup when your bosses discuss replacing you] attempt of Wayne LaPierre, these anti-gun attorney generals feel that the gun-rights group were vulnerable to attack.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) has been investigating the NRA for alleged ties to Russia. He is trying to find financial connections between the organization and Putin’s regime. Democrats in the House have also expressed concerns about the relationship between the NRA and Russia.
Gun rights activist see all these attacks as a means for Democrats to shut down the NRA. Almost all the Democrat candidates for president have made shutting down the NRA a priority. It would be almost impossible for a Democrat to run as a pro-NRA candidate.
Attorney General Racine did not return AmmoLands calls.
About John Crump
John is an NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot-News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement, including 3%’ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on leftist deplatforming methods and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, on Facebook at realjohncrump, or www.crumpy.com.
The current NRA leaders have taken lessons from our own government. We send them money and they do as they damn well please with it then ask for more. You would think we work for them rather than the other way around. all I can say is that my checkbook is closed.
The NRA B.O.D. is giving them all they need to shut em down. They are as bad as the liberal swamp in D.C.!!!
Why is Isn’t this a matter for the local, state or federal law inforcement ? Isn’t the office of the attorney general at any level supposed to go after corruption at the law enforcement level? For instance, a mayor who ignores a constitutional law and the local district attorney ignores the wrong doing. Then the state attorney general does not enforce it because of party line courtesy. These lower levels get away with anything if the public is kept in the dark. But now an investigation of the NRA? Where was the attorney general when the Clinton foundation was suspect?
People, the BATTLE is far greater than you realize. This is only one front . STOP cursing the leadership.
When you do, you are abetting/empowering the people seeking to subjugate this Country.
Proverbs 18:21 ” The power of death and life is in the tongue.
If you could see the war in the atmosphere, far greater than you could imagine…
Speak / write words of reconciliation / life, repentance in all situations
I get your point, but it’s like asking Russians in the 30s to support Stalin because the other forces in the world want to get rid of communism. Supporting the current leadership of the NRA, which doesn’t seem to be doing what the members want, and has been ignoring us for many years, is simply asking us to support arrogant and conniving leaders (Wayne in particular) who are not likely to help the organization find its way in the future. There are ALWAYS plenty of groups and politicians trying to destroy the NRA. Supporting bad leadership helps THEM, not us.
I see this as the obvious abuse of the Judicial Branch to attack a long standing organization (NRA) that supports freedoms, many of which the political opposition want to abolish. These corrupt NY judges need to be disbarred. They have attacked every foundation that conflicts with their political agendas. Those of you, who are ranting about LaPierre and other such nonsense are approaching tin foil hat territory. The majority of criticisms directed at the NRA are unsubstantiated claims. Many of these claims have been refuted and proven to be unsubstantiated. The political opposition is abusing the Judicial Branch in NY… Read more »
I guess the NRA has its own ‘5th Column’. It was just a matter of time. And the same will occur with the other organizations.
In Agreement with most here. The Mess the NRA is in currently is of its own making, not the machinations of the DNC. If the NRA is dissolved, oh well. I moved onto the GOA quite a while back. We gave them a decade, 10 full years, to listen to the membership and try and fix what was going on. They refused to listen, and right now every single idiot who ranted and raged about our criticisms that they adamantly called us “tools of the left” for trying to warn them, each should have their cowardly little heads hidden under… Read more »
@Rev, Yep, the love of money is the root of all evil.
It occurs to me that anyone who has anything on loan to the NRA museum had better take a u-haul over and pick up their stuff. When the DC and NYS governments get their hands on the goods they’ll engrave their numbers on the items to inventory them.
I would be pissed if they defaced some excellent stuff of mine and then didn’t store it properly.
For years.
Just saying.
I also recommend you change your beneficiary. The Second Amendment Foundation is named in our trust. Any contribution to them is tax-deductible and will help provide more for your heirs when the estate is settled after your death. They are the people who got the Heller and MacDonald decisions through the Supreme Court. Give them your support.
Like ebola in a human body wlp is to our nra! I really wonder whats going to remain when this concludes!
Any who knowingly aid and abet this crook need to be punished as much as he is.
We should have been more watchful as well and i bet we wont make the same mistake.
The good news is our constitution doesnt require the nra to survive and even be restored.
As long as one liberty minded patriot draws air and fights for it,,,,,it lives!
If you never say anything else again, at least this comment from you is one of the best ever offered here on Ammoland.
“The good news is our constitution doesnt require the nra to survive and even be restored.
As long as one liberty minded patriot draws air and fights for it,,,,,it lives!”
On top of the NYS & D.C. Attorney General’s investigations, there’s also the Congressional, House & Senate, investigation into the NRA’s finances, tax returns, and non-profit status. This is where our current NRA leadership has led us.
It doesn’t really matter how this turns out. Thanks to the indiscretions of LaPierre and his cronies, the NRA has been neutralized for at least the next two to three years, as most of its resources will have to go into its defense. That’s how long the Left will be able to drag out the investigation and court actions. Those years represent crucial lobbying battles lost.
Dear NRA BoD, If you will not fire Wayne and Marrion, then we will fire you.
This !
Wayne L.’s spending habits are going to be hard to defend (expen$ive clothing, lavish travel, young ‘intern’ private apartment, etc.). Good luck, NRA, you had your chance to boot out Wayne L. earlier this year and you blew it….
Will, I’m also a former member of the TSRA. I, too, went a couple of rounds with the TSRA over Dennis “Jackass” Bonnen and HB357. Gov. Abbot said NOTHING in support of that bill. Neither did the Lt. Gov., the Attorney General, my state representative (Reggie Smith, Republican), or my state Senator (Bob Hall, Republican). They can all kiss my ass, I’m done with Republicans in Texas.