Guns right advocacy group the National Rifle Association (NRA) announced it has filed for bankruptcy
The NRA will seek to incorporate the nation's most politically influential gun-rights group in Texas instead of New York.
The announcement made on the NRA's website comes months after New York's attorney general sued the organisation over claims that top executives illegally diverted tens of millions of dollars for lavish personal trips, no-show contracts for associates and other questionable expenditures.
The coronavirus pandemic has also affected the NRA, which last year laid off dozens of employees, cancelled its national convention and hampered fundraising.
But the NRA claimed in announcing the move that the organisation was "in its strongest financial condition in years".
The NRA said it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a Dallas federal court.
"The move will enable long-term, sustainable growth and ensure the NRA's continued success as the nation's leading advocate for constitutional freedom - free from the toxic political environment of New York," the NRA said in a statement.
The gun-rights group boasts about five million members. Though headquartered in Virginia, the NRA was chartered as a non-profit organisation in New York in 1871 and is incorporated in the state.
In a message issued to its members and supporters the group said the decision to file voluntary chapter 11 petitions in the United States Bankruptcy Court was not due to financial problems.
"You know that our opponents will try to seize upon this news and distort the truth," the statement said.
Advertisement
"Don't believe what you read from our enemies. The NRA is not 'bankrupt' or 'going out of business'. The NRA is not insolvent. We are as financially strong as we have been in years."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel