Judge dismisses NRA’s bankruptcy case, allowing New York’s case to continue

A federal judge dismissed the National Rifle Association’s bid to file for bankruptcy, saying it was “not filed in good faith” but to avoid litigation from the New York attorney general, The Washington Post reports. 

The head of the gun rights organization and one of the targets in Attorney General Letitia James’s case, Wayne LaPierre, announced last year that the NRA would file for bankruptcy and aim to move to Texas from New York. Judge Harlin Hale expressed concern about the “surreptitious manner” in which LaPierre made the decision without informing most of the organization’s board of directors, the chief financial officer or the general counsel.

The news helps allow James and her office to move forward on their high-profile case, which seeks to dissolve the NRA because senior leadership allegedly misused charitable funds for personal use. “The @NRA does not get to dictate if and where it will answer for its actions, and our case will continue in New York court,” she said on Twitter. “No one is above the law.”

In a statement posted on Twitter, LaPierre said, “Although we are disappointed in some aspects of the decision, there is no change in the overall direction of our Association, its programs, or its Second Amendment advocacy.”