The NRA was once the 800 pound gorilla in the gun rights world. When they spoke, it resonated like thunder across the gun rights world. Not everyone loved them, but they were the driving force for gun rights. 

There was a reason that New York Attorney General Letitia James targeted the organization.

Her goal, though, was to destroy it. In her mind, if you kill the NRA, you kill the gun rights movement. To a degree, it seems she might have been right. While the NRA is still around, the distraction of ongoing legal battles likely kept the organization from doing everything it might have wished for the right to keep and bear arms.

According to a statement from the NRA, though, those distractions are now over.

The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) today announced the successful conclusion of a multi-year legal battle with New York Attorney General Letitia James. In August 2020, James sued to dissolve the Association and seize its assets following a campaign-trail promise to target the Association, its banks, and its donors. After the NRA defeated the NYAG’s “corporate death penalty” claim, James sought a court-appointed monitor to oversee the gun group. The court rejected that request this summer.

In the end, Justice Joel Cohen denied all invasive relief sought by the government. Instead, the court’s order is tailored to compliance and governance measures in the NRA’s interest—many proposed by the NRA itself, and several of which were already underway at the Association. The NRA pays no fines or penalties under today’s judgment. Instead, the judgment entitles the NRA to collect millions of dollars from former executives found to have breached their duties.

“The NYAG sought to shut us down, and then appoint outsiders to oversee management of this historic organization,” said NRA President Bob Barr. “Fortunately for freedom lovers everywhere, this politically motivated attempt failed. This was the ultimate stand at our moment of truth – defeating an unprecedented attack from the highest levels of New York government. The NRA remains strong, safe, and independent – continuing to protect freedoms.”

Today’s judgment caps a six-year saga during which the NRA withstood not only the NYAG’s  lawsuit, but a barrage of other blue-state regulatory actions, sweeping congressional inquiries, and a debanking effort by New York officials that became the subject of a blockbuster Supreme Court decision in June. In that case, NRA v. Vullo, all nine justices backed the Association’s First Amendment claims, and the ACLU stood shoulder to shoulder with the NRA against New York.

“The last six years have been difficult for NRA members, staff, and supporters,” said NRA CEO and Executive Vice President Doug Hamlin. “With Judge Cohen’s ruling, we can now put this challenging chapter in NRA history behind us and focus solely on the business of the members and all law-abiding gun owners. The NRA is committed to transparency, compliance, and good governance going forward. Today’s outcome ensures that NRA members can support the Association, America’s oldest civil rights organization, with confidence.”

This is good news, to say the least. The fact that the organization isn’t on the hook for fines and is instead going to collect it from people like Wayne LaPierre is only going to be good news for the NRA going forward.

It also means that the NRA can once again focus on the things they should be focusing on, namely the right to keep and bear arms.

Letitia James declared a jihad against them. She spoke openly about how she wanted to destroy the organization. She likened NRA members to terrorists. She made it her mission to hurt the NRA.

Yes, there were real problems there. Wayne LaPierre did some hinky stuff and deserved far worse than he got for his misdeeds. Had none of that existed, James would have had more of an uphill slog in her efforts. If you’re likely to be targeted by powerful people, it just makes sense to get your own house in order just so they can’t come after you.

The NRA didn’t do that.

There have been inroads in addressing that, and the final verdict here will help.

Now we can put this behind us and I hope to see the NRA step back into the fight like it used to. Just because we’re unlikely to see much in the way of gun control over the next couple of years, at least at the federal level, doesn’t mean the fight isn’t right there in our faces.