The NRA says it's in financial trouble?

The NRA Says It’s in Deep Financial Trouble, May Be ‘Unable to Exist’

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The National Rifle Association warns that it is in grave financial jeopardy, according to a recent court filing obtained by Rolling Stone, and that it could soon “be unable to exist… or pursue its advocacy mission.” (Read the NRA’s legal complaint at the bottom of this story.) The reason, according to the NRA filing, is not its deep entanglement with alleged Russian agents like Maria Butina. Instead, the gun group has been suing New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state’s financial regulators since May, claiming the NRA has been subject to a state-led “blacklisting campaign” that has inflicted “tens of millions of dollars in damages.”

What is the NRA talking about?

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The lawsuit stems from actions taken by New York financial regulators to halt the sale of an illegal, NRA-branded insurance policy. The NRA actively marketed “Carry Guard,” a policy to reimburse members for legal costs incurred after firing a legal gun. In May, the state of New York found that Carry Guard “unlawfully provided liability insurance to gun owners for certain acts of intentional wrongdoing.” The NRA’s insurance partners agreed to stop selling the policies and pay a $7 million fine. The NRA complaint alleges that New York was not content to block this single insurance product, but instead campaigned to sever the NRA’s ties to a wide range of financial service providers, from insurance companies to banks. The NRA did not respond to a request for more detail about its financial distress, but its most recent financial disclosure also shows it overspent by nearly $46 million in 2016. The lawsuit decries pressure from state regulators in the wake of the Parkland, Florida massacre — including a letter asking financial institutions to heed “the voices of the passionate, courageous, and articulate young people who have experienced this recent horror first hand” — and from the governor himself. In April, Cuomo tweeted: “I urge companies in New York State to revisit any ties they have to the NRA and consider their reputations, and responsibility to the public.”

And...

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In the filing, the NRA reveals that its longtime insurer broke off negotiations this winter and “stated that it was unwilling to renew coverage at any price.” [Emphasis in original.] The NRA claims it “has encountered serious difficulties obtaining corporate insurance coverage to replace coverage withdrawn.” In addition, the NRA contends that “multiple banks” have now balked at doing business with it “based on concerns that any involvement with the NRA — even providing the organization with basic depository services — would expose them to regulatory reprisals.”

There's a few things in play here to comment about. To address two of them, though, first of all, the NRA reaping the consequences of its far too frequent vileness would be cause for celebration. Secondly, if there actually were regulatory reprisals or legitimate cause to expect that there would be such, that would separately be a problem Cuomo and any collaborators should certainly be held to account for.

via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/2LUfLcA