The National Rifle Association urged a judge to dismiss a lawsuit by New York Attorney General Letitia James, saying she hasn’t shown rampant misconduct by top executives, Bloomberg News reported. Even if she could prove her claims, they would mean the NRA was a victim and that James’ push to dissolve the guns-rights group is misguided, it argued in a court filing. James is seeking the NRA’s “corporate death” over allegations that executives at the New York-chartered nonprofit misused millions of dollars of assets, the organization said Wednesday in a court filing. The attorney general sued in state court last year and amended her complaint after the NRA’s failed attempt to declare bankruptcy and move to Texas. “Even if the disputed allegations against the individual defendants were true, the NRA itself, its Board, and its members were the victims of the wrongdoing, not the perpetrators,” the organization argued. “It would be a fundamental miscarriage of justice — and contrary to New York law — to punish the NRA’s 5 million members by dissolving the NRA.” James has failed to provide evidence that the NRA, longtime leader Wayne LaPierre and three executives diverted millions of dollars in assets to themselves, the group said. The NRA also said the attorney general hasn’t provided support for her claims that LaPierre improperly controls the 76-member board of directors. The NRA repeated an earlier claim that James had a “political vendetta” against the group. The legal attack on the James lawsuit came four months after a bankruptcy judge in Texas dismissed the gun group’s attempt to reorganize there, ruling it was an “inappropriate attempt to avoid” the lawsuit in New York.
