A New York judge expressed skepticism about the state’s attempt to dissolve the National Rifle Association over decades of financial malfeasance, asking why the matter couldn’t be resolved in a way that would “preserve an entity of this vintage,” Bloomberg News reported. “The question is why can’t the two be separated?” Manhattan state court judge Joel M. Cohen asked at a Friday hearing over an NRA request to dismiss the state’s suit against the 150-year-old organization. “Why can’t you address the financial issues without dissolving the entire entity?” New York Attorney General Letitia James sued the NRA late last year alleging it violated state laws governing charitable organizations by using donated funds to enrich longtime leader Wayne LaPierre and other executives. James’s suit was filed after an investigation revealed what the state described as rampant misuse of donated funds on luxury expenses for NRA leadership. The NRA’s attempt to avoid the lawsuit by filing for bankruptcy failed after a Texas judge called the chapter 11 case a misuse of the law.
