NEW YORK — Today, D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb announced a settlement in the District’s suit against the NRA, which accused the NRA Foundation of improperly funneling millions of dollars to the NRA. This announcement comes weeks before the scheduled trial and just months after the NRA and its officers were found liable on nearly every count in the Attorney General of The State of New York v. NRA trial.
“This settlement is yet another embarrassment for the NRA as they continue to hemorrhage members, revenue, and relevance” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “We’ve spent the last 10 years fighting to expose the NRA’s role in our nation’s gun violence crisis, and it’s working — they’ve never been weaker, and their political influence is at an all-time low heading into the 2024 elections.”
“The bad news keeps piling up for the NRA, which has managed to lose its longtime leader, its major trial in New York, and whatever shred of credibility it had left as a major political and cultural force — all in just the first few months of this year,” said Nick Suplina, SVP of Law & Policy at Everytown for Gun Safety. “It’s clear the NRA couldn’t afford another loss, and this trial would’ve risked further exposing the deeply rooted corruption within the organization.”
“Our communities are reclaiming the power to make decisions about their own safety, one NRA loss at a time — and this settlement is just another example of that,” said Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action. “I’m proud to say that the NRA is in retreat while the gun violence prevention movement is stronger than ever heading into such a critical election for gun safety.”
The DCAG’s complaint alleged that the NRA Foundation exceeded and abused the authority of the charity, and that the Foundation acted contrary to its non-profit purpose. The DCAG had alleged that the NRA controlled the Board of Directors of the NRA Foundation and caused the Foundation to undertake actions not in the best interest of the Foundation.
The DCAG alleged that “in recent years, the NRA has experienced financial problems related, in large part, to low membership and the NRA’s decision to continue to waste funds on improper, lavish spending. To plug holes caused by its own poor management, the NRA turned to the Foundation’s funds.” This included two separate loans of $5 million in recent years from the Foundation to the NRA.