The National Rifle Association (NRA), the country’s oldest and largest Second Amendment advocacy group, filed a lawsuit on Monday against the NRA Foundation.
The organization’s complaint declared that the NRA created the NRA Foundation in 1990 for a very specific mission. Its purpose was to support essential programs as a 501(c)(3) organization that the NRA could not fund as it was structured.
These included gun safety and education efforts critical to the NRA’s purpose. But something went awry, and the parent organization asserts that its charitable programs and donor trust are at risk after the Foundation misled donors and refused to fund the very programs it was established to support.
More controversy as the NRA seeks to reestablish donor trust
Attorneys charged that the Foundation was “seized by a disgruntled faction of former NRA directors who lost control of the NRA’s board following revelations of financial improprieties, mismanagement, and breaches of fiduciary duty and member trust.”
NRA CEO and Executive Vice President Doug Hamlin said in a press release that it was a troubling day for the gun rights community.
“This is a disappointing day, and it should not have come to this,” Hamlin declared. “A foundation established to support the National Rifle Association of America has taken actions that are adversarial at a time when the NRA is rebuilding and focused on its long-term mission. I am deeply disappointed that these steps were taken, leaving no reasonable alternative. This action represents a last resort.”
Lawsuit claims safety and education programs are left unfunded
The NRA Foundation supports programs such as the Eddie Eagle GunSafe program and the NRA National Firearms Museum. Funds were solicited under the NRA name and trademarks, with the promise that donations would support these worthy programs.
However, the NRA now says the Foundation has more than $160 million in funds intended for such projects that are just languishing in its swollen coffers. The contention is that Foundation leadership has not approved grants for the efforts, which, of course, harms both the programs themselves and donor trust.
The lawsuit contends that after the recent turmoil and overhaul of the NRA, a cabal of former directors with loyalties to the previous regime maintained control of the Foundation.
The NRA said these people tried to eradicate all oversight and operate independently of the parent organization. It asks that the Foundation’s purpose return to supporting NRA programs and that it avoids what the suit describes as unfair competition.
The federal judge in Washington D.C. will decide whether to prohibit the Foundation from promoting an affiliation with the NRA or using its trademarks.
Interestingly, the reasonable perception that the Foundation is directly under the NRA’s control is false.
Instead, it is an independent body with its own bylaws, charter, and Board of Trustees. The NRA created the entity to support education and charity programs championed by the group, but it operated outside the direct control of the NRA or its Board of Directors.
The parent group believed it established enough safeguards with the Foundation to ensure continued support for activities and programs. There were stringent requirements for the Board of Trustees put in place to ward off future issues.
However, the scandals and subsequent reorganization of recent years apparently created a faction within the Foundation loyal to the previous NRA regime. The turmoil resulted in financial uncertainty for the parent group, which then borrowed millions from the Foundation.
A previous lawsuit between the NRA and the Foundation was settled on terms that the Foundation would operate with a certain level of independence and that additional safeguards would be implemented.
The best outcome is that all parties remain focused on the mission—to protect Second Amendment rights from infringements by anti-gun lawmakers.
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