The National Rifle Association (NRA) announced Friday that it plans to leave New York by filing for bankruptcy and reincorporating in Texas.
The NRA has more than 5 million members nationwide and seeks to protect Second Amendment rights. The NRA was chartered as a nonprofit in New York in 1871 and is incorporated in the state. It is headquartered in Virginia. Going forward, the NRA said a committee will study opportunities to relocate segments of its operations to Texas and elsewhere.
“The plan can be summed up quite simply: We are DUMPING New York, and we are pursuing plans to reincorporate the NRA in Texas. ... This plan represents a pathway to opportunity, growth and progress.”
The Lone Star state has some 400,000 NRA members. LaPierre said the organization plans to hold its annual convention in Houston later this year.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, welcomed the NRA in a Twitter post. “Welcome to Texas—a state that safeguards the 2nd Amendment,” he wrote.
LaPierre said that “no major changes” are expected to the organization operations or workforce. The move to Texas involved the NRA and a subsidiary filing voluntary chapter 11 petitions in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division.
“As you may know, chapter 11 proceedings are often utilized by businesses, nonprofits and organizations of all kinds to streamline legal and financial affairs,” LaPierre noted.
The NRA said in announcing the exit from New York that the organization was “in its strongest financial condition in years.”
The NRA’s bankruptcy filing listed between $100 million and $500 million in assets and between $100 million and $500 million in liabilities,” noted The Associated Press.
In its filing, the NRA said that LaPierre made the decision to file for bankruptcy protection in consultation with a “special litigation committee” comprised of three NRA officials that was formed in September 2020 to oversee its legal strategies. The NRA board voted Jan. 7 to clarify LaPierre’s employment agreement, giving him the power to “reorganize or restructure the affairs” of the organization.