The National Rifle Association (NRA), a high-profile group that has gained its notoriety through winding itself up in favor of “gun rights” at just about every turn, is in trouble, and President Donald Trump is trying to use these troubles for his political advantage. This Thursday, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that she was initiating court proceedings meant to dissolve the NRA over what she characterized as a pattern of incessant financial fraud, and although the case is surely far from over — the NRA doesn’t seem ready to go down without a fight — Trump has already jumped on the bandwagon. Trump suggested on Twitter that if elected, Joe Biden would destroy the Second Amendment and seize guns “without notice” — which is a completely and utterly baseless claim.
#BREAKING: I filed a lawsuit to dissolve the National Rifle Association for years of self-dealing and illegal conduct.
The @NRA is fraught with fraud and abuse.
No organization is above the law.
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) August 6, 2020
To be clear — trying to hold the people behind the NRA accountable for their financial misconduct is not remotely in the same universe as some kind of conspiracy against the Second Amendment, although that’s precisely what Trump seems to be suggesting. But, the law is not some kind of conspiracy against conservatives. Trump tweeted:
‘Just like Radical Left New York is trying to destroy the NRA, if Biden becomes President your GREAT SECOND AMENDMENT doesn’t have a chance. Your guns will be taken away, immediately and without notice. No police, no guns!’
Just like Radical Left New York is trying to destroy the NRA, if Biden becomes President your GREAT SECOND AMENDMENT doesn’t have a chance. Your guns will be taken away, immediately and without notice. No police, no guns!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 6, 2020
It’s difficult to overstate how utterly disconnected from reality that the president really is here. Again — holding the NRA accountable for its brazen financial misconduct is not some kind of conspiracy against “gun rights.” Furthermore, Trump’s specific claims that Biden will undercut the Second Amendment and seize guns “without notice,” leaving the country with “No police, no guns!” has no relationship to Biden’s actual policy proposals. Trump is just pulling claims out of thin air that are meant to frighten his base.
BREAKING: The People v. the @NRA has been filed by NY AG Letitia James. Here we go… pic.twitter.com/75fCplrby8
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) August 6, 2020
Just this very week, Biden made clear that he does not want to “defund police.” He said he wants to get them more funding, in fact. Trump is just brazenly lying about Biden’s policy proposals.
At a web-based fundraiser alongside the mayor of Atlanta, Biden said:
‘I don’t want to defund police. I want to get police more money in order to deal with the things they badly need, from making sure they have access to community policing, that they have also in the departments social workers, psychologists, people who in fact can handle those god-awful problems that a cop has to have four degrees to handle.’
.@NewYorkStateAG says there are 18 causes of action against @NRA leadership, including leader #waynelapierre, that violate multiple laws, including those that govern @nra's charitable status.
AG James has ordered that NRA execs never serve on the board of a charity in NY state pic.twitter.com/t1jM2W18QT
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) August 6, 2020
Meanwhile, check out Twitter’s response to Trump below: