Dissolving the NRA.

When it comes to NY's attempt to force the dissolution of the NRA, I agree with this piece by Matt Ford of the liberal New Republic. By all means punish corrupt NRA officials, and force them to disgorge their ill-gotten gains. But forcible dissolution of the entire organization would set a dangerous precedent, that both red and blue state governments could easily abuse. A few additional thoughts:

1. I don't doubt there is lots of evidence of corruption by NRA leaders (e.g. - embezzling organization funds for their own personal use). When Oliver North was (until he was forced out) the least corrupt member of your organization's senior leadership, that's not a good look!

2. I support broad Second Amendment rights. But these days, I have little sympathy for the NRA, even aside from the leadership's corruption. They have become a conservative culture war outfit, and their conspicuous silence in the Philando Castile case (and a good many others where Second Amendment rights are violated by police) is reprehensible. I'm not sure whether the motive was racial bigotry, the right's alliance with police unions, or some combination of the two. But it's reprehensible regardless.

3. But my views (and those of the NY attorney general) shouldn't determine whether the NRA survives. That should be up to the organization's members. They, actually, were the true victims of the organization leaders' corruption.

4. Ironically, gun control advocates have reason to be happy about the corruption of the NRA leaders. In addition to (justifiably) tarnishing the group's public image, the money diverted to graft like paying for Wayne LaPierre's family events was NOT spent opposing gun control. The people who have most reason to be angry are those who naively trusted the NRA to spend their donations on the cause it's supposed to be fighting for.