(USA Features) National Rifle Association officials vowed Wednesday to continue fighting after a federal judge threw out the gun rights organization’s bankruptcy case a day earlier.
In a statement to members, NRA President Wayne LaPierre said the group “will continue to fight on all fronts in the interests of its mission and its members.”
LaPierre added that while he was “disappointed in some aspects of the decision” after the case was dismissed on Tuesday, he added: “There is no change in the overall direction of our Association, its programs, or its Second Amendment advocacy.”
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“Today is ultimately about our members — those who stand courageously with the NRA in defense of constitutional freedom,” LaPierre wrote.
On Tuesday, Judge Harlin Hale of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dallas ruled that LaPierre was using bankruptcy to “gain an unfair litigation advantage” and “to avoid a state regulatory scheme.”
The organization filed for bankruptcy protection in January, seeking “to exit what it believes is a corrupt political and regulatory environment in New York” and move to Texas. The organization was founded in New York state in November 1871 mostly as a firearms instruction group and to teach marksmanship.
In his ruling, Hale left open the possibility that the NRA could refile its case in Texas. In the meantime, however, the group will still face a lawsuit in New York filed by state Attorney General Letitia James, accusing the group of financial abuses as she seeks to break it up.
“We remain an independent organization that can chart its own course, even as we remain in New York to confront our adversaries. The NRA will keep fighting, as we’ve done for 150 years,” LaPierre added on Wednesday.