By AlaskaWatchman.com

Alaska’s Acting Attorney General Ed Sniffen has joined a 16-state coalition of attorneys general supporting the National Rifle Association’s legal battle to keep New York from forcibly shutting the group down. New York Attorney General Letitia James sued the nation’s most prominent gun rights group this past August in an attempt to dissolve them.

Alaska Acting Attorney General Ed Sniffen

She spent 18 months investigating the NRA and then sued them in state court for diverting millions of dollars away from its charitable mission.

The NRA, however, has counter sued in federal court, claiming that James is seeking to punish them for their political stance when it comes to defending Second Amendment rights.

Alaska and other states signed an amicus brief on Dec. 21 in support of the NRA’s lawsuit, claiming that “When an organization’s primary mission is political advocacy, involuntary dissolution risks the appearance of constitutionally problematic, viewpoint-based targeting. Perhaps no situation is riper for potential abuse than when an attorney general investigates and initiates enforcement action against an organization that is a political rival.”

The amicus brief notes that the NRA is the nation’s “oldest and one of its most important civil rights organizations. It has consistently fought for American’s Second Amendment rights via political advocacy, litigation and legislative efforts.”

It then highlights that the New York attorney general has called the NRA a “criminal enterprise” and a “terrorist organization.”

“These are not the words of a state official scrupulously enforcing nonprofit governance law,” the attorneys general state. “Rather, those words underscore what the New York AG’s dissolution case really is: a politically motivated assault on free speech and an effort to destroy both a fundamental constitutional right and a political opponent dedicated to defending that right.”

The 16-state attorneys general claim that statements made by James are startling.

“The New York AG’s promise to ‘take down the NRA’ if elected, coupled with her description of the NRA’s advocacy as ‘poisonous’ and ‘deadly propaganda,’ makes it clear that the NRA’s message is the impetus for the New York AG’s dissolution request,” they state. “The NRA is the foremost organization defending the constitutional right of individuals to keep and bear arms. It cannot simply be replaced if it is dissolved. And consequently, the New York AG cannot possibly dispute that dissolving the organization will undermine the ability of NRA members to organize and advocate for the Second Amendment.”

In addition to Alaska, the other state attorneys general who signed the amicus brief come from Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.

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Alaska backs NRA’s legal battle for survival in New York

Joel Davidson
Joel is Editor-in-Chief of the Alaska Watchman. Joel is an award winning journalist and has been reporting for over 24 years, He is a proud father of 8 children, and lives in Palmer, Alaska.


7 Comments

  • Guns Kill People says:

    The NRA is a vile organization that has been infiltrated by Putin. Of course Dumbleavy is going to support this, he and his merry band of grifters fit the profile that Putin loves to exploit, These Anti-American pro-racists miscreants should be put in jail for a long, long time. Start with LaPierre and work your way down.

    • Js says:

      You couldn’t be a more obvious propaganda pimp if you tried

    • Alaska Voter says:

      Typical when you have no counter argument lets throw the proverbial Putin and Russia, Russia, Russia. The NRA and the millions of gun owners are they only thing that keeps this Country safe from invasion. Go back under your rock nobody gives to rats asses what you think.

    • Democrats Kill People says:

      “accuse the other side what you are guilty of”. The democratic party is a vile organization who enacted Jim Crow laws to marginalize the rights of black Americans. Since it’s inception, the democratic party has been filled with hate and contempt against those of color and has repackaged communism as it’s new platform. Communism has only murdered 100 million people since it came to be.

    • Steve Montgomery says:

      Ed Sniffen is an honorable man and a gentleman of the first order. I’m glad he’s joined the suit against this vile political witch hunt in New York. Since it’s founding in 1871, the NRA has done more than any other organization to promote the safe, lawful and responsible use of firearms. I’m glad Attorney General Sniffen is on the case. May God bless his endeavors.

  • Js says:

    The counter suit needs to be relentless and brutal.

  • RogM says:

    ‘GKP’ .. please take note:
    We NRA members continue to defend YOUR constitutional right to free speech.
    The 2A is as important today as it was July 4th, 1776.
    Justice is punishment for the guilty and protection for the vulnerable. Your words seem to declare to all that you’re a fit for both groups.