The decision of a New York state judge to enjoin Attorney General Letitia James from dissolving the National Rifle Association will offer a breath of relief for one of America’s largest civil rights organizations. It might be but an early step in a long battle. We welcome it because it calls out the abuse of power that has marked New York’s campaign against the NRA not only by Ms. James, but also by Governor Cuomo.The decision, handed down by Judge Joel Cohen of the Supreme Court at New York City — a district-level tribunal — reminds us of the magnificent ruling by another local court judge, Milton Tingling, striking down New York City’s attempt in 2012 to ban large sugary sodas. Judge Tingling saw the ban as an overreach for which there was no authority on the part of the city’s commissioner of mental hygiene. “Arbitrary and capricious” were the words Judge Tingling used in ruling against the ban. He called it a violation with “the potential to be more troubling than sugar-sweetened beverages.” In his decision, the sage looked back across the centuries of the city’s legal history and found that the only powers granted to the mental hygiene commissioner were in respect of communicable diseases — such as viruses, bacteria, and other germs. Not sodas.The state’s highest court later upheld Judge Tingling’s ruling. While the stakes are higher in the case of the NRA, the underlying question — of overreach by a government official, in this case Ms. James — applies in both cases. Ms. James filed suit in 2020 “to dissolve the NRA,” citing what she called “years of self-dealing and illegal conduct.” The Second Amendment group called Ms. James’ suit “a baseless, premeditated attack.”The suit followed Ms. James’ description of the gun rights group as a “terrorist organization.” She did that in 2018 during her campaign for attorney general. It made her scrutiny of the NRA seem politically motivated. Ms. James also alleges that millions of dollars have been wrongly diverted to NRA executives over the years. Her political attack during the campaign, though, damages her credibility.Even if Ms. James allegations hold up, her proposed solution — dissolution of an exceptionally distinguished organization whose history dates back to 1871 — hardly seems apt. The NRA, Judge Cohen notes, “is a prominent advocacy organization that represents the interests of millions of members.” Quoth the judge: “The State-sponsored dissolution of such an entity is not something to be taken lightly or without a compelling need.”Ms. James’s concerns over financial misconduct, Judge Cohen found, don’t rise to “the type of public harm” that would warrant “imposing the ‘corporate death penalty.’” In her zeal against the NRA, Ms. James follows the lead set by Mr. Cuomo, who compared the group to a drug dealer. The NRA called the ex-governor an “opportunist who has consistently sought to gain political capital by attacking” the group. The Democrats’ crusade against the NRA comes as advocates of gun rights seem on the verge of a legal victory in the NRA’s home state. The Supreme Court is weighing whether to strike down New York’s Sullivan Act, which makes it essentially impossible for even its most law-abiding citizens to carry a handgun. In arguments, a majority of the nine appeared ready to restore the Second Amendment across the Empire State.We won’t want to count this pullet before it’s hatched, but a victory would certainly mark a step forward in gun rights jurisprudence. It would vindicate the NRA’s advocacy and legal education efforts. It might, too, arrive at a time when the NRA’s attention is required on another legal front — defending our firearms industry from predatory lawsuits seeking to achieve a form of gun confiscation by bankrupting gunmakers. In 2019, the Supreme Court declined to shield Remington from litigation filed by the families of pupils killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting. The Nine brushed aside a federal law protecting gunmakers from lawsuits. The families contended negligence by Remington had led to the mass shooting. The company sought protection under the bankruptcy laws. Its insurers settled claims of $73 million. America needs the NRA.
