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NRA Secures Landmark

Victory against New York
Regulators in Unanimous
Supreme Court Decision
The National Rifle Association of America (NRA)
scored a historic legal victory today in one of the most
closely followed First Amendment cases in the nation.

In a stinging rebuke of New York’s “blacklisting

campaign” against the NRA, the Supreme Court
NRA’s First Amendment rights when she urged banks
unanimously ruled for the NRA in its case against
and insurers to cut ties with the NRA in 2018.
former New York State Department of Financial
Services Superintendent Maria T. Vullo. The decision
“This victory is a win for the NRA in the fight to
remands the NRA’s case to the lower court – reviving
protect freedom,” says NRA President Bob Barr. “This
the NRA’s claims that Vullo, at the behest of former
is a historic moment for the NRA in its stand against
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, violated the
governmental overreach. Let this be clear: the voice of
the NRA membership is as loud and influential as ever.
Regulators are now on notice: this is a win for not only
SUPPORT NRA! the NRA, but every organization who might otherwise
HELP WIN THIS NOVEMBER’S suffer from an abuse of government power.”
MAKE-OR-BREAK ELECTION!
Receive an Exclusive The case was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court
Patriot Life Member Gift! on March 18, 2024. The case is one of the most high-
NRA Sentry Knife and profile First Amendment cases in recent memory, with
Flashlight Kit
dozens of legal experts and constitutional scholars,
including the ACLU, siding with the NRA.

“This is a moment of truth,” says NRA EVP & CEO

NRA Ridgeline
VISIT
Hooded Softshell Jacket Doug Hamlin. “The decision underscores the
NRA2024.ORG Continued on next page
TO CLAIM YOUR GIFT NOW

THE PATR I OT | SU MMER 2 024

Continued from previous page measures to cause financial institutions to “drop” the
Association.
importance of this principled fight. When it comes
to defending our members and their freedoms, the The NRA’s First Amendment claims withstood
NRA will never back down.” multiple motions to dismiss. But in 2022, after Vullo
appealed the trial court’s ruling, the Second Circuit
The opinion of the court, written by Justice Sonia struck down the NRA’s claims. The court ruled that in
Sotomayor, states, “Six decades ago, this Court held an era of “enhanced corporate social responsibility,”
that a government entity’s ‘threat of invoking legal it was reasonable for New York’s financial regulator to
sanctions warn banks and insurance companies against servicing
pro-gun groups based on the supposed “social backlash”
and other means of coercion’ against a third party ‘to against those groups’ advocacy. The court also ruled
achieve the suppression’ of disfavored speech violates that Vullo’s guidance – written on her official letter-
the First Amendment… Today, the Court reaffirms head and invoking her regulatory powers – was not a
what it said then: Government officials cannot attempt directive to the institutions she regulated, but rather
to coerce private parties in order to punish or suppress a mere expression of her political preferences.
views that the government disfavors. Petitioner
National Rifle Association (NRA) plausibly alleges On February 7, 2023, the NRA petitioned the U.S.
that respondent Maria Vullo did just that.” Supreme Court, seeking review of the Second Circuit
decision. On November 3, 2023, the Court granted
In the opinion, Justice Sotomayor writes that Vullo review of the case.
was “free to criticize the NRA” but “could not wield
her power, however, to threaten enforcement actions Twenty-two amicus briefs representing more than
against DFS-regulated entities in order to punish or 190 individuals and organizations were filed in support
suppress the NRA’s gun-promotion advocacy.” of the NRA’s position, including a filing by several of
the nation’s foremost First Amendment scholars. The
Justice Sotomayor continues, “One can reasonably amicus briefs also included a joint filing by dozens
infer from the complaint that Vullo coerced DFS- of congressional Republicans and filings by 25 state
regulated entities to cut their ties with the NRA in attorneys general. The support came from across the
order to stifle the NRA’s gun-promotion advocacy political spectrum.
and advance her views on gun control.”
On Monday, March 18, 2024, the Court heard oral
The History of the Case arguments in the case. ACLU National Legal Director
and NRA counsel David Cole argued that Vullo and
In a May 2018 lawsuit, the NRA alleged that Vullo, at other New York officials abused their authority in
the urging of Governor Cuomo, took aim at the NRA violation of the First Amendment, telling the justices:
and conspired to use DFS’ regulatory power to “financially “There’s no question on this record that they encour-
blacklist” the NRA – coercing banks and insurers to aged people to punish the NRA.” Cole said, “It was a
cut ties with the Association to suppress its pro- campaign by the state’s highest political officials to use
Second Amendment speech. The NRA argues that their power to coerce a boycott of a political advocacy
Vullo’s actions were meant to silence the NRA – organization because they disagreed with its advocacy.”
using “guidance letters,” backroom threats, and other

THE PATR I OT | SUMMER 2024 | PAGE 2

Doug Hamlin elected to Publications. Prior
to joining NRA in
Lead NRA as New NRA 2014, Mr. Hamlin
Executive Vice President had a long career
& CEO; Bob Barr Elected in the publishing
industry. For 14
President years he served in
numerous sales,
Today, the Board of Directors of the National marketing, and
Rifle Association of America elected former U.S. management
Congressman Bob Barr as President of the NRA and positions at the
Doug Hamlin as NRA Executive Vice President & Petersen Publishing
CEO. The meeting of the Board of Directors followed Company. He
the 153rd NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits where also was vice president and group publisher of Motor
over 72,000 NRA members filled the halls of the Kay Trend magazine and served as the publisher of Guns
Bailey Hutchison Convention Center to check out & Ammo magazine. Mr. Hamlin served six years on
the latest firearms, gear, and accessories from close active duty as a regular Marine Officer, including
to 700 exhibitors. On Saturday, President Trump serving overseas with the Third Marine Division. He
delivered the keynote address at the NRA Leadership
also has been active in Veteran charitable causes.
Forum in front of a capacity crowd where he
accepted the official endorsement from the NRA
“I am truly humbled to be elected by the NRA Board
Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF) for his re-election
of Directors as the next Executive Vice President
as President of the United States of America.
& CEO of the NRA,” said Doug Hamlin. “Our
Association is at a decisive moment in our history,
“I thank my colleagues for their support of my and the future of America and constitutional free-
election as NRA President,” said Bob Barr. “I have doms depends on the success of the NRA. I look
been a fighter my whole life and I commit to boldly forward to working with NRA staff to execute NRA’s
fight for our Second Amendment rights on behalf of gold standard programs and promote political and
the millions of NRA members. We need to grow our public policies that are in the best interest of our
ranks, especially in this election year, and I pledge to members and all gun owners.”
focus my attention on doing just that.”
Following the election of Mr. Hamlin as NRA
The NRA Board of Directors also elected Pennsylvania Executive Vice President, he re-appointed Randy
businessman William A. Bachenberg as NRA First Kozuch as the Executive Director of the NRA Insti-
Vice President and Mark E. Vaughan, President of tute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) and appointed
the Oklahoma Rifle Association, as NRA Second Joseph P. De Bergalis, Jr., as the Executive Director of
Vice President.
NRA General Operations.

NRA Executive Vice President & CEO Doug Hamlin

recently served as Executive Director of NRA
THE PATR I OT | SUMMER 2 024 | PAG E 3
It’s All On The Line For Gun have an assault weapon. The fact of the matter is they
should be illegal, period.”
Owners In The 2024 Election
Of course, what Americans have seen since then from a
by Randy Kozuch, NRA-ILA Executive Director
procession of nominations Biden has made as president
is the partisans who support assault-weapon bans as
Joe Biden is running for reelection on the most anti-
an article of faith suddenly can’t even define the term
gun platform in American history. At a time when
when pressed on its meaning. This has applied to both
Americans are yearning for leadership on the economy,
of Biden’s nominations to head the federal agency
border security, crime and international stability, he
most responsible for enforcing federal gun control, the
remains fixated on gun control. It sometimes seems
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
as if he has no other major
Firearms and Explosives
priorities, or, if he does,
(ATF). More recently, it has
they all depend on a
also applied to one of his
disarmed American
judicial nominations. It’s
populace. Whatever his
very telling that partisans
motivations, a review of
in Biden’s party speak of
his agenda and his record
“assault-weapon” bans as
shows that the Second
a self-evident necessity
Amendment, as we know
but then shrink from even
it, cannot withstand another
trying to explain what
Biden administration.
that means.
It wasn’t as if we had no
This is because the term
warning. Candidate Biden,
is political, not technical.
although occasionally
“Assault weapon” is simply
mouthing his “respect for
a placeholder for whatever
the Second Amendment,”
gun firearm prohibitionists
nevertheless embraced a
are trying to demonize and
variety of extreme gun-
ban in any given moment. This is evident from the
control notions before the 2020 election.
fact that recent bills introduced to ban this supposed
category are uniformly more restrictive than the federal
His most radical position was support for a wide-rang-
ban that existed from 1994 to 2004 and was allowed to
ing ban on what he called “assault weapons,” which is
expire during the term of George W. Bush. All one can
simply a made-up term for America’s most popular
say about what an “assault weapon” is for sure, is that
types of rifles, including the AR-15. In an August 2019
its definition will expand to prohibit more and more
interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, the host fed
firearms over time.
Biden what he must have assumed was a softball
question that would help allay fears about Biden’s
Biden has continued advocating for an “assault-weapon”
gun-control ambitions. Cooper asked what Biden
ban during his term in the White House. And, even if
would say to “gun owners out there who say, well, a
Biden administration means they’re going to come for Continued on next page
my guns.” “Bingo!” answered Biden. “You’re right, if you
THE PATR I OT | SUMMER 2 024 | PAG E 4
 a handful of anti-gun jurisdictions, they are slowly but
Continued from Page 4
steadily trying to litigate and legislate the PLCAA into
that designation was initially limited to only AR-type irrelevance. The main loophole they exploit is that the
semi-automatics (which no pending proposals are), PLCAA applies only where the sale of the gun was
it would still affect a staggering number of American lawful. The text of the legislation makes clear this
households. According to a 2023 investigation by means where the seller of the gun did not violate any
The Washington Post, “roughly 16 million people” laws specific to the sale or marketing of firearms.
own some “20 million AR-15s” in the United States.
Or, as the investigation’s authors noted even more But gun-control activists insist that any sort of law
dramatically, “1 in 20 U.S. adults owns at least one should count, whether it normally applies to firearm
AR-15.” The Post itself, while also endorsing a ban sales or not, and even if it is the law of another country
on AR-15s, acknowledges the “iconic” status of the into which criminals have illegally smuggled American
gun. It is hardly a modest or unifying proposition to guns. Anti-gun states have also been passing their own
ban America’s most popular rifle. laws vaguely stating that it is illegal for a member of the
firearm industry to engage in business practices that
Another Biden wish-list item is repeal of the Protection pose a risk to the public or fail to take adequate care to
of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which prevent criminal misuse of their products. This means
prohibits businesses that lawfully sell guns from being that following the rules that govern their businesses is
held liable for their illegal use by criminals. This is not enough for the industry. Instead, they are subject
simply a codification of a generally applicable principle to an ever-shifting target of “best practices” that only
in American law that people are responsible for their become evident after the fact, when an anti-gun lawyer
own actions, not those of people over whom they or judge creates a new requirement that isn’t already
exercise no control. It was necessary because gun- specified in statute.
control activists sought to bankrupt the American gun
industry with a firehose of litigation. It didn’t matter if Of course, the overriding public policy Congress
the cases were ultimately winners or not; the process established with the PLCAA should preempt these
was the punishment, and the expense of defending efforts. But a law is only as good as the courts that are
themselves from an endless barrage of baseless charges interpreting it, and the conspirators in this lawfare
was itself an existential threat to the industry. choose only the most anti-gun jurisdictions to file their
cases. Thus, two federal courts have given the go-ahead
Biden is so invested in the idea of allowing law-abiding for even the government of Mexico to sue members
gun shops to be sued over the action of criminals that of the U.S. gun industry for the misuse of firearms by
he once said during a speech from the White House drug-trafficking cartels.
Rose Garden that it would be his choice if “the Lord
came down” and granted him success on one policy Another greenlighted effort involves a claim by the
proposal. Again, given the state of the country and the City of Chicago that Glock intentionally designs its
world, that speaks to a single-mindedness against guns overwhelmingly popular semi-automatic pistols to be
and the businesses that sell them that is revealing. This easily converted to machine guns. Of course, machine
was after candidate Biden had also called the firearm guns and machine-gun-conversion parts are already
industry the true “enemy” in opposing gun control. illegal under current federal law and the laws of Illinois
and other states. But, gun controllers would like to
Indeed, the gun-control movement seems to agree with Continued on page 7
Biden on this point. With the help of activist judges in
THE PATR I OT | SUMMER 2 024 | PAG E 5
NRA Scores Legal Victory hundreds of thousands of negative comments from
the NRA and its members across the nation, thus
Against ATF; “Pistol Brace Rule” rendering it likely unlawful.
Enjoined From Going Into
The legal win protects millions of NRA members
Effect Against NRA Members across the nation who seek to use a pistol brace to
safely use a firearm, including many lawful gun owners
The National Rifle Association of America (“NRA”) with disabilities. The ATF’s unconstitutional rule
announced a major legal victory today, as a Texas would have reversed its long-standing position that
court enjoined the “pistol brace rule” from taking pistol braces do not transform pistols into rifles subject
effect against its members. The legal win is the most to onerous registration and taxation requirements
expansive ruling of its kind to date – protecting under the National Firearms Act.
millions of NRA members across the nation.
The NRA successfully argued its members face
The NRA filed suit in the Northern District of Texas irreparable harm from the new rule, which subjects
on July 3, 2023, against the ATF, the U.S. Department law-abiding gun owners to penalties, fines, and
of Justice, and Steven M. Dettelbach,
in his official capacity as director
of ATF (“Defendants”), seeking to
enjoin the ATF’s unconstitutional
rule, which would have reversed
its long-standing position that
pistol braces do not transform
pistols into rifles subject to onerous
registration and taxation
requirements under the National
Firearms Act.

On March 29, 2024, U.S. District

Judge Sam A. Lindsay agreed with
the NRA that it has “associational
standing” to pursue this case
because it is a traditional membership organization potential prison sentences for the use of a legal plastic
whose members rely on the NRA to protect their apparatus on some firearms.
gun rights. In other words, the NRA is the voice of
its members. As noted in the court’s ruling, dated March 29, 2024,
the NRA has obtained preliminary injunctive relief
Further, Judge Lindsay applied the Fifth Circuit’s restraining Defendants from enforcing the “Factoring
earlier holding in Mock v. Garland that the ATF failed Criteria for Firearms with Attached ‘Stabilizing
to go through an appropriate notice-and-comment Braces’” (the “Final Rule”) against law-abiding NRA
period before issuing its “pistol brace rule,” making Continued on next page
major revisions to the rule without acknowledging the
THE PATR I OT | SUMMER 2 024 | PAGE 6
Continued from Page 6 As explained in the NRA’s Complaint, many of its
members were being irreparably harmed by the
members. First announced in January 2023, the Final Final Rule, because under the rule they are forced to
Rule was set to go into effect June 1, 2023. The NRA modify their firearms, destroy them, register them,
gained recognition of the irreparable harm its mem- or surrender them to the federal government under
bers face from the draconian measure. threat of criminal prosecution. Pistol stabilizing
braces allow users to strap their gun to their forearm
The NRA represents millions of members across the or place them on their shoulders for more stability.
nation in preserving the Second Amendment rights Millions of these devices are used by gun owners
of law-abiding gun owners, including hundreds of across the nation—particularly disabled veterans
thousands of members in Texas. The NRA has who need braces to safely use a pistol.
approximately 350,000 members in Texas – the #1
state for NRA members.

Continued from Page 5

Biden would go on to create the White House Office of
Gun Violence Prevention, staffed with career anti-gun
hold the makers of legal guns responsible, rather than activists and dedicated in large part to maximizing
the criminals who illegally convert those guns. If the every anti-gun authority and appropriation created by
mere existence of so-called “Glock switches” make a the BSCA. As of press time, Biden’s ATF was poised
perfectly legal pistol illegal, it’s hard to see how the to release a rule that claims the BSCA has essentially
same couldn’t be said of hacksaws, which, after all, imposed “universal” background checks for firearm
could be used to illegally shorten the barrel of an transfers, a proposition even its most anti-gun
otherwise legal long arm. supporters had not claimed while it was pending. The
administration has also claimed the BSCA as authority
Only the U.S. Supreme Court can correct these viola- for the National Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO)
tions of the PLCAA, and the next president will likely Resource Center, a DOJ-led effort to promote “red-
have the opportunity to appoint the justices who will flag” firearm-seizure laws in the states and to train
tip the balance either away from or toward respect for anti-gun activists on how to roll out the concept na-
the Second Amendment. tionwide. If the administration has its way, every gun
owner’s rights would be merely one civil petition away
Fortunately, Joe Biden has not had the votes in Congress from cancellation.
to see his most ambitious gun-control plans enacted
into statute. But, he did have an anti-gun victory I’ve barely begun to scratch the surface of Biden’s
with the passage of the so-called Bipartisan Safer anti-gun record in this article, and I will have more to
Communities Act (BSCA), which gained support on say on it in the coming months. The bottom line is that
both sides of the aisle with messaging that claimed it gun owners cannot afford another four years of Joe
was directed at dangerous criminals, not law-abiding Biden in the White House. He has been building up
gun owners. The NRA, however, warned at the time the infrastructure to erase our rights. We must make
that this was subterfuge and opposed the BSCA. sure he never gets to use it.

THE PATR I OT | WI N TER 2024 | PAGE 7