This is a really, really important, fundamental issue. Thank you for this intelligent article that makes your argument. I’m a member of the ACLU. And I genuinely sympathize with the risk you see in the New York State’s actions. But I cannot agree with your argument here.
In my opinion, this comes down to ends and means. We should not be so focused on the means of the government’s actions as to loose the end benefit. I’m sure you would say that it’s unprincipled to bring about a worthy goal through illegal action. But life is complicated. All challenges are not as easy as simply consulting the Bill of Rights playbook. We must use all our intellect and call on all our experience and remember our history and focus on achieving good and disposing of a hideous problem.
The NRA, in it’s present incantation, is a curse on our society. We are literally killing ourselves by our collective gun fetish which we should have left back in the wild West days of the 1880s. And the 2nd Amendment and it’s interpreters are continuing to block a solution. I once heard the NRA president literally say,
“The best thing to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun”.
That is the most ignorant and dangerously reckless thing I’ve ever heard in my life. In this day and age, where our children are literally shooting themselves in our schools, we must take decisive action. Not only does the NRA stand opposed to any meaningful reform, they actively promote the gun hysteria.
Therefore I say, if a State government can take regulatory action to bring about the bankruptcy of the NRA, good for them! If we are so fixated on bestoing this evil organization with all the rights of citizenry, then consider where that may leave us. In my opinion, it smacks of the same kind of lunacy as the Citizen’s United decision by our seriously misguided Supreme Court. A company is not a person. Free speech was not meant to, nor should apply to profit based corporations. And money is certainly not free speech anyway.
While I agree that the NRA is technically entitled to speak for it’s members to promote pro gun policy by our government, this is a case where exceptional action is necessary and justified.
