The NRA points to both public and non-public actions taken by the Cuomo administration to penalize it for its views. ![]() The NRA says that the state, using its regulatory powers over those industries, is threatening financial companies that do business with the NRA. Political advocacy organizations like the NRA (or the ACLU or Planned Parenthood) need basic business services, like insurance and banking, to operate. Our position in this case has nothing to do with our opinions on the NRA’s policies - it’s about the First Amendment rights of all organizations to engage in political advocacy without fear that the state will use its regulatory authority to penalize them for doing so. To be clear, the ACLU does not oppose reasonable restrictions on guns (you can read more about that here). Our brief supports the NRA’s right to discovery on its First Amendment claims. The state has asked the court to dismiss the case without even permitting discovery into the administration’s actions. Because we believe the governor’s actions, as alleged, threaten the First Amendment rights of all advocacy organizations, the ACLU on Friday filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the NRA’s right to have its day in court. In the ACLU’s view, targeting a nonprofit advocacy group and seeking to deny it financial services because it promotes a lawful activity (the use of guns) violates the First Amendment. The NRA alleges that Cuomo and top members of his administration abused their regulatory authority over financial institutions to threaten New York banks and insurers that associate with the NRA or other “gun promotion” groups, and that those threats have jeopardized the NRA’s access to basic insurance and banking services in New York. That’s just politics, and the NRA itself is no stranger to hardball tactics.īut in a lawsuit the NRA filed against Cuomo this spring, the organization contends that he did more than criticize it. There’s nothing wrong with the governor singling out a political adversary for criticism, or even mockery. ![]() A mailer his campaign sent to New York voters this week proclaims, in bold letters: “If the NRA goes bankrupt, I will remember them in my thoughts and prayers.” Andrew Cuomo is no fan of the National Rifle Association.
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