WNYers Against Gun Violence

06/04/2026

Ex-NRA chief Wayne LaPierre loses appeal of $4 million corruption penalty

A Manhattan jury in 2024 found that LaPierre spent NRA donor funds on designer Italian suits, private flights and insider contracts.

MANHATTAN (CN) — Wayne LaPierre, the embattled former CEO of the National Rifle Association, lost his appeal of a court order requiring him to repay about $4.3 million to the organization he led for decades.

In a five-page ruling, a New York appellate court on Tuesday upheld the 2024 penalty against LaPierre, which was levied after a jury found he misappropriated millions of dollars of donor funds while at the NRA’s helm. In addition to the financial punishment, LaPierre was also barred from holding a leadership role at the gun rights nonprofit for 10 years.

LaPierre, 76, argued the court order violated his First Amendment rights. He said New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the case against LaPierre and the NRA in 2020, sought to fine him for his political expression.

But a panel of judges on New York’s Appellate Division, First Department, disagreed. The more than $4 million LaPierre was ordered to pay was not a fine, the judges ruled Tuesday. They found the restitution instead “serves the remedial purpose of reimbursing the NRA for the losses LaPierre caused, making it compensatory in nature.”

The judges also upheld his ban on re-joining NRA leadership.

“The 10-year ban does not burden LaPierre’s rights to freedom of speech and association, as he remains a member of the NRA and is not precluded from making any public statements or involving himself in fundraising or other outreach,” the panel ruled. “Moreover, to the extent LaPierre argues that the attorney general brought this action against him in retaliation for his exercise of free speech, we reject this contention.”

In a statement to Courthouse News, LaPierre’s lawyer Kent Correll said “we’ve already won the most important parts of this case, we intend to seek further review and we are confident that we’ll prevail fully in the end.”

“We defeated Letitia James’ claims seeking judicial dissolution of the NRA, we defeated her claim seeking appointment of a monitor to surveil the NRA, and we got three of the four claims she asserted against Wayne LaPierre personally thrown out,” Correll added. “We expect the remaining claim against Mr. LaPierre will be thrown out, too, either by the New York Court of Appeals or by the United States Supreme Court.”

James said in a statement on Wednesday that the decision “upholds the jury’s verdict and is another victory in our efforts to ensure that LaPierre is held accountable for his illegal self-dealing.”

“Wayne LaPierre and other senior NRA leaders broke the law by funneling millions of dollars in lavish perks to themselves and their families,” James said.

LaPierre resigned just days before the start of the 2024 trial, citing health reasons. He had been the NRA’s front man since 1991, and was largely credited with transforming the nonprofit from an apolitical Second Amendment advocacy group to one of the most powerful — and controversial — unofficial wings of the Republican Party.

He argued on appeal that his resignation should render moot the court’s ban on him serving as an NRA official. But the appellate judges shot down that argument, too.

“Given the jury verdict, LaPierre would have been removed for cause had he not resigned suddenly,” the panel wrote.

In the New York attorney general’s bombshell case, LaPierre was accused of fostering a culture of self-dealing and corruption within the NRA.

A Manhattan jury found LaPierre misappropriated more than $5 million in donor funds to finance first-class travel, Italian designer suits, insider contracts and other self-serving perks for himself and his inner circle. It also found that the NRA itself failed to stop him by suppressing whistleblowers in violation of state nonprofit law.

“For nearly three decades, Wayne LaPierre has served as the chief executive officer of the NRA and has exploited the organization for his financial benefit, and the benefit of a close circle of NRA staff, board members, and vendors,” James claimed in her 2020 complaint.

LaPierre had argued at trial, unsuccessfully, that the exorbitant spending was driven by safety concerns. He testified that he was the victim of a swatting incident in 2013, received numerous death threats and was harassed in public. As a result, he said he was told by NRA security that he “must fly private,” though he also admitted that billing some of the travel costs to the nonprofit was “not the right thing to do.”

Since the trial, the NRA has undergone significant changes in leadership, much of which has been directly ordered by the court as a result of this case. But the fallout from the probe has also been devastating for the group’s image, fundraising and political strength.

05/30/2026

That's what Cornyn gets for jumping aboard!

05/30/2026

Connecticut will ban the sale of semiautomatic handguns capable of being equipped with rapid-fire converters under a new state law taking effect on Oct. 1.

The new law targets “convertible pistols” that are capable of being readily converted into a machine gun be installing or attaching a pistol converter, commonly known as a “G***k switch” because of their pervasive use on G***k pistols.

More: https://www.newstimes.com/politics/article/ct-convertible-pistols-ban-glock-switch-lamont-law-22278728.php

05/28/2026

https://share.newsbreak.com/ik8vghcp

As we prepare for summer and the end of the school year, let's be vigilant about violence, gun violence and other, and pray for a safe and peaceful year!

Buffalo peace keeper concerned about recent wave of violence

05/20/2026

Breaking News: Two officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, sued to block the creation of the Trump administration’s $1.8 billion fund that would reward rioters and groups that committed violence on behalf of President Trump. https://nyti.ms/3PEzPSe

05/12/2026

05/11/2026

https://time.com/6183881/gun-ownership-risks-at-home/

A new study shows that people living in homes with guns face substantially higher risks of being fatally assaulted.

05/09/2026

[Video] Donald Trump Branded 'Dumbest President in History' as He Explains the Difference Between Sea and See
Source: OK Magazine

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05/05/2026

A solid plan for curbing a dangerous firearm modification

A small 3D-printed device can turn a pistol into a fully automatic weapon. Gov. Hochul wants to require pistols sold here to be harder to convert.
In the summer of 2024, State Police executed a search warrant on Orange Street in Albany. Inside, investigators recovered a loaded ghost gun equipped with a small homemade switch capable of converting a pistol into a fully automatic weapon.
They also recovered two other ghost guns, an assault rifle fitted with a 3D-printed auto sear, six 3D-printed handgun lower receivers and two 3D printers capable of manufacturing additional firearm components.
One address. One operation. One snapshot of how rapidly firearm technology is changing.
Homemade auto sears like the one found on Orange Street, which can be easily 3D printed at home or purchased online and are the size of a Lego, can transform an ordinary handgun into a weapon capable of firing up to 1,200 rounds per minute, or roughly 20 rounds per second. At that rate, bystanders cannot seek cover. Officers cannot intervene in time.
These weapons of war are entering our communities through technologies that barely existed a decade ago, and we need our laws to keep pace. According to the Bureau of Alcohol, To***co, Fi****ms and Explosives, recoveries of machine gun conversion devices increased nearly 800% nationally between 2019 and 2023.
Legislation thus far has focused primarily on the conversion devices themselves, while paying insufficient attention to the pistols that make this conversion so easy in the first place. Machine guns are illegal, but manufacturers continue to sell pistols whose design allows them to be readily converted into fully automatic weapons. The device is the spark. The pistol’s design is what makes the fire possible.
To ensure New York’s laws remain the strongest in the nation, Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed new laws that would require pistols sold in New York to be designed so they cannot be readily converted into fully automatic weapons. Under the proposal, selling a noncompliant pistol in New York would be a Class D felony.
New York would be joining California, and the joint buying power of these two populous states will push gun manufacturers to design and produce pistols that aren’t so easy to convert.
Critics may reasonably ask why additional legislation is necessary if prosecutors are already charging these cases under existing law. As Albany County district attorney, I can tell you: By the time we prosecute possession, the weapon is already built, the conversion is already done and the danger is already present. Existing statutes only let us respond after the fact. Gov. Hochul's proposal addresses the problem before a legal pistol becomes an illegal machine gun.
Importantly, the measure would not affect individuals who already own these easily convertible fi****ms and it provides a reasonable runway for selling existing inventory.
New York has spent years confronting the “Iron Pipeline,” the movement of illegal fi****ms into the state through traditional trafficking channels. We’ve made meaningful progress through coordinated efforts by local, state and federal law enforcement. But technology changes faster than trafficking patterns. A firearm component can now be printed in a basement or distributed digitally in seconds. The law must adapt accordingly.
Legislatures routinely update laws when technology changes. Firearm law should be no different. Gov. Hochul's proposal deserves support.