Showing posts with label Maria Butina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maria Butina. Show all posts

Thursday, August 6, 2020

NRA should be dissolved


The New York Attorney General has been investigating the National Rifle Assn. and it head, Wayne LaPierre, for some time now. Some time back the NRA was accused of an insurance scam that alleges they acted "as an unlicensed insurance producer and engaging in misleading marketing practices." That was in February with the state seeking upwards of $14 million in civil fines. In the 18-month investigation it found the NRA is "fraught with fraud and abuse."

Here's what NPR reported...
"Attorney General Letitia James claims in a lawsuit filed Thursday that she found financial misconduct in the millions of dollars and that it contributed to a loss of more than $64 million over a three-year period.
The suit alleges that top NRA executives misused charitable funds for personal gain, awarded contracts to friends and family members, and provided contracts to former employees to ensure loyalty."
There's more...
"The NRA's influence has been so powerful that the organization went unchecked for decades while top executives funneled millions into their own pockets," James said in a statement. "The NRA is fraught with fraud and abuse, which is why, today, we seek to dissolve the NRA, because no organization is above the law."
 And back in September of 2019, it was also revealed by NPR that the NRA had...
"acted as a "foreign asset" for Russia in the period leading up to the 2016 election, according to a new investigation unveiled Friday by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore."
A colossal example of how the NRA will accept support, including funding from anyone to further its goals. It seems that...
"the Senate Finance Committee's Democratic staff found that the NRA underwrote political access for Russian nationals Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin more than previously known — even though the two had declared their ties to the Kremlin."
Butina spent 15 months in prison and was then deported to Russia. The NRA has also spent time in Russia on a visit hosted by Maria including the gun group's board members and supporters. There was also concern over how the trip was financed. It is just another example of an organization gone bad, after having been created for hunters. The change from a peaceful body to one that promotes violence to attain its goals was orchestrated by NRA head, Wayne LaPierre.

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Wednesday, October 2, 2019

NRA choking...going down


WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2019 NEWS BYTES

The latest attack on gun violence...   
Assault weapons ban did work

Apparently the National Rifle Assn. (NRA) made a trip to Moscow that is a no-no for their non-profit status. If it did break the law governing nonprofit spending, the gang of gun nuts could lose its tax-exempt status. That could put the NRA out of business. And that could spark parades and flag waving throughout the country. David Love on Aljazeera says, "The tide is turning for gun control in the US."...
"In what would have been inconceivable just a few years ago, the ground is shifting in the United States on the issue of gun control and halting the proliferation of firearms. The once omnipotent gun lobby is now weakened, if not dying, and the public support for gun restrictions is increasing beyond party lines."
That combined with the NRA's internal problems from Oliver North to Maria Butina has prompted the investigation in a report...
"compiled by Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee and released on Friday, investigates the relationship between NRA leadership and Russian nationals with Kremlin ties. Those nationals include Maria Butina, a 30-year-old Russian who was convicted last year of conspiring to act as a foreign agent."
We can't let this happen...


In a 2015 trip to Russia by NRA officials, Butina promised an introduction to "powerful officials" and "those executives were told they would be given opportunities to advance personal business interests." The catch here is, "aside from the fact that the NRA is accused of willingly establishing relationships with Russian nationals with close ties with the Kremlin — is that tax-exempt nonprofits aren’t allowed to use their funds for personal gain."

There's more...
"New York Attorney General Letitia James also opened an investigation into the organization’s nonprofit status back in April following reports of financial mismanagement. The District of Columbia’s attorney general said his office launched a similar inquiry in July, sending subpoenas to the NRA and its charitable arms to collect 'financial records, payments to vendors, and payments to officers and directors.'”
House Democrats are cowards on assault weapons ban...


Aljazeera comments on American business CEOs concerned over out-of-control gun violence in the U.S....
"Other businesses have followed suit, as the chief executive officers of 145 companies wrote a letter to the US Senate, proclaiming the country is experiencing a public health crisis, and saying it is "simply unacceptable" to take no action on gun violence and mass shootings. The CEOs added that new laws mandating background checks for gun purchases 'are a common-sense solution with overwhelming public support and are a critical step toward stemming the gun violence epidemic in this country.'"
And to support the general consensus that more gun control is needed, a recent study has determined the former assault weapons ban was, in fact, effective. Here are the findings...
"The research from Stanford Law professor John Donohue and student Theodora Boulouta found that from 1994 to 2004, the Clinton-era federal assault weapons ban was associated with a marked decrease in mass shootings and victims of those shootings."
Here are the facts...
"in the decade preceding the assault weapons ban, there were 33 percent additional mass shootings and 65 percent more associated fatalities. Ten years after the ban expired in 2004, the number of mass shootings more than tripled and the number of fatalities spiked more than fourfold."
BINGO! But, then, facts don't seem to affect the votes of a cowardly Congress that has feared the NRA's wrath since head gun nut Wayne Lapierre took over. But that may all be changing as the new wave to curb gun violence begins to take hold. And when Senate challenger Mark Kelly (Gabby Giffords astronaut husband) running against Republican Martha McSally as a gun control advocate wins that seat, we'll have even more support in the Senate.

The course is clear, more reasonable gun control laws in 2020 as we get the guns off the streets.

Monday, April 29, 2019

NRA going down in flames


LaPierre-North
First, National Rifle Assn. president Oliver North asked head gun nut Wayne LaPierre to resign re. challenges surrounding the organization's fundraising and nonprofit status...
"The organization's 2016 election spending, including $36 million to help Trump, has prompted regulators in its charter base of New York state to threaten to investigate its nonprofit status."
And then Oliver North resigned from the NRA in the midst of what he described “a clear crisis,” all of this during the organization’s annual conference in Indianapolis. In addition, "Maria Butina, the Russian operative who used her NRA activism to illegally infiltrate American conservative circles, was sentenced to 18 months in prison." And, apparently North confronted LaPierre with threatening information about the long-time gun lobby chief.

No matter what the reasons, gun control advocates are having a field day in their celebrations of the demise of a group that has spawned non-stop gun violence during the tenure of Wayne LaPierre. The NRA has been at odds with law enforcement for years over its nonprofit status, and its contributions to lawmakers and presidents. But the gang of gun huggers has been protected by a cowardly Congress afraid of losing the NRA's donations.

It was reported that Oliver North "created a committee to investigate alleged financial improprieties at the NRA." Then another report said...
"that a civil complaint in Virginia filed earlier this month and amended Wednesday claims that North has been receiving income from advertising firm Maria Butina while it has been under contract with NRATV to produce a documentary series."
And then if was discovered that Ackerman McQueen "was sued by the NRA earlier this month over allegations that it was deliberately concealing details about how it was spending millions of dollars received by the group." LaPierre has also claimed that North is just in it for the money, which is interesting considering the head gun nut has made a fortune as CEO of the NRA.

In the meantime, 39,773 Americans were killed by guns in 2017; the NRA spent $9.7 million in 2018 to defend Republicans’ complete control of Washington; there are between 280,000 and 520,000 bump stocks in circulation. Check The Trace for more on gun violence. I rest my case against the NRA and Wayne LaPierre.

Please give me your COMMENTS on this issue.

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