Subscribe to the Blunt Force Truth podcast

In Targeting NRA, Andrew Cuomo Focuses on Political Nemesis, Not Public Safety

New York’s governor has made it clear that he’s on a witch hunt to put a private organization out of business.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has been in a protracted battle with the National Rifle Association. Now he’s using a state agency to hound the pro-Second Amendment organization with costly regulatory threats, as well as to convince financial institutions not to do business with the NRA.

The NRA filed a lawsuit against Cuomo and the New York State Department of Financial Services, saying, according to NPR, that the state officials are trying to “deprive the NRA and its constituents of their First Amendment rights to speak freely about gun-related issues and defend the Second Amendment.”

The financial services agency specifically targeted an NRA insurance program. Called Carry Guard, it was created to help gun owners and concealed-carry permit holders pay legal bills if they use their firearms in self-defense.

In a letter Monday, Cuomo wrote:

We discovered that the NRA was marketing insurance products for gun owners that violated numerous state laws. Insurers such as Chubb Ltd. and a broker Lockton Affinity LLC were providing illegal insurance coverage to gun owners for intentional criminal conduct resulting in bodily harm through the NRA’s Carry Guard program.

“From the outset, it was clear that the investigation was meant to advance Cuomo’s political agenda by stifling the NRA’s speech and retaliating against the NRA based on its viewpoint on gun control issues,” the NRA said in a complaint, according to The New York Times.

“If I could have put the NRA out of business, I would have done it 20 years ago,” Cuomo responded in a statement Friday.

Cuomo urged other states to follow New York’s example.

The fact is that some of the attacks on the gun rights organization have been downright hysterical.

The NRA frequently has been called a terrorist organization by many on the left, and has come under attack from celebrities and other politicians.

However, no known NRA members have been accused of committing mass shootings, and most gun owners in general are law-abiding citizens.

A 2016 study by the Crime Prevention Research Center, a nonprofit devoted to conducting research on gun ownership, showed that concealed-carry permit holders are among the Americans least likely to commit a crime.

Read the full story from The Daily Signal


Want more BFT? Leave us a voicemail on our page or follow us on Twitter @BFT_Podcast and Facebook @BluntForceTruthPodcast. We want to hear from you! There’s no better place to get the #BluntForceTruth.