The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Thursday that state officials in New York violated the National Rifle Association’s First Amendment rights when they waged a coercion campaign against companies they regulated to “punish or suppress the NRA’s gun-promotion advocacy.”
New York Department of Financial Services Superintendent Maria Vullo led the charge against the NRA by opening a 2017 investigation into affinity insurance program Carry Guard. She determined Carry Guard violated New York laws, which prompted the organization’s insurance broker to suspend its partnership. Encouraged by this outcome, Vullo extended “her investigation into the NRA’s other affinity insurance programs.”
Spurred on by the Parkland, Florida, shooting in February 2018, Vullo called a meeting with insurance executives at Lloyd’s. In that discussion, she used her personal “views on gun control and [her] desire to leverage [her] powers to combat the availability of firearms.” She told the company that its partnership with the NRA appeared to violate “an array of technical regulatory infractions” that could only be remedied by refusing to grant coverage to Second Amendment organizations like the NRA.
Shortly after that in April, Vullo penned a letter to every insurance and financial entity regulated by her office deeming the “tragic devastation caused by gun violence” a “public safety and health issue” and not so subtly threatening “reputational risks” “may arise” for companies that work with NRA. Then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a same-day press release affirming Vullo’s stance and demanding companies sever ties with the NRA.
Vullo and Cuomo’s combined bullying
