NRA Bankruptcy Triggers the Inevitable Online Reaction: ‘Thoughts and Prayers’

Jimmy Kimmel, Rachel Maddow, and more weighed in on the news

Nerf Gun Toy Retailers Association 2018
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People had a lot of fun at the expense of the National Rifle Association on Friday after the organization filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York. And mocking how the group has been the primary opponent of meaningful laws to prevent gun violence, plenty of critics offered the NRA their “thoughts and prayers.”

A quick catch-up: The group filed for bankruptcy on Friday and, in a follow-up statement desperately worded to sound like a repudiation of a liberal enclave, announced its intention to reincorporate as a Texas-based nonprofit. Of course, the bankruptcy filing comes 5 months after New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit seeking to dissolve the group due to what it called “years of self-dealing and illegal conduct.” And it’s against the law for any New York-based charity to dissolve and regroup in another state without the state Attorney General or Supreme Court signing off. So it looks like the NRA’s plan to get out from under the lawsuit probably won’t work and they’ll be stuck in New York until those legal problems are hammered out.

But anyway, enough about the legal minutia, on to the laughs. The bankruptcy announcement was met with celebration, relief and straight up mockery from entertainers, politicians, journalists and activists who, as we said above, offered the NRA a HUGE amount of “thoughts and prayers.” They were of course referencing the stock phrase deployed by right wing opponents of even token efforts to stop gun violence whenever yet another massacre happens.

Our personal favorite example came from Kentucky congressman John Yarmuth, who also managed to get in a dig at the infamous rating system the NRA uses to whip up members to oppose (mainly Democratic) politicians who advocate for laws to prevent gun violence.

But he was far from the only one. Check out the never-not-hilarious examples below:

Some people were more direct in calling out the NRA’s role in opposing meaningful gun violence prevention even after children have been murdered.  For example, comedian Shahak Shapira:

Ouch.

Others just plain celebrated the news for its own sake.

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