NRA Seeks to Escape N.Y. Pressure by Filing Bankruptcy in Texas

The National Rifle Association of America, the gun-rights group feared for its lobbying clout but now threatened with dissolution by the state of New York, filed Friday for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with plans to regroup in Texas.

Restructuring in federal court will help the NRA exit “a corrupt political and regulatory environment in New York,” according to a statement on its website. The NRA’s petition filed in Dallas listed assets and liabilities of as much as $500 million each.

The filing marked another dramatic twist in months of infighting and external legal pressure that have battered the New York-based ...