NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre to Step Down Before Civil Corruption Trial

Wayne LaPierre, the embattled longtime leader of the National Rifle Association, is resigning from the nation’s largest gun-rights group on the eve of a civil trial in which the New York attorney general is seeking his ouster, as well as financial penalties, for years of alleged corruption at the nonprofit organization. The NRA said LaPierre, 74 years old, cited health as the reason for his decision to step down and said the resignation would be effective Jan. 31. LaPierre has run the NRA since 1991 and helped turn it into an unflinching force for the expansion of Second Amendment rights, with the ability to mobilize its millions of members against any gun restrictions.