The National Rifle Association is promising to reform how its charitable arm distributes money in a settlement with D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb (D), allowing the beleaguered organization to avoid another potentially embarrassing and expensive trial.

… A trial was scheduled to begin April 29 in the D.C. case, which accused the NRA Foundation of funneling millions of dollars without proper oversight to the organization to compensate for its reckless spending.

… The foundation “violated this sacred public trust, allowing the NRA to use them as an unchecked piggy bank,” Schwalb said in a statement. “Abusing that trust as the NRA did violates both the public interest and District law.”

“This is further proof of the NRA’s commitment to good governance,” said NRA President Charles Cotton in a statement. “The NRA confronted this political attack — and emerges from this lawsuit strong, secure, and vindicated.”