Showing revolting tone-deafness to the nation’s agony over the Feb. 14 Valentine’s Day massacre killing 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Fl., 68-year-old National Rifle Assn. [NRA]. CEO and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre turned peoples’ misery on its head. Instead of sharing concerns about the latest school massacre, LaPierre indulged in yet another pro-gun tirade. While there’s nothing wrong with LaPierre defending the Second Amendment or guns-and-ammo industry, there’s something very wrong with his full-throated counterattack. “As usual, the opportunist wasted no one second to exploit the tragedy for political gain,” said LaPierre, accusing grieving families and those elected officials closely tied to the tragedy of exploiting the Valentine’s Day massacre for political purposes. LaPierre’s so blinded by his $972,000 yearly salary, he can’t be objective.
LaPierre rehashes the same old talking ponts that “guns-don’t kill, people kill,” insisting the latest shooting massacre proves his point where there’s no need for new gun laws. LaPierre lamented the “breakneck speed of calls for more gun control laws and the breathless national media eager to smear the NRA,” he told the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md. Accusing Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), home of the Dec. 14, 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre where 28 died, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) of trashing the rights of gun owners, LaPierre sites extreme examples to discredit the call for common sense gun laws. LaPierre’s the one who responds a breakneck speed to defend the gun lobby, not deal with what American Medical Assn. chief David Barbe calls a “public health issue,” with over 38,000 shooting deaths in 2017.
LaPierre has every right to protect the Second Amendment and advance the gun lobby. But he has no right to ignore a clear-and-present danger to American society. With over 38.000 gun deaths last year, more than from auto accidents, LaPiere must know that the products he represents have lethal consequences, no matter who’s at fault. “They hate the NRA,” said LaPierre referring to Democrats and their liberal friends in the media. Calling the liberal media “intellectual elites,” LaPierre insisted they “don’t care—not one whit—about America’s school system and schoolchildren.” LaPierre believes if they cared about the school system or children, Democrats and the liberal press would agree to arming school administrators and teacher to defend themselves. President Donald Trump insisted that to improve school safety at least some percentage of school personnel should be armed.
LaPierre frames the every argument for more gun control as an attack on the Second Amendment and firearms. “If they truly cared, what they would do is protect them,” said LaPierre, referring to arming teachers, administrators or stationing more police and security guards in neighborhood schools. While there’s nothing wrong with more security guards, the something very wrong to attributing gun violence to the lack of on campus protection. President Donald Trump’s suggestion to arm certain qualified teachers and administrators doesn’t deal with the basic problem regarding school shootings: Teenagers shouldn’t have access to firearms. If it’s easier for a teenager to buy a gun at a gun show than buy cigarettes, there’s a real problem. LaPierre insists that if only teachers or school officials had guns, they’d be able to neutralize assassins in school grounds.
LaPierre’s spirited defense shows that he’s the one not concerned about what happens in schools. It’s not rocket science to figure out that gun laws must do better at keeping assault weapons and semiautomatics out of teenage hands. When 20-year-old Adam Lanza massacred 28 kids and adults Dec. 14, 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School, he possessed an arsenal of guns and assault. Lanza killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, the one who gave him his weapons, first before his schoolhouse rampage. No parent or relative should supply arms-and-ammo to teenagers without legal repercussions. Allowing teenager access to parents’ arsenals should also be a crime. Like Trump, LaPierre also blamed the FBI for failing to follow up on a tip about Cruz’s arsenal and potential violent outbursts. Whether Cruz was mentally disturbed or not, he shouldn’t have had access to an AR-15 assault rifle.
LaPierre’s cliché mantra, “The only thing that s stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” repeats the NRA’s “Death Valley Days” vigilante justice. LaPierre can’t possibly believe that arming schoolteachers and administrators with guns would save any lives. Saying the nation arms banks, airports and sports venues more than schools, proves that the public isn’t really concerned about today’s spate of schoolhouse mass murders. Instead of protecting his turf, LaPierre should consider today’s gun violence a public health issue. Dealing with the nation’s mental health problems is no answer for today’s mass shootings. If teenagers didn’t have access to guns-and-ammo—certainly not assault weapons—it would be a good start reducing schoolhouse massacres. Requiring parents and school officials to report teenagers with access to guns would also help the problem.
