NRA’s Wayne LaPierre goes off the deep end
Today, in the wake of the recent school shooting in Parkland, NRA chief Wayne LaPierre, gave a speech outlining a perceived attack on the second amendment. Painting a picture of a government with total disregard for America’s constitutional freedoms and a determination to revoke those freedoms, the NRA chief at one point urged Americans to be anxious and frightened of the new ‘socialistic wave in America.’
Mr. LaPierre’s speech defended the right to bear arms and offered the theory that the government was chipping away at those rights by trying to enact stricter regulations. He stated that the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. However, there are multiple problems with this argument.
In 2005, the National Academies’ National Research Council’s report investigating guns and violence found that those states with “right to carry” laws did not reduce violent crime. This suggests that good people with guns are not the answer. The second amendment is not under attack. This is fact, largely ignored, yet still a fact. The call is to enact common sense gun laws that would make high power military grade assault weapons unavailable to someone not considered responsible enough to play the lottery. The United States has more guns than any other developed nation in the world. We also have the most gun related deaths. There is a common sense correlation that cannot be overlooked.
For years the NRA has been able to buy policy while consistently invoking the constitution, in opposition to even the most basic gun restrictions. However, with steady increase of major gun violence in recent years the vast majority of citizens, including many gun owners, want gun reform and for these people the constitution has reserved the most powerful argument, ‘We the People.’
Freelance writer, non partisan American citizen