Obama Versus the NRA's Shocking Response

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NRA'S RESPONSE TO NEWTOWN MASSACRE

Wayne LaPierre, of the NRA, says Congress should "act immediately" to put armed police in US schools.  "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," claims Mr LaPierre.

 

The National Rifle Association (NRA) has a reputation as perhaps the most powerful lobby group in American politics. There are varying reports on how much it spent during the last election, - some say it was much as $24m , others that it was slightly less. Whatever the number, it was a significant total.

The NRA has more than four million members. Many senators and congress members proudly boast if they are given an "A-rating" by the organization.

Yet its news conference in response to the Newtown massacre felt nothing like the slick product of a group gifted in public relations. Those who expected emollient words, hints of reasonable compromise and grave consideration of their opponents' plans were sorely disappointed.
Their leader, Wayne LaPierre, harangued the assembled press for over half an hour, impassioned, furious, and not a little eccentric in his fury. He talked of the way he had endured the mockery of the media, who hated gun owners; he talked of the "filthy pornography" of violent video games and listed some old films.

 LaPierre, chief executive of the NRA, criticized politicians who had "exploited" the tragedy in Newtown for "political gain" and took aim at laws designating schools as gun-free zones.

"They tell every insane killer in America that schools are the safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk," he said.

Mr LaPierre called for a national database of the mentally ill and blamed violent video games and films for portraying murder as a "way of life".  He spoke out against the media for demonizing lawful gun owners, and for suggesting that a ban on certain types of weapons would be effective.
"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," Mr LaPierre told reporters.

Congress should authorize funding for armed security in every school in the country, he said, adding that an "extraordinary corps" of trained professionals could be drawn from active and retired police officers, security professionals and firefighters around the country.
Mr LaPierre was interrupted twice by anti-gun protesters carrying banners and declaring that the NRA had "blood on its hands".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LaPierre asked how was it that banks and airports, the president and celebrities all had armed guards, but that children did not. He called for armed police at every school and offered a programme to train schools in security.  A recent opinion poll by Gallup suggests a majority of Americans - 53% - agree with his response to the murders, rather than a ban on assault rifles, which is supported by 43%.

You do not have to go too far on the internet to find those who believe far more than that. There are those who believe that the president is plotting to take away their guns in a plan to impose an unspecified tyranny on America. I recently read an article from a fairly mainstream outlet, treating us to a comparison between Adolf Hitler and President Barack Obama. " Really? " The stage is set for a huge political and cultural battle in the new year.
 
Mr LaPierre's statement  gave no hint of reflection, there was no glimmer of a suggestion that he thought he could win over opponents. This was an outpouring of outrage that would delight those who agree with him. It was not a subtle appeal across the political spectrum, designed to make people stop and think that he has a point.

This is going to be a big battle. President Obama, in a video response to a 400,000 signature petition calling for gun control, says "we hear you", adding he will do everything in his power to ban assault rifles. The president has decided that in the new year he will begin a difficult, fraught battle over one of the most divisive, emotional, issues in American politics.

After LaPierre's outburst, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is an advocate for tighter gun control laws, said the NRA's response was "a paranoid, dystopian vision of a more dangerous and violent America where everyone is armed and no place is safe".

The guns used in the shooting had been legally bought by the gunman's mother, Nancy Lanza.
The shooting has seen some pro-gun congressmen say the mass shooting has prompted them to change their views on whether guns should be regulated more strictly in the US. Meanwhile California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who has been an advocate for tighter gun laws, said she would introduce new legislation when Congress meets for the first time in the new year. But there is no bipartisan consensus on the issue, with others backing the NRA line that teachers in schools should be armed in order to better defend students if a shooting occurs. ( Why don't we just arm the children?)

Since the mass shooting, the Obama administration has indicated that it will look for ways to tighten gun laws in the wake of the attack. Vice-President Joe Biden has been assigned to lead the response to the Sandy Hook massacre, and Mr Obama has demanded a set of "concrete proposals" within a month.

Speaker of the House John Boehner has said the Republican-controlled chamber would consider new proposals. Mr Obama has said he would support reinstating an assault weapons ban that lapsed in 2004.

The White House has also suggested the president would back other gun control measures on high-capacity ammunition clips and closing loopholes that allow people to buy guns without background checks. Well, it's a start anyway.

On the heels of one massacre came another as William Spengler shot four volunteer firefighters responding to a blaze at an upstate New York home early on Christmas Eve morning. Two of them were killed and the gunman reportedly killed himself. The incident is being described as a lure to kill first responders. The dead firefighters have been identified Tomasz Kaczowka and Michael Chiapperini, who is also a Webster police lieutenant. Firefighters Theodore Scardino and Joseph Hofsetter were injured.

The gunman, Spengler, a 62-year-old, apparently shot and killed himself. Spengler had served 17 years in prison for murdering his grandmother in 1980.

 

CNN reports that the firemen, who were responding to the blaze that had engulfed multiple homes on the shore of Lake Ontario, came under gunfire as they left their vehicles.  The deadly situation left firefighters unable to battle the inferno as it claimed several homes. A SWAT team was called in to evacuate other homes in the area.

 

"It's sad to see that this is becoming more commonplace in communities across the nation,"  Monroe County Sheriff, Patrick O'Flynn said about the wave of gun violence sweeping America. With the nation's most powerful pro-gun lobby group, responding to the violence by calling for more guns and armed police in every school in America, it hardly seems likely that the wave is going to lose momentum. The NRA is part of the problem...not the solution.