Subsequent to the United States Civil War the US Government began the process of analyzing data from the war in order to improve tactics, training and equipment development. One startling fact emerged that required immediate attention. It was determined that for each confederate solider hit by a rifle bullet, soldiers in the Union Army fired 1000 bullets. Union General Ambrose Burnside, on learning of this lamented:
“Out of ten soldiers who are perfect in drill and the manual of arms only one knows the purpose of the sights on his gun or can hit the broad side of a barn.”
Marksmanship must be improved, not only among existing military personnel, but also among young civilian men that might be called upon to serve in future conflicts. Burnside along with Army and Navy Journal editor William Conant Church and Captain George Wood Wingate looked to Europe for the answer. Rifle clubs were common throughout Europe and they competed with each other in tournaments, which provided a strong incentive for individual improvement.
In 1871 these three men obtained a charter from the state of New York for the National Rifle Association (NRA). Its purpose was to improve marksmanship through developing effective training techniques, competitions, and the development of improved firearms, particularly rifles. The National Rifle Association became a huge success and the US military even began to provide ammunition and targets to the NRA to assist them in their training. But the world was changing.
During Prohibition, gangland violence increased dramatically and guns moved freely between states. The St. Valentines Day massacre in 1929 startled the Nation and this was followed up by the attempted assignation of President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933. Something had to be done.
The National Firearms Act was introduced in Congress in 1934, and the NRA wanted a voice in the discussion. Karl Frederick was NRA President at the time and he went to Congress to express the views of the NRA on the first gun control legislation ever considered by the US Congress.
“I have never believed in the general practice of carrying weapons. I seldom carry one. … I do not believe in the general promiscuous toting of guns. I think it should be sharply restricted and only under licenses.”
The firearms act was passed and it required that all guns be taxed and registered. It also made it illegal for anyone to own a machine gun, a shotgun with a barrel less than 18 inches in length and any type of silencing devise. The main goal was to prohibit any high-powered long gun that could be concealed. Handguns and many hunting type rifles were not covered by the act. But the world was changing.
The NRA had become a political organization and they would never return completely to their founding mission, but would go on to be perhaps the most powerful special interest group in American history.
In 1991 Wayne LaPierre was named Executive Vice President of the NRA. He had joined the NRA in 1977 and had spent most of his adult life as a political activist. Mr. LaPierre was well prepared and well qualified for the top job and his effectiveness can in no way be denied. He has never shied away from controversy and remains steadfast in his belief in and defense of the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.
Sorry, wrong picture: it was just pointed out to me that this is a Gringotts Goblin from Harry Potter, but the resemblance IS uncanny!
After the St. Valentines Day Massacre of 2018, Mr. LaPierre spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Wednesday February 22. His speech was about 40 minutes long and if you did not see it, here is a link and I think it would be well worth your time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvw3pHiWUfQ
Here are some excerpts that enlighten us as to his thinking.
“Just a week ago, we were all horrified by another terrible tragedy at an American school. Each and every member of the National Rifle Association mourns the loss of the innocent and continues to keep their families and that community in our prayers. We share a goal of safe schools, safe neighborhoods, and a safe country. As usual, the opportunists wasted not one second to exploit tragedy for political gain. Saul Alinski would have been proud. The break back speed of calls for more gun control laws and the breathless national media eager to smear the NRA.”
Mr. LaPierre manages three sentences before he begins his blistering attacks on his political opponents. It is effective in raising the emotional temperature of his audience. But it is a short warm-up, he continues:
“Think about that, in the midst of genuine grief, and a very understandable passion, as millions of Americans searched for meaningful solutions, what do we find? Chris Murphy, Nancy Pelosi, and more, cheered on by the national media, eager to blame the NRA and call for even more government control. They hate the NRA. They hate the Second Amendment. They hate individual freedom.
In the rush of calls for more government, they also revealed their true selves. The elites don’t care, not one wit about America’s school system. And schoolchildren. If they truly cared, what they would do is they would protect them. For them, it is not a safety issue. It is a political issue. They care more about control and more of it. Their goal is to eliminate the Second Amendment and our firearms freedoms, so they can eradicate all individual freedoms.”
In literature we have monsters. What characteristics these monsters have matters not at all as long as they are not cute or could possibly have any redeemable human traits. Think of the Orcs in The Lord of the Rings. They are killed in the thousands, with reckless abandon, but because they are not cute or possess one wit of humanity, we are not required to feel the least sympathy at their demise and we don’t. Monsters allow us to move the plot along at pace while ignoring them as living things. It is quite convenient and our hero gets to live happily ever after.
Mr. LaPierre, after raising the emotional temperature of the room, quickly moves in to define exactly who the monsters are in his story. He even calls them by name and assigns them the most despicable of motives. “They hate the NRA. They Hate the Second Amendment: and wait for it, the crown jewel of his plot theme: “They hate individual freedom.”
It is a theme that he returns to time and again in this speech and he has used to effect in many prior speeches as well. Create demons and monsters with evil intent and we can hate them without feeling guilty about our hate. You must paint with a broad brush; all Orcs are bad by definition. Once stripped of their humanity, our own behavior toward them is no longer guided by accepted human rules of interaction and we can destroy them using any means necessary without shame or remorse. I suppose it is better to be the hammer than the nail!
America was not made great by demonizing our political opponents or by allowing extremists on either end of the political spectrum to formulate and implement their policy positions. America was made great by the wisdom of the sensible center. But that sensible center seems to have abandoned us and we all now stand frustrated by our inability to accomplish the most simple of policy implementations or improvements.
When Mr. LaPierre states that those who disagree with him wish to take away our personal freedoms, he is doing nothing but fear mongering; he is in no way making a legitimate contribution to rectifying what is a dire situation indeed. There is no serious discussion in this country at the present moment about confiscating guns and making gun ownership illegal. It is a certainty that repealing the Second Amendment is as possible as you finding the ring of power in your backyard. But the world is changing.
The sensible center is perhaps making a comeback. The young people of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in particular and young people across America in general are crying out for the sensible center to reassert itself. The NRA is coming to be seen as an extremist organization that must tone down its rhetoric as more and more people begin to realize that the NRA will say and do anything to promote their agenda, and that is, I suppose right and proper for them to do.
The rest of us do not have to accept their odious vitriol as the truth or as the only solution worthy of consideration. We can force them to moderate their position if they want to have a voice at this table.
The only way to do it is at the ballot box.
This one is going to really annoy my right leaning friends, especially those that love their guns, I just hope they remember that I love them and do not wish to take away their guns or their freedoms and that they don’t think of me as an Orc.
Wayne Lapierre’s comments were made only after the mainstream media had made several reports wanting more gun control measures to be enacted and yes the hard left would dearly love for all guns to confiscated. There are some in this country whose ultimate goal is for the 2nd Amendment to be repealed and not surprisingly also want to repeal the 1st amendment—anything they disagree with is “hate speech”. The topics that have been proposed are raising the minimum age to be able to purchase an “assault weapon” and further enhancing background checks to involve mental health status. Raising the minimum age would be nothing more than age discrimination by the federal government. 18 year olds are eligible for military service, why should they be restricted from buying a weapon???? The government would be saying its ok for you to come use my weapons but you cant buy one for yourself until you get older.
And Im pretty sure inquiries into someone’s mental health is going to run into HIPAA rules and regulations.
What happened in Florida is tragic but I have to say that law enforcement (federal and local) had ample opportunity to intervene and DID NOT. The FBI investigated him for leaving comments on the web where he made it clear what his intentions were and they did nothing about it. Local law enforcement has dealt with him nearly 40 times in the last few years and did not do anything.