Guardian UK: Wayne LaPierre and the NRA: so defensive it was downright offensive

[marmar]

Wayne LaPierre and the NRA: so defensive it was downright offensive
The leading gun rights lobbyist gave a performance so tone-deaf that only he missed why 'put more guns in schools' sounds inept

Ana Marie Cox
guardian.co.uk, Friday 21 December 2012


Wayne LaPierre, executive vice-president of the National Rifle Association, came to the podium Friday with the pursed lips and furrowed brow of a banker anxious over accounting errors. Throughout the press conference, he seemed to be reaching for an emotional range that would reflect the horror and sorrow so many felt in the wake of the Sandy Hook killings.

But the most effective expression he could muster was that of someone trying to remember his lines. I would like to believe that LaPierre was as anguished and confused by the events of last week as the rest of us, but the man clearly suffers from constipation of the soul.

The NRA's proposal was tone-deaf to the scale of the tragedy and the psychic wreckage it left behind, in addition to being flat-out policy absurdity. The factual errors and logical twists that bedevil the group's concrete suggestion – arm the schools! – are so easily sussed out that they were expressed, repeatedly, in the 140 characters available on Twitter. To review the top two of these, briefly:

1) There is no evidence that arming school guards or posting police in schools makes them safer. Indeed, Columbine – the incident that kicked off the modern wave of school shootings – had an officer assigned to the site. Yet another recent mass shooting took place on an army base, Fort Hood, where the presences of many, many trained soldiers did not prevent the murders from taking place. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/21/wayne-lapierre-nra-defensive

[freshwest]

1. Thank you, Guardian.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

4. Yes, I thank the Guardian as well, but have we heard

from Matt Lauer on the subject yet?

Charlie Rose?

Diane Sawyer?


I want to hear from the big guns!


Yes, I am being sarcastic that the UK yet again has better coverage than the US carnival media. They may report on it here, but do they ever take a firm side and curse this crap.

[blue_heron]

2. Romney 47%

As I was reading the article and the comments, it occurred to me....his arrogant disdain and blame on videos as being the worst possible porn. How many NRA members play these games? Probably a large percent (let's pick 47% to be ironic). He's actually doing what Romney did and insulting almost half his own members for enjoying violent videos. The NRA actually even produces and sells violent videos, so he's insulting his own organization. I wonder if the NRA members who play the games will think he's talking about them?

[malaise]

3. The entire Guardian report is light years ahead of US coverage n/t