(CNN) - Continuing his charge against the Obama administration on gun control proposals, Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association is scheduled to respond to the president's State of the Union while speaking Thursday at the annual convention for the National Wild Turkey Federation in Nashville.
The speech comes one day after LaPierre issued a rally-cry for gun owners, writing in an op-ed that "good Americans are prudently getting ready to protect themselves" against what he described as an onslaught of doom.
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"Hurricanes. Tornadoes. Riots. Terrorists. Gangs. Lone criminals. These are perils we are sure to face-not just maybe. It's not paranoia to buy a gun. It's survival," the NRA's executive vice president wrote in the op-ed published Wednesday by the conservative news website, The Daily Caller.
"It's responsible behavior," he continued. "And it's time we encourage law-abiding Americans to do just that."
LaPierre has been a leading yet controversial voice against gun control proposals as Washington grapples with a flood of firearm legislation in the wake of the Connecticut elementary school shooting. President Obama also renewed his plea for Congress to vote on tougher gun laws during his State of the Union address earlier this week.
"Each of these proposals deserves a vote in Congress. If you want to vote no, that's your choice. But these proposals deserve a vote," Obama said. "Because in the two months since Newtown, more than a thousand birthdays, graduations, and anniversaries have been stolen from our lives by a bullet from a gun."
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LaPierre wrote that defenders of gun rights are more fired up than ever to purchase firearms-not because they fear conflict with the government, as some have argued, but because they "anticipate confrontations where the government isn't there."
As examples, he cited stories of looting after Superstorm Sandy, claimed terrorists would infiltrate through the U.S. southern border and warned of a lack of funds to pay for police protection should Obama's fiscal policies result in economic disaster.
"No wonder Americans are buying guns in record numbers right now, while they still can and before their choice about which firearm is right for their family is taken away forever," he wrote.
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White House Senior Adviser David Plouffe responded to the op-ed, writing on Twitter Wednesday that it's "hard to believe this is real. Every GOPer should read and decide if this delusional person will call the shots."
LaPierre further laid out a four-year plan for a "resistance movement" that entails fighting legal battles against gun law legislation, boosting NRA membership, and strengthening the organization financially. Deep into his op-ed, he called for donations-"$20, $50, $250, or $1,000 at a time-and dedicated several paragraphs to reasons why the group needed more members.
"An even stronger NRA is the only chance gun owners have to withstand the coming siege," he wrote, saying the group is launching a "full-court initiative" to recruit more "lover(s) of freedom." The group already one of the largest advocacy organizations, with four million members.
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"This begins with remembering to keep your own membership active, or reactivate it if it has lapsed," he continued. "It means reminding yourself, 'I have a son and daughter who aren't members and should be'."
LaPierre also blamed the media, certain lawmakers and high-profile figures, such as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, for making Americans "feel guilty about buying a gun."
"The enemies of freedom demonize gun buyers and portray us as social lepers," he added.
Concluding his op-ed, LaPierre vowed that NRA members "will not surrender."
"We will not appease. We will buy more guns than ever. We will use them for sport and lawful self-defense more than ever. We will grow the NRA more than ever. And we will be prouder than ever to be freedom-loving NRA patriots," he wrote. "We will Stand and Fight."
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The most terrifying fact about LaPierre is that he is absolutely right.
Way to go, NRA! I'll donate some more. Only scare tactics will defeat another scare tactics.
The fears of Obama the Gungrabber in Chief have started to materialze.
Zealots will invariably believe only what reinforces their delusions; La Pierre plays that zeal like a violin. His obvious code-worded call for armed insurrection has been duly noted.
Well, here's a way out for you gun-ghouls that doesn't involve fomenting revolution: Guyana! Go there-and take La Pierre and all the bug-eyed Ted Nugent wannabe's with you!
Wayne LaPierre is the cliche right-winger who claims "elites" like President Obama have armed bodyguards but forgetting to mention that moral eunuchs like himself also travel with bodyguards as Chris Wallace on Faux News of all places called him on. LaPierre fights for the right to sell arms to the Mexican cartels, genicidal warlords overseas and criminals in the US with the long established domestic gun-running industry designed to molve massive volumes of weapons from loose gun law states like Virginia to urban areas like Phili and NYC.
the only way responsible owners will be helped is to get rid of this fanatic. I want universal background checks and limited capacity rifles. This guy wouldn't flinch at a BAR, Gatling gun, or some other weapon, as long as the $ gets into his pockets in the end
Do the smart thing. Make your voice heard, spend your money wisely: JOIN THE NRA.
Doom and gloom. I say, this man has just destroyed a big chunk of his credibility.
And a gun is not going to 100% anyone's survival, esp. during a crime or a natural disaster. Survivability is a combination of many things, one of the main things being a keen, clear mind. Anyone not thinking rationally will only bring about their own demise, whether they have a gun or otherwise.
Even if one wants to accept LaPierre's rationale for the need for people to own a gun, it doesn't explain the objection to universal background checks or even large capacity magazines. In fact, what sane argument is there against trying to keep guns away from people with mental problems? Admittedly, criminals will find ways to get guns regardless of any laws, so background checks for felons just means that they would have to find the guns illegally, and it makes it slightly harder for them go get them. But that is still not a reason against background checks.
It's also disturbing to see the NRA simply sowing fear as the reason for owning guns. If they were really concerned with a situation where there might be inadequate protection, they should be willing to invest more in the community for police, other first responders, etc. But they don't want to spend any money on anything other than PR to get more guns sold.
It amazes me how leftists attack the NRA and guns in general for violent acts. Yet they won't admit that violent acts are committed by violent people and try to figure out the reason. If leftists would just attack the violence in movies and entertainment the same way maybe some of these deranged people wouldn't have something to emulate in their violent acts.
Really- figure out why criminals commit crimes instead of how to prevent citizens from defending themselves from violent crimes. And quit blaming the NRA for your violent intentions.
Borderline sedition. He all but said "get armed and be ready to riot in the streets while locked and loaded."
It's nothing more then about the money and the power. The NRA just wants to keep it stured up, to get more money and more power. In my opinion they are in the pockets of most of the Washington politicians anyway.
w5cdt, what are you going to fight with? Your mind? Maybe you can "reason" with someone who breaks in to your home, since you seem to have all the knowledge. I own guns, but I'm also smart enough to realize the NRA takes the broad approach to make sure even the hand guns and shotguns are not taken away from law abiding citizens. If they give a little bit, the liberal government and it's blind followers will take them all. So they are not crazy, they are just posturing their position, same as Obama is doing.
Just to clarify, are the NRA members willing to fight in state houses and government buildings with lawyers or are we talking about open rebellion with guns drawn?
The second amendment is written by the Word of the Lord through the hands of our Forefathers.
Praise the Lord, and Pass the Ammunition!
Whether or not you agree with the NRA's position on firearms, every American should support them. They are standing up to protect a right guaranteed us by the Constitution. If the government can take the right to bear arms away from us, they just may set their sights on something important to you next.
LaPierre is obviously trying to stir up and inflame his troops, but we must keep the issue in perspective. NRA's membership represents only 1.4% of the country's population! And not all members agree with LP. Many NRA members believe that assault weapons should be banned. 60 million Americans, or 20% of our population are gun owners. LaPierre does not speak for them, nor does he speak for all of the 1.4% of his membership. 90% of Americans want more gun control. They should be heard !!! LaPierre's views are in line with only a small group of Americans.
scott wrote:
Damn right! We will fight!
----------------
SECURITY! We've got another one over here.
Go tell the victims in the law-less land during Hurricane Katrina or ranchers on the Arizona border who have drug smugglers coming onto their property with AK-47's they don't need a gun to survive.
We need to fight for our freedom
I love the way the NRA frames it as " they are taking away our guns". Its not true and they depend on the idiocy of the average gun owner to react as if it were. What IS being discussed is taking away weapons that can kill dozens of people per minute. The law should be simple; any gun that fires more than 8 bullets per minute is illegal. Doesnt matter what we call it ( assault rifle, etc). Everything else including self defense and hunting weapons that fire less than 8 times per minute are protected under the 2nd amendment as always.
Well this might thin out the herd, funny how "responsible" gun owners aren't very responsible with their own words or actions.
This guy has to be one of the sleaziest people to come down the pipe since Rush Limbaugh.
The fact that he is not transparent to even the lunatic fringe already in his pocket is amazing.
Nothing more than a skilled evangelical figure appealing to the emotions of a brainwashed congregation of gun worshipers. LaPierre would make Oral Roberts proud.
Cause gun control really works..LOL. Any of you liberal gun deniers taken a look at Chicago lately....tough gun laws equals one of the worst murder rates in the nation....NYC...similar...California...same. IF gun laws stopped gun violence then Chicago would be the safest place ot live in the USA. But as we ALL know...it is not. Bottom line...GIVE IT UP ALREADY. We aren't giving up our guns...Before you demonize the NRA and gun rights advocates...Answer the question about Chicago and other places with tough laws.....Oh you can't.....
Under LaPierre, the NRA doesn't believe in the right to own guns. It believes in the right to violently overthrow a government whose policies it disagrees with. As such it is a subversive organization, something the "militia" mentioned in the Constituion is supposed to suppress.
4 million NRA members vs 600 mil americans. Bring it on NRA. I own a couple guns, and would never ever ever ever ever think of joining the NRA. the NRA are a bunch of bat sh!t crazies.