Wayne LaPierre (courtesy salon.com)

First New York Daily News columnist Linda Stasi demanded that the U.S. State Department list the National Rifle Association as a terrorist organization. Now Salon continues the bloody-minded assault by targeting Wayne LaPierre, calling the NRA veep a murderer. “Although 26-year-old Christopher Harper-Mercer pulled the trigger on the gun that killed nine people at Umpqua Community College in Oregon on Thursday, Wayne LaPierre, the fanatic executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, also has blood on his hands . . .

LaPierre, who has worked for the NRA since 1978 and served as its top official since 1991, is the organization’s hit man when it comes to intimidating elected officials to oppose any kind of sensible gun control laws, including a federal law requiring background checks on would-be gun buyers and a national registry of guns. LaPierre likes to fulminate about gun owners’ rights. But he’s been silent on the Oregon killings, just as he’s been silent after the murders of other innocent victims of America’s epidemic of gun violence.

Not true, of course. Salon writer Peter Dreier knows full well that that the NRA refrains from public commentary about a mass shooting until the media hubub dies down. But the “NRA as silent accomplice to murder” suits Dreier’s anti-gun agenda. To make that case, Dreier has to draw a direct connection between America’s “lax gun laws” and mass murder. Or “gun violence,” generally.

Most gun-related deaths are committed by people who purchase their weapons legally. Others purchase or steal them illegally, but their ability to get access to guns is due to our lax laws on gun ownership. The NRA’s job is to make it easier for people to buy and use guns. And so far it has been very successful. Since the 1994 assault-weapon ban expired in 2004, Congress hasn’t enacted any major gun regulations.

Surprise! Another anti-gunner uses weasel words to divert attention from the truth about guns. “Most gun-related deaths are committed by people who purchase their weapons legally” is only true if you include suicides, which account for the majority of firearms-related fatalities. Is it true that all firearms-related deaths are related to the shooters’ “ability to get access to guns . . . due to our lax laws on gun ownership”? If you want to see if that way, sure. I see their access as a logical result of America’s firearms freedom, our inability to provide mental health treatment to [some] suicidal Americans, and our lax (a.k.a., revolving door) criminal justice system.

Thanks to the NRA, it is no accident that the United States ranks first in the world — by a wide margin — in gun-related civilian deaths and injuries. Compared with every other democracy, we have the most guns per capita and the weakest gun laws. Although the United States accounts for only about 4.5% of the world’s population, Americans own about 45 percent of all civilian-owned firearms in the world. Americans own about 300 million firearms.

But the danger isn’t simply the number of guns; it is the type of guns we allow people to legally purchase. Other countries permit hunting rifles. But the NRA believes that Americans have a right to own assault weapons.

Of course, even in countries with strong gun-control laws, some people will get their hands on a weapon and destroy others’ lives. In 2011, for example, Anders Breivik killed 69 children at a summer camp in Norway, which has strict gun laws. (But let’s recall that Breivik bought $550 worth of 30-round ammunition clips from an American gun supplier for the rifle he used in that massacre. Thanks to American laws, it was a legal online purchase.)

Pay no attention to the facts behind that curtain! Or the facts presented. (Is Mexico a democracy? What’s an assault weapon, exactly?) The conclusion justifies the argument. Needless to say, Dreier’s conclusion lays the blame for mass murder on the NRA.

Every American grieves for the families and friends of the people killed in Oregon last week. But until we tame the power of the NRA, we can expect more killings like this, a part of the deadly daily diet of murders throughout America committed by angry gun-toting people whose “freedom” to own weapons of mass destruction that the NRA defends.

In other words, if we tame the power of the NRA, these killings will stop. Yup. Another professor who can’t understand why Americans would reject such a patently idiotic assertion. And embrace the simple sentiment attributed to Mr. LaPierre: “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” Meanwhile, if Salon’s looking for people who encourage violence, they should look at their headline again.

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79 COMMENTS

    • The thing they all miss — willfully or otherwise — every single time is that the NRA isn’t some crazy powerful organization running off the deep pockets of some Bloomberg-esque figure and defying the will of the people. It has sway and funding because it represents the opinion of many millions of Americans who are also willing to put money and effort (contacting representatives, going out and actively voting based on 2A issues, etc) behind that opinion. Portraying the oldest and largest civil rights org and its leaders as radicals out of touch with the populous just isn’t accurate.

      • That’s because the lib groups are astroturfed. They have no concept of grassroot. It doesn’t occur to them.

      • They also don’t understand why the NRA has such sway over legislators. The NRA scores votes and grades candidates. NRA members vote, and they can use those grades as a guide.

        Legislators have been known to argue and plead with the NRA over what votes will be scored, such as confirming the nomination of an anti-2A cabinet member.

    • If promoting gun rights earns you blood on your hands, what does promoting the atrocities and biographies of these killers earn you, I wonder?

      • A pulitzer prize, apparently.
        Which is ironic since anti-guns don’t know the meaning of the words they throw around.

    • People die because of him? It’s not like he he works for PP. What was his roll in the fast and furious fiasco?
      And he, as Secretary of State, should have defended the Embassy in Benghazi. Wait. What?

    • Chip: He’s an obedient media lackey carrying out Dear Leader’s orders, issued after Oregon.

  2. Salon is out of touch with reality, just go read it. Obama would be better placed as the “People die because of this man” for his drone strikes that have killed hundreds of civilians. The statement itself is sexist as Hillary could be counted as getting people killed in Benghazi.

    https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2015/10/05/monthly-drone-report-total-drone-strikes-under-obama-in-pakistan-somalia-and-yemen-now-491-after-september-attacks/

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/world/obamas-leadership-in-war-on-al-qaeda.html?_r=0

  4. Mr. La Pierre is just another executive. Certainly no reason to slander him. I don’t see him as being outspoken in the slightest.

    • Who reads it to start with? Except other bloggers looking for quotes, I mean, and a small coterie of barking lefty moonbats?

      • “Who reads it to start with?”

        I happen to enjoy Salon’s ‘Bad Astronomy’ blog.

        Except when he hoots and screeches like a demented chimpanzee for “Global Warming”…

        So I read the atroronomy stuff and ignore the political crapolla.

        Q.E.D.

      • I go over there to comment on stupid stories like this one, but I really shouldn’t give them the clicks. I need to stop looking, but it’s like a dumpster fire over there. I can’t turn away.

        There were commenters there hoping LaPierre or even his grandchildren would get shot. It’s a sewer, but without the useful purpose of a sewer.

        • Hey, Xanthro, if you’re still around on the thread, you are THE sanest commenter there. I really admire both your knowledge and your poise dealing wth those flying monkeys.

  6. Being a socialist does require one to abandon common sense and reason.

    Recall; “I am pleased with Obama. I think he’s brilliant. The Republican Party should get out of his way and stop trying to hurt him. It would be good if he could be a dictator for a few years because he could do a lot of good things quickly.” — Woody Allen

    Yea, what a great idea.

    • Sooner or later one of them slips up and gives voice to what they all really believe.

      I’m not a fan of stereotyping, but Statists (on both sides of the imaginary aisle) are gonna State, and they look an awful lot alike when they do.

  7. Please — the United States of America is NOT a democracy. It is a constitutionally limited democratic republic. The word democracy is not mentioned in the Constitution. A democracy is often decribed as two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. A democracy can vote away our rights on a whim or as an emotional outburst after a tragedy. Obama and Hillary often use democracy to describe our system of government. They should know better Or maybe it’s just wishful thinking on their part.

    • You mean it’s not SUPPOSED to be a democracy. Lately in practice, however, it is operating like one. The supreme court would never overturn a law, no matter how blatantly unconstitutional, if a large enough majority of the public supported it.

  8. Okay…first, don’t panic…

    Now, close the window that Salon is in, then close your browser and shut down computer.

    Next, you’ll need someone to drive you to a good steak house and have a rare steak and some bourbon… Lots of bourbon.

    Tomorrow, you’ll need to get up, have a breakfast of black coffee and bacon, then get in a diesel 4×4 pickup and off-road to an area where you can shoot lots of ammo through lots of guns. Slowly you should regain your strength back.

    Do not open up Salon again or click on any link that takes you there.

    • Panic? I read these articles for the entertainment value. The magazine has the same appeal as an old circus freak show. There’s often some good schadenfreude too.

      • Every now and then, I stumble and follow a link to a HuffPo, MJ, Slate, Salon, et al…article. I usually feel dumber for using a minute or two of life that I’ll never get back.

      • Don’t give them the Ad revenue. Your every click has a dollar amount attached to it. Don’t make any donations to that kind of hateful screed.

  9. We had a similar incident in Canada, in Calgary last year. 5 university students were stabbed to death by a simple kitchen knife. Oops, no, they were stabbed to death by a madman using a simple kitchen knife. Someone could say “well, he only killed 5 instead of 10”, but how about we address the core issues and prevent the killing to begin with? If we can’t do that (as it’s not exactly an easy thing to do), then let’s look at giving ordinary folks a fighting chance.

  11. So funny how politicians are “intimidated” like this. Who really has more power, a politician who can make laws that are enforced by an army of heavily armed enforcers, or Wayne?

  12. I have never in my life been one to wear political or “group” clothing, but stuff like this makes me actually consider getting some NRA T-shirts and sweatshirts and wearing them frequently.

    • I absolutely agree. I advocate “virtual-CC”. Ware a t-shirt that leaves little doubt but that you are a concealed-carrier. Whether you are carrying at the moment or not. I’ll relate 2 experiences:

      – Medical lab test; I was waring my t-shirt that reads “I don’t call 911”. The ladies in the lab “made” me immediately. I chatted with then implicitly acknowledging they were correct without ever actually saying so. One said she was afraid of guns; but had no issue with me being present with my gun.

      – Brokerage office – I needed to show ID; but discovered I didn’t have my driver’s license with me. I handed the rep my License to Carry. She didn’t recognize what it was and handed it to her colleague; who remarked “Oh, yes, the Sheriff in Bucks County is very good about issuing those.” The three of us had a very pleasant conversation of the wisdom of carry.

      Think about it. What’s a hoplophobe going to do? Point at you and scream: “Hezzzz Gottttta Gunnnnnn!!!”? What difference does it make in your jurisdiction? My State is unlicensed OC and licensed CC. I have a license. If I were OC’ing I’d be just-as-legal. I’m not OC’ing; just exercising my freedom-of-t-shirt.

      We need to come out of the closet boys and girls.

      • For extra fun, use your state-issued carry permit as ID when you vote. Makes the crunchy gals at the table shoot out of their Birkenstocks.

        Well, in CT anyway…

        • I got an “attagirl” when I did that in Texas. So then I tried to use it to get on an airplane, in the trusted passenger line or whatever they call it. The security guy didn’t freak out, but I learned that CHLs don’t work with that system. The data isn’t hooked up to it or something.

  13. “But he’s been silent on the Oregon killings, just as he’s been silent after the murders of other innocent victims of America’s epidemic of gun violence.”

    It only sounds like silence because of all the unhinged, Leftist, liberal, bloody-shirt waving, mouth-breathers, that are too busy grabbing every available microphone and TV camera to spout their same tired, irrational, hoplophobic bromides about the danger posed by the pro-constitution, 2nd amendment supporting, law abiding, gun owning Americans.

    • “Why is it that whenever a crime is committed with a gun, Democrats want to take guns away from the people who didn’t do it???”

  14. This is just the beginning. Soon enough more widely read liberal publications like the New York Times and Washington Post will also be forwarding and echoing the sentiments Stasi and Salon are regarding LaPierre, the NRA, any second amendment group and gun owners in general. The blind emotional rage and desire for totalitarian control will manifest itself in physical violence. They’re already laying the groundwork for calls for physical violence with the constant vilification. The current calls for violence won’t stay contained to the pages of CSGV or MDA. It’s only a matter of time.

    • GAME ON!!!

      Sometimes I thank God for HizzzHonor, Mayor Bloomberg. He’s invested so much of his fortune in raising 2A-conciousness. Now, all that remains for us is to raise the level of discourse to logic and empathy for the vulnerable citizens of our nation.

    • “I say, America, we need to pack guns, if this is what it’s coming to to protect ourselves.”
      –Bonnie Schaar, mother of Umpqua shooting victim Cheyeanne Fitzgerald

  15. Wayne LaPierre, the fanatic executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, also has blood on his hands

    And Peter Dreier, the fanatical crank who writes for Salon, also has blood on his hands from his perpetual period.

  16. It’s amazing how much stupidity and outright falsehoods can be squeezed into one article. Salon is an absolute joke.

    • @Parnell: Was going to say something similar but you beat me to it. Fact checking their propaganda would make their whole exercise irrelevant. So, of course, they don’t do that. Or, if they do, they certainly don’t put the corrections into the article. If the person that wrote this thinks this is real reporting they need to go back to school or go to work someplace that respects the truth.

  18. Obama’s not intimidated. He couldn’t wait for the bodies to cool jump on the air and wag his finger at the American public for their inaction.

    • Inaction? What inaction? I bought my wife a new carry pistol last month and a Redeye Tactical IWB holster for it later today.

      I’m doing my part!

  20. “LaPierre, who has worked for the NRA since 1978 and served as its top official since 1991, is the organization’s hit man when it comes to intimidating elected officials to oppose any kind of sensible gun control laws,…”

    1. LaPierre is the Executive Vice President. The President is Allan Cors. 2. Chris Cox is the head of the lobbying arm, the ILA. If there is a hitman, it’s him.

    But hey, when you’re an intolerant, radical leftist, facts mean little and can only serve to disrupt your emotional story.

  21. “Although 26-year-old Christopher Harper-Mercer pulled the trigger on the gun that killed nine people at Umpqua Community College in Oregon on Thursday, Wayne LaPierre, the fanatic executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, also has blood on his hands . . . LaPierre… is the organization’s hit man when it comes to intimidating elected officials to oppose any kind of sensible gun control laws, including a federal law requiring background checks on would-be gun buyers…”

    Wait, I thought the Oregon shooter went through and passed multiple background checks. How does he ‘have blood on his hands’ for opposing background checks that the killer passed? This guy’s not even trying, is he?

  22. The Loony Left loves grassroots movements with popular support unless the movement involves something they don’t like. Then they scream about the very things they are guilty of, skewed statistics and corporate malingering.

    • I thought I was the only one that noticed that, and the EXACT spelling of the Deutsch acronym…

  25. My phone used to suggest Salon articles and after reading them I quickly realized that entire organization is grossly out of touch with reality on the majority of subjects they cover.

  26. I understand the view point of Linda Stasi. You see from a enlightened individuals point of view the NRA is a terrorist organization that encourages resistance to fellow enlightened individuals (in this case terrorists) by using firearms to protect themselves (the unenlightened) against the firearms used by the enlightened individuals.
    I have, over an extended time, become a big fan of Mr. LaPierre. The NRA should proudly consider them self an anti-terrorist organization.

  27. Well, some people do die because of Wayne, albeit in an indirect, roundabout way. Insofar as Wayne fights for our firearms freedom, there are millions of people out there who might otherwise be disarmed when the evildoers within our society come calling.

    Sometimes these violent criminals do end up dead because their armed victims defended themselves with weapons and rights made useful in part through Wayne’s efforts.

    It’s silly to give Wayne ALL of the credit for those dead criminals, Salon, but….awww shucks…..you’re welcome, on Wayne’s behalf.

    • “It’s silly to give Wayne ALL of the credit for those dead criminals, Salon, but….awww shucks…..you’re welcome, on Wayne’s behalf.”

      I just snorted coffee. Thank you.

  28. Salon comes out of the closet. Yes, antis absolutely crave a federal gun registry. Then when they get power again, they can sic paramilitarized agents on their political opponents, from the safeties of their own editorial offices.

    “… including a federal law requiring background checks on would-be gun buyers and a national registry of guns.”

    • I love it when wingnuts like Dreier go full retard. Other wingnuts will applaud, while we and intelligent fence sitters will either laugh at the stupidity of the anti movement or despise the lying media that promotes it. Dreier is doing our work for us.

      The more they froth at the mouth, the worse they look.

      • Yep, I was on another anti-gunowner thread there, and one lone liberal was telling the feces flingers that facts are more persuasive than insults, and he just got trashed for it.

        It really does help our side. I think we got a lot of new and young people on our side after the anti-gun media beshat the bed right after Newtown.

  30. Don’t tell me. It was the Pedophile that they bravely allowed to voice his ‘lifestyle’ that wrote this article?

    Seriously, what a bunch of maroons.

  31. I am a member of the NRA and support them financially because the organization represents and defends my love of the second amendment. The NRA is not a mindless, soulless entity it is made up of millions of Americans and when things are made bad by politicians who forget their place, the NRA is then looked up to by tens of millions of American gun owners. In essence the NRA is America. What is NOT American is any elected official showing disrespect to our Bill of Rights, what is NOT American is any elected official who lacks the backbone and courage to defend our Constitution. Those unAmerican elected officials are the ones I do my best to remember during election times as I punch the other candidates name. Remember that Hilary Clinton when you are out there running your trap on furthering your agenda on gun control!

  32. Seems almost every time I browse this site there is another anti 2A story/theme that is identical to the other anti-freedom attacks taking place, ie people calling people who choose not vaccinate a danger to society, causing deaths, people dying because of that persons choices, ect.

  33. I’m glad the NRA is there to protect my civil rights. My membership money is well spent. The people at Salon are not supportive of anyone’s civil rights.

    • Except pedophiles, don’t forget the pedophiles. Won’t someone please think of those poor oppressed pedophiles! Salon is a click bait rag that publishes stories (not articles, because in my mind an article is informative) about any kind of depraved thing the prog, ACLU types want to hear about. The fact the NRA is the nation’s oldest civil rights organization is totally lost on them because it doesn’t fit the narrative.

  35. Would that the NRA and ole’ Wayne had the immense power ascribed to them. Time to make that power a reality! Howza’ ’bout 10 million more members?

  37. 20,000+ gun laws in this country (or what passes for one, anyway); how many more until they’re no longer “lax”?

  38. Linda Stasi, Linda STASI?!! STASI?! Is that her last name or the agency she worked/works for?! How fitting.

  39. I saw an anti make the following comment the other day, the stupidity made my head hurt real bad:

    “Arsonists start forest fires with blowtorches. We could stop arsonists if only good guys had more blowtorches.
    -National Blowtorch Association ”

    I can’t believe the utter stupidity and willful ignorance of anti’s, making false correlations and believing they are the “enlightened ones”. The rest of us are just idiots who don’t know any better and we should fall in line. Or else…

  40. First New York Daily News columnist Linda Stasi demanded that the U.S. State Department list the National Rifle Association as a terrorist organization. She IS a moron and I call her out to debate if she promises not to kill ME with HER assault weapon when I confront her with the facts. The following should give her something to lie about the ignorant lunatic!! Some of the disarmed people murdered by the governments of the world, Christians Rome, Jews Nazi Germany, Aztecs Spanish, Maori of NZ and Aboriginals Australia, Scottish William Wallace, the Irish, Welsh by English and the Native America by the US government. THIS is why we need guns to protect ourselves from those who would subject us to their whim and if this is not enough just google dictators.
    There are over 400 gun laws on the books and they have done nothing to stop the violence. Because of the winey few we are chastised for wanting to protect ourselves. We NEED guns to protect ourselves from criminals in and out of the government. I deserve the right to protect myself and if you don’t like it tough $hit.
    The 2nd Amendment was put into the Constitution so the people could protect themselves from a corrupt government. That is why it says “shall not infringe” so we can have what the government has to prevent a Holocaust. I believe the people should have what the government has including machine guns. The only gun control law there should be is that criminals can’t have any firearms. No double standards put DC politicians on Obamacare and SS.Thanks for your support and vote.Pass the word. mrpresident2016.com

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