Wayne LaPierre

Wayne Robert LaPierre, Jr. (born November 8, 1948) is an American author and advocate of the right to keep and bear arms. He is best known for his position as the executive vice president of the National Rifle Association and for his criticism of gun control proponents.

Early life

LaPierre was born Wayne Robert LaPierre, Jr.^[3] on November 8, 1948, in Schenectady, New York^[4] to Hazel Gordon and Wayne Robert LaPierre, Sr.^[3] His father was an accountant for the local General Electric plant.^[3] He is the second and youngest child of Hazel and Wayne, Sr.^[3] The family moved to Roanoke, Virginia, when LaPierre, Jr. was five years old, and he was raised in the Roman Catholic church.^[3]

Career

He has been a government activist and lobbyist since receiving his Masters degree including positions on the board of directors of the American Association of Political Consultants, the American Conservative Union, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

National Rifle Association activity

Since 1991, he has served as Executive Vice President and chief executive officer of the National Rifle Association (NRA), the largest gun rights and small arms industry advocacy organization^[5] in the United States. LaPierre joined the NRA in 1977 after working as a legislative aide to a Democratic Virginia delegate, Vic Thomas.

In 1995, LaPierre wrote a fundraising letter describing federal agents as "jack-booted government thugs" who wear "Nazi bucket helmets and black storm trooper uniforms".^[6] Former president George H. W. Bush was so outraged by the letter that he resigned his NRA life membership.^[7] In response to growing criticism, LaPierre apologized, saying he didn't intend to "paint all federal law-enforcement officials with the same broad brush".^[8]

In 2000 LaPierre said President Bill Clinton tolerated a certain amount of violence and killing to strengthen the case for gun control and to score points for his party.^[9] Clinton White House spokesman Joe Lockhart called it "really sick rhetoric, and it should be repudiated by anyone who hears it".^[10] In 2004, citing Democratic candidate John Kerry's history of authoring and supporting gun control legislation, LaPierre actively campaigned against the senator in the 2004 presidential elections.

On December 21, 2012 the NRA held a televised media event at Washington's Willard Hotel located adjacent to the White House at which LaPierre read a prepared statement in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in which he connected gun violence with "gun-free zones", violent films and video games, the media, weak databases on mental illness and lax security, and called for armed officers at American schools in an effort to protect children from gun violence.^[11][12] He announced that Asa Hutchinson, former Arkansas congressman and DEA chief, will lead the NRA's effort in developing a "school shield program".^[13] Following the event, several in the media criticized LaPierre's statements, including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial board^[14] and The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg.^[15] The New York Post, usually considered editorially conservative, labled LaPierre a "Gun Nut!" on its December 22, 2012 cover.^[16] Others also criticized LaPierre's remarks, including Republican Party strategist and pollster Frank Luntz^[17] and pundit Ann Coulter.^[18]

Appearances

LaPierre hosts Crime Strike, a syndicated weekly television program which advocates gun use for the purpose of self-defense and highlights situations where people have used their guns against criminal suspects. In October 2006, LaPierre instituted a weekly online podcasts on the NRAnews.com website called "What They Didn't Tell You Today." Every weekday, LaPierre gives a short broadcast about gun rights.

Views on gun control

Supports

• Having armed security personnel at schools.^[19]
• Increasing funds for a stricter and more efficient mental health system, and reform of civil commitment laws to facilitate institutionalization of the mentally ill when necessary.
• Creating a computerized universal mental health registry of those adjudicated to be incompetent to help limit gun sales to the mentally ill.
• Increasing enforcement of federal laws against and incarceration of violent gang members or felons with guns.
• Project Exile and similar programs that mandate severe sentences for all gun crimes especially illegal possession. LaPierre stated "By prosecuting them they prevent the drug dealer, the gang member and the felon from committing the next crime....Leave the good people alone and lock up the bad people and dramatically cut crime."^[20]

Opposes

• Universal background checks, as he believes this will lead to a universal gun registry.^[19]
• The Assault Weapons Ban of 2013
• Any limits on the law-abiding public's access to semi-automatic weapons.^[19]
• Some gun control laws which he views as a form of government tyranny: "What people all over the country fear today, is being abandoned by their government. If a tornado hits, if a hurricane hits, if a riot occurs, that they're going to be out there alone, and the only way they will protect themselves, in the cold, in the dark, when they are vulnerable, is with a firearm." There are some laws, however, he supports, such as the ban on gun sales to, or possession by convicted felons or those adjudicated as incompetent or mentally ill.^[19]

Books

LaPierre has authored several books about topics ranging from shooting practices to terrorism to gun safety to crime.

• Guns, Crime, and Freedom (1994)
• Shooting Straight: Telling the Truth About Guns in America (2002)
• Guns, Freedom, and Terrorism (2003)
• The Global War on Your Guns (2006)
• The Essential Second Amendment Guide (2007)
• America Disarmed: Inside the U.N. and Obama's Scheme to Destroy the Second Amendment (2011)

References

External links

• NRAnews.com
• Wayne LaPierre's NRA Press Conference Announcing National School Shield Program, as delivered transcript, audio, video, December 21, 2012
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Wayne LaPierre at the Internet Movie Database
• Wayne LaPierre collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Works by or about Wayne LaPierre in libraries (WorldCat catalog)