Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president and the CEO of the National Rifle Association (NRA), appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday for an exclusive interview with host John Dickerson. While there, he felt for the Las Vegas victims, defended the Second Amendment and his organization, and called out those in the media (Hollywood in particular) who got rich off of glorifying gun violence and “irresponsible use of firearms.”
LaPierre began his interview by first sharing his condolences with the victims and those effects by the Las Vegas shooting. “Can I say first, this has been a tragic week. I mean, we had NRA members out there in the middle of that tragedy, we had NRA families, we had families wounded out there. It just has been horrible,” he told Dickerson.
“But to the people that are trying to politicize this tragedy, I would say this: There are monsters like this monster out there every day. There are menaces out there every day,” he shifted. “That's why they support this freedom.”
He then slammed those who would disarm average Americans but allow themselves to have armed security. “All of the elites that have been speaking out this past week, they all want to protect themselves. If they all protect themselves with armed security.” And for all the heavy criticism the NRA received, LaPierre argued that it belonged to the entertainment industry:
You want to talk about irresponsible use of firearms? The number one person teaching irresponsible use of firearms is all of these elites employer, the Hollywood television gaming industry … We spend millions teaching responsible use of firearms, they make billions every single day, John, teaching irresponsible use of firearms. They’re so hypocritical it’s unbelievable.
“But is it really an elite position for a person to think if there is evil in the world, perhaps there should be something that makes a little harder for the evil person to get their hand on something,” Dickerson prefaced with talking about firearms, including semi-automatic rifles. “That is not elite that’s just somebody trying to figure out how to have less people be dead.”
LaPierre pointed out the fact that no matter what gun laws there were mass shootings still happened. “As we said before Paris wouldn’t have happened, they outlawed fully automatic guns, Brussels, San Bernardino, California has every gun law under the sun, it still happens.”
When it came to the bump stock device for semi-automatic rifles, LaPierre reminded Dickerson that “the fact is that the Obama administration a couple of years ago legalized the device, their ATF, that fuzzed the line between semiautomatics and fully automatics.” He warned that such a blurring of lines was a risk for semi-automatic rifles from craven gun control advocates, like California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who don’t know very much about firearms:
I have been arguing with Dianne Feinstein for years -- she has been trying to ban semi-autos -- saying a semi-auto, is a semi-auto-is a semi-auto. It’s not an assault weapon like you say, Dianne Feinstein and it is not a machine gun. If you fuzz the line, they are all at risk and we are not going to let that happen.
“Well, the fact is, the bump stock does fuzz the line, though, and that's why ATF needs to do its job,” LaPierre said, calling for the ATF to regulate the rifle accessory. “I mean outrage they are trying to stir against the NRA they ought to be stirring against the mental health system, which is completely collapsed.”
His outrage was well warranted. After almost every shooting, the liberal media claimed the NRA was a domestic terrorist organization, with some even saying their members should be killed by a firing squad.
Transcript below:
CBS
Face the Nation
October 8, 2017
10:41:13AM EasternJOHN DICKERSON: Senator Feinstein wants legislation to ban bump fire stocks, what is the NRA position on that?
WAYNE LAPIERRE: Can I say first, this has been a tragic week. I mean, we had NRA members out there in the middle of that tragedy, we had NRA families, we had families wounded out there. It just has been horrible.
But to the people that are trying to politicize this tragedy I would say this: There are monsters like this monster out there every day. There are menaces out there every day. People want to be able to protect themselves. That's why they support this freedom. All of the elites that have been speaking out this past week, they all want to protect themselves. If they all protect themselves with armed security.
I mean, they criticize the NRA. You want to talk about irresponsible use of firearms? The number one person teaching irresponsible use of firearms is all of these elites employer, the Hollywood, television gaming industry. We spend millions teaching responsible use of firearms, they make billions every single day, John, teaching irresponsible use of firearms. They’re so hypocritical it’s unbelievable.
DICKERSON: But is it really an elite position for a person to think if there is evil in the world, perhaps there should be something that makes a little harder for the evil person to get their hand on something that can fire bulls with such rapidity -- and then bump fire stocks which make it available even faster -- that is not elite that’s just somebody trying to figure out how to have less people be dead.
LAPIERRE: Well, I do think this, if we could have legislated morality we would have done it long ago. As we said before Paris wouldn’t have happened, they outlawed fully automatic guns, Brussels, San Bernardino, California has every gun law under the sun, it still happens. The bad people could care.
But on bump stocks let me say this, the fact is that the Obama administration a couple of years ago legalized the device, their ATF, that fuzzed the line between semiautomatics and fully automatics. And if we are able to fuzz that line all semiautomatics are at risk. I have been arguing with Dianne Feinstein for years -- she has been trying to ban semi-autos -- saying a semi-auto, is a semi-auto-is a semi-auto. It’s not an assault weapon like you say, Dianne Feinstein and it is not a machine gun. If you fuzz the line, they are all at risk and we are not going to let that happen.
DICKERSON: Well, let's not fuzz the line. She says this specific piece of legislation just bans bump fire stocks. So does the NRA support that or no?
LAPIERRE: It’s illegal to convert a semi-automatic to a fully automatic. ATF needs to do its job, they need to look at this and do its job.
DICKERSON: Her argument and the ATF’s is they can't rule on this, it is out of their purview, it has to be done in legislation.
(…)
LAPIERRE: Well, the fact is, the bump stock does fuzz the line, though, and that's why ATF needs to do its job. But we really need to get back-- If we are going to do something, let's do something meaningful. I mean outrage they are trying to stir against the NRA they ought to be stirring against the mental health system, which is completely collapsed. All of the police officers know it, they are back on the streets, we dump it on the police officers, we ought to enforce the federal gun laws and do something about our criminal justice system which is catch and release, places like DC are second chance cities, well the second chance is taken out against the good guys.
(…)
