Just after the President released his gun safety proposals this morning, the NRA doubled down on yesterday's propaganda piece exploiting the Obama daughters. In this 4 1/2 minute video, Wayne LaPierre shakes his fist at the mysterious "elites" that the media represents. Via Media Matters:
The ad opens with a montage of criticisms in media of the NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre's December speech calling for armed guards in schools in a response to the massacre at a Newtown, CT, school earlier that month. A narrator then states, "The media speaks for elites. America speaks for itself."
The ad also highlights the number of armed guards at the school attended by President Obama's daughters to make the claim that the President is a hypocrite for stating that he is "skeptical that the only answer is putting more guns in schools." This attack follows up on a similar one made by the NRA in a recently released ad. The release of the White House's gun violence prevention plan today calls for federal funds to be used on school safety programs, including hiring more school resource officers, in addition to a number of proposals for stronger gun laws.
LaPierre may be leading the charge, but there are some generals backing him up. Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips let his Birch Society roots show today with a post entitled "Waiting for Adolf" which I won't link to but I will quote:
We are waiting on Adolf.
America has shed the trappings and protections of a Constitutional Republic and is now a democracy.
Democracies eventually have the same end. The people discover that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury. The greed of the people is like the greed of the politician. It has no limits and is unsustainable.
These wingnuts are about to find out they're spitting into the wind. Indeed, there is a majority of people who want tighter gun laws, and we're about to discover whether they'll fight for them. OFA members are idling on the sidelines, waiting for the call to action. I believe they will activate that behemoth, organize, and get this done. It will take that kind of engagement to keep this issue from being hijacked by the likes of the NRA.
Bonus stories:
TruthOut: The Second amendment was added to allow landowners to put down slave rebellions.
Washington Post: How NRA’s true believers converted a marksmanship group into a mighty gun lobby
