NRA's LaPierre Slams 'Phony'
Anti-Gun Propaganda
National Rifle Association Executive Vice President
Wayne LaPierre told a New York audience over the weekend that
bogus research touted by the Clinton administration was responsible
for much of the anti-gun propaganda that continues to swirl throughout
the media today.
"Remember the claims they were putting out
only five years ago," he reminded a gathering sponsored by
the Sportsmen's Association for Firearms Education Inc. (SAFE).
The NRA chief explained, "The phony study that
came out of Emory University by Michael Bellesiles,
who wrote the book claiming that citizens back in 1812 and at the
founding of our country didn't own firearms, didn't like them and
didn't want to hunt."
"It was all a fraud," he said, explaining
that Bellesiles was completely discredited when historians determined
that he had fabricated much of his research.
LaPierre cited other phony studies, one claiming
that gun owners are 43 times more likely to be shot than those who
don't own guns, another stating that 13 children a day die by gun
violence.
Instead, the NRA chief reported, "We have firearms
accidents down to the lowest level ever in U.S. history."
LaPierre cited one incident where President Clinton
personally tried to scare Americans about guns, demonstrating an
almost comical naivete in the process.
After one particularly gruesome crack house shooting,
LaPierre recalled that Clinton "had the gall to go on national
TV and say, 'Gosh, if only crack dealers had safety locks on their
guns ...'"
The NRA chief praised the Bush administration
for "getting solidly behind the Second Amendment," noting,
"that helps when we get into court cases."
But he lamented that outside the U.S, "free
people all around the world are being disarmed."
LaPierre detailed what has happened under Great
Britain's new gun control regime.
"They had a proud tradition of firearms ownership
going back for centuries," he noted before explaining how British
leaders first pushed for gun registration, then passed laws mandating
that gun owners turn in their firearms.
"The Home Secretary said that they'd eliminated
all firearms from the streets of Great Britain," LaPierre recalled.
He then displayed a recent edition of a British
tabloid. The headline: "Police Fight 50 Percent Leap in
Gun Crime."
