Good riddance to Wayne LaPierre—and hopefully soon the entire NRA
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| By Clay Bennett |
In their opening arguments of the civil trial in New York—where a jury recently found LaPierre and the NRA liable for corruption—an attorney for the gun lobby said “The NRA is not this man” and called LaPierre’s resignation a “course correction.”
No wonder they’d want one: The NRA is worse by every measure today than it was three decades ago when LaPierre turned the former sportsmen’s club into a radical political lobbying group.
He is the architect behind the nation’s gun
violence epidemic, leading the NRA’s reckless and profit-driven quest to put
guns in the hands of as many Americans as possible that has stained its
reputation beyond repair—all while abusing the meaning of the Second Amendment
to selfishly line his own pockets. For his efforts, today, the NRA is broke,
rudderless, and in serious legal jeopardy.
The NRA has lost over a million members.
Membership dues are down by $14 million. And their
lobbying influence has been waning since 2015.
Perhaps the only measure on which they’ve been successful is the amount of firepower pumped into our communities. Yearly gun sales are now roughly twice the level they were 15 or 20 years ago, and the tragic toll of gun-related deaths has skyrocketed with it.
Under LaPierre’s watch, the number of gun suicides and gun
murders reached record highs and
active shooter incidents became drastically more common across
the country-–-about seven times more common than in
Canada, and 340 times more common than in the United Kingdom.
During this time, the NRA slowly lost the support of America. As gun violence shattered more and more families, public sentiment turned on them. A majority of U.S. adults now say gun laws should be stricter.
About a third (32%) of parents with
K-12 students say they are very or extremely worried about a shooting ever
happening at their children’s school. And six in 10 Americans (61%) say it is too easy
to legally obtain a gun in this country.
We’ve watched mass shooting after mass
shooting devastate communities across the nation, from Orlando to El Paso to
Boulder to Lewiston–each event and each death presenting an opportunity for the
NRA to muster an ounce of courage and change the gun culture
in this country that they single-handedly controlled. How did they respond
instead?
On December 14, 2012, after a gunman shot and killed 20 children and six staff members at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, LaPierre coined his infamous "good guy with a gun” argument.
A decade later when nineteen children and
two adults were killed in the deadliest school shooting in Texas history at
Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, the NRA held their annual convention
across the state in Houston days later defending Americans'
right to own a gun.
The NRA is no longer the political
powerhouse it once was, but the damage done is irreparable. The notion of
a course
correction is so far from possible. No reasonable person with
any ambition would want to take LaPierre's job and inherit the mess he leaves
behind—the personal reputation and professional risk are too high.
We would send our thoughts and prayers to
LaPierre—but, this isn’t just about him. The gun violence prevention movement
and the survivors of armed violence cannot move on, and neither can he. Every
empty seat at the dinner table. Every birthday-turned-anniversary. Every stolen
milestone. He will always hold responsibility. The scars of his legacy are
irreparable and his damage to the organization makes it unsalvageable.
We wish we could give LaPierre all the
credit for the downfall of the NRA—but, proudly, the gun violence prevention
movement played a role as well. Guns Down America has fought back against the
NRA and LaPierre’s agenda since our inception, from leading the “murder insurance” effort that
fined the NRA $7 million to influencing Wells Fargo to break ties with the
NRA contributing to the steady decline in relevance and
influence.
For the first time, the NRA can’t buy their
way out of this problem. So as one last parting gift to the organization in
decline, we’ll offer them a free piece of advice: Sell your gun range at HQ in
Virginia—maybe you’ll be able to afford your legal fees.
HUDSON MUNOZ is a
veteran research and public relations expert who previously led Amalgamated
Bank’s effort to establish a merchant category code for gun and ammunition
stores. He brings expertise on the intersection of finance and the firearms
industry to the movement to end gun violence to Guns Down
America as the organization's Executive Director.