UPDATED: Boy was I ever wrong about the professionalism of the NRA

Filed in National by on December 21, 2012

UPDATE:  The fact that the NRA is a lunatic organization appears to be entering the national zietgiest.

Certainly the NRA will be able to gauge public opinion. Obviously they would understand that recent events have shocked America out of its’ gun stupor.  Clearly they would be able to avoid a public relations debacle.  Right?   That’s why I said…

I seriously doubt the NRA will come out “guns blazing” for the status quo. They will claim that guns “keep us free” and they will never acknowledge that high capacity clips, explosive rounds and military style assault weapons are not covered under the 2nd amendment. But there will be some change in tone.

The NRA is very wealthy, so they have very well paid PR people who will know how to soften the message.

I figured that the NRA was big enough and wealthy enough to hire professional public relations people.  Turns out, they only employ true believers.  Like the unreality bubble that the Romney campaign occupied, the NRA lives in its own world and is not bound by reality.

Former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele was left dumbfounded, saying, “I don’t know where to begin“:

“I just think that this was a missed opportunity to create another conversation at a higher level where the American people are right now. This incident cut to the bone. This is unlike anything that’s come before it because it did involve such precious young people and it really starkly called us to think about our society, those issues, not just gun control laws but mental health and a whole bunch of other things I think the NRA could have brought to the table, the idea that the message, the top line message out of this press conference is let’s put a gun in the hands of teachers in our classroom and I do not think that’s where rank-and-file NRA members expected this to go to.”

Michael Bloomberg:

Their press conference was a shameful evasion of the crisis facing our country. Instead of offering solutions to a problem they have helped create, they offered a paranoid, dystopian vision of a more dangerous and violent America where everyone is armed and no place is safe.

Anonymous GOP staffers:

“100 percent true,” one GOP staffer said when asked if the NRA had jumped the shark Friday.“True,” replied another. “But only after they set themselves on fire first. That was BRUTAL.”

Rep. Jim Moran:

“The NRA’s press conference was appalling. […] It was galling, and an overreach, and it may well backfire on them as the public reviews Mr. LaPierre’s statements.”

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Jason330 is a deep cover double agent working for the GOP. Don't tell anybody.

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  1. jason330 says:

    Rob Tornoe –
    NRA head Wayne LaPierre just announced he has the cure for cancer – more cancer!

    Via facebook.

  2. Andy says:

    To those who have ever been on a military base for a visit or work. I ask this. How many times have you seen a gun strapped to any member of the military who was NOT serving as a security and safety person?
    I spent four years in the Navy at both Norfolk and the Sub base in Groton CT and as a DART bus driver I have driven people on to the DAFB too many times to mention and not once have I ever seen the average member of the military carrying a gun. The only ones have been base security or in the Navy the Marines who were base security.

  3. pandora says:

    Here’s my prediction from before the NRA press conference:

    The NRA will blame video games, Hollywood and probably mental illness. If they do bring up the mental illness card, my bet is that they tie it into video games and Hollywood. I’m also betting that guns won’t factor into their blame game. I’d like to be wrong, but… I doubt it. Bonus points if they go down the path of saying, “Now is not the time to discuss guns and politicize this tragedy.” That would be amazing, and I would hope they wouldn’t be this stupid, but…

    Closer, but still wrong.

    In my wildest dreams I never imagined the NRA would come out and scold people. And I nearly fell over when they said, “Will you at least admit it’s possible that 26 innocent lives might have been spared?”

    Wayne LaPierre is very lucky none of the Newtown parents were there, because they would have ripped his throat out. How dare he!

  4. kavips says:

    The NRA is getting old. Like Clint Eastwood, what plays well in their own minds, doesn’t work very well in the real world.

  5. bamboozer says:

    It has been said Wayne LaPierre’s statements were meant to sell more guns for the NRA’s masters, the gun makers. If that was the goal then he did very well, supposedly the gun shops are jammed with gunners loading up as their four year wait is over and “Obama’s comin’ fer’ yer’ guns!!!” has finally arrived. But for the general public the result is a disaster, salt in the wound to say the least. We’ll see what happens but I expect nothing. And then we can wait for the next slaughter, massacre and outrage. Just like usual.

  6. puck says:

    That’s Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post. Maybe Rupe is just responding to NYC sensibilities, but if he takes this line of thought national, it’s bad news for the NRA.

  7. Joanne Christian says:

    And just when you know laws are crazy, some get even crazier, or were crazier to start with:

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-21/georgia-town-ordering-gun-ownership-undaunted-by-massacre.html

  8. Liberal Elite says:

    @k “The NRA is getting old…”

    The fear mongering and racist dog whistles have worked well in the past… It’s apparently the only tools left in the NRA’s intellectual tool box.

    The shame is that the bulk of gun deaths in the US are family and friends (something like 90%). The people who are losing here are their family members. Spousal homicide is the #1 gun fatal crime other than suicide (which accounts for about 60% of gun deaths).

    What’s clear is that no compromising with this organization is possible. Any gains will be wrest by force. They must be defeated with political dominance.

  9. anonymous says:

    $$$,$$$,$$$.$$ and $$$,$$$,$$$.$$ = bad guy dollars plus good guy dollars.

    LaPierre is probably having a jolly week laughing all the way to the bank with his fat Xmas bonus. Gun special interests must be joyous with his response. His answer, MORE guns. WHEEEE$$$,$$$,$$$,$$$.$$.

    The issue isn’t just about bad guys and good guys. it’s about guns, military weapons getting into the wrong hands. Romney thought 47% of Americans weren’t worth acknowledging as Americans. Who knows, before you know it, teabaggers may think the American government is made up of bad guys coming for their guns.

    If the civilian good men with guns and bad men with guns could settle things, on a cleared battlefield, it wouldn’t matter if it was a good man/bad man that fired first, because the place would be leveled by their own doing, to a heap of dead men clinging to guns. If they want to have war zone battlefields, be MEN, and first clear the field of babies, kids and the unarmed.

    Well, that would be crazy, but 360 degrees saner than with innocents, youths, and unarmed hundreds of thousands of Americans in their cross fire at day cares, theaters, parades gyms, pools, restaurants, night spots, ferries, public buildings, stadiums, universities, churches, X Marts,(endless 24/7 list of hundreds of thousands of locations not listed here, not just schools.) First, armed guards everywhere is impossible nonsense and secondly, the gun manufacturers, NRA, etc. aren’t going to pay and be legally responsible for any of it, however, they do hope to sell some more guns. It’s more like, hand over your lunch money, because I’m going to protect you from the thieves. If Xmart’s greeter has a gun, I’m not going there and besides, he’d likely be the first person taken out.

    What will gun nuts suggest next – indoctrinating kids? Don’t laugh yet.

    For an eye opener,one random search brought – shooters express, firing range. Click: Rental guns, $15 hr, $30 for automatics. “Kids Shoot Free.” Click: The Shooters Experience. One can get a video made there, of oneself shooting, to impress one’s friends; wow kiddies, how macho. They’re also open on Sundays. By golly, daddy can take sonny from church to practice’n his kill’n skills for free – and maybe make a video.

    That reminds one, the tobacco industry used to advertise to kids. The fossil fuel industry: the changing climate of the kids planet, – not caused by them. The gun industry: Guns don’t kill – kids.

    To the NRA, pretending to attack the gun problem with more guns, makes billion dollar sense. Nothing like having gun manufacturers and the accompanying accouterments having a bang up week, clearing their shelves, at the 5 year olds’ expense, to bring out LaPierre shooting from the hip, so the deadliest bad guys could have all that gun $$$,$$$,$$$.$$$.$$, to enjoy life at homes on the French Riviera, Dubai or Switzerland if they wish, away from American shoot out hubbub, costly finger pointing and funerals.

    Kids at schools are only the tip of the ‘lawless’ weaponry issue. Lawmakers better have a deep look down at all matters that bring weapon violence to the surface. Next time what, a gang with war zone weapons and a stolen get away vehicle? Law officers shot trying to take illegal weapons? What got the media’s attention, was the 20, 5-6 year olds and – the wealthy neighborhood, but that’s just one tip of many icebergs. If it isn’t mental illness and weapons or suicide and weapons, it’s crime and weapons, special interest greed and weapons, carelessness and weapons, dysfunctional families and weapons, hatred and weapons, accidents and weapons, militias and weapons, civil chaos and weapons, etc. And leave it to the special interests and NRA to want what – more WEAPONS. No different than the fossil fuel industries wanting to sell more fossil fuels, because, you know, they don’t know what causes climate change. (Surely not their products.) And gun manufacturer don’t know what causes bullets to fly. And whoa, “LAWMAKERS” (who are controlled by greedy special interests, instead of the people’s best interests,) DON’T KNOW WHY PEOPLE ARE GETTING SHOT. THINK ABOUT THIS. PERHAPS ‘LAWMAKERS’ ARE THEIR OWN SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS. IN THEIR CASE, THE PRODUCT IS, GETTING THEMSELVES RE ELECTED, BY KEEPING THEIR SPECIAL INTERESTS HAPPY. Add “Lawmakers” to the above special interest groups. that refuse to accept responsibility.
    Ahhhh, to think American politicians enabled all the war zone weaponry, ammunition, lack of regulations, lack of controls, lack of responsibility. The result: military war zone weaponry vs innocent and unarmed American citizens, brought to them by their own ‘lawmakers.’

    Think of Atlantic City, New York, the New Jersey type damages, after another extreme storm,(happened -will happen again, somewhere USA, ) then throw the availability of millions of war zone weapons (happening) and a financial collapse of government services (happening-possible) – and I think one could have a picture of where tea party backed special interests would take America.(After all, according to republicans, climate change has been a hoax for decades; guns(and ammo) don’t kill; and Boehner walked, because the tea party doesn’t think the President needs to keep the government operational mainly because, of a fair tax on the 1% highest income earners..

  10. jason330 says:

    Yep. The NRA’s interests are not aligned with America’s interests. My hope is that they are following a “Club for Growth” model that puts ideological purity above electability.

    If they primary every person with a glimmer of humanity and run lackeys and NRA zombies – it might be good for the country in the long run.