The Man Who Turned Gun Rights Into A Fetish Is In Trouble

[babylonsister]

https://digbysblog.net/2024/01/02/the-man-who-turned-gun-rights-into-a-fetish-is-in-trouble/


The Man Who Turned Gun Rights Into A Fetish Is In Trouble
Published by digby on January 2, 2024
Wayne LaPierre is going on trial.


As further evidence of the total corruption of the conservative movement, despite being shown to have ripped off the membership in the millions LaPierre was welcomed back into the fold. But this could be the end of him, God willing:

snip//

But now, Mr. LaPierre, 74, faces his gravest challenge, as a legal showdown with New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, goes to trial in a Manhattan courtroom. Ms. James, in a lawsuit filed amid an abrupt effort by the N.R.A. to clean up its practices, seeks to oust him from the group after reports of corruption and mismanagement.

Much has changed since Ms. James began investigating the N.R.A. four years ago. The organization, long a lobbying juggernaut, is a kind of ghost ship. After closing its media arm, NRATV, in 2019, it has largely lost its voice, and Mr. LaPierre rarely makes public pronouncements. Membership has plummeted to 4.2 million from nearly six million five years ago. Revenue is down 44 percent since 2016, according to its internal audits, and legal costs have soared to tens of millions a year.

snip//

Ms. James seeks to use her regulatory authority over nonprofit groups to impose a range of financial penalties against the defendants and to remove Mr. LaPierre; any money recovered would flow back to the N.R.A. Jury selection is scheduled to begin on Tuesday before State Supreme Court Justice Joel M. Cohen. The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks.

Let’s hope a NY jury has the good sense to put LaPierre out of business for good.

[Ohio Joe]

1. A shame money would go back to the NRA

But at least the little weasel dick will be gone.

[gratuitous]

2. And yet for all their troubles

The NRA still controls the national conversation on firearm regulation. Exhibit 1 being that you never hear it referred to as "firearm regulation" but as "gun control" and that one side of the conversation is uniformly described as "gun grabbers."

[GiqueCee]

3. I'm a couple of years older...

... than that shitweasel, LaPierre, and I can remember when the NRA was a responsible sportsman's organization that promoted firearm safety and even lobbied for sensible gun laws. Then Wayne LaPierre happened.

[Permanut]

5. Same here..

I took a gun safety class from the NRA with my Dad in the 50's; seems like there was no political activity associated with them at all.

[TeamProg]

7. And the decline in hunting over decades, due to many reasons (places, quotas, tags, ammo, etc), caused the NRA to shift

gears from supporting hunting and game populations to the "personal protection" mantra.

Crime is up! Better protect yourself! Your lady needs a "Lady Glock" 7mm! Better to be armed than not!

It worked.

[soldierant]

9. Me too.

But in my experience it started going sour in the 1980's. I remember a conversation about then with someone I thought was a reasonable person and who I'm sure was a responsible gun owner in which I opined that the NRA was in the ideal position to lead the way to common sense gun laws, and should do so if only to preclude more gun-hostile people from takinng the lead away from them . Woo-eee! Did I spark an eruption!

[Turbineguy]

4. LaPierre has killed more Americans than Hitler.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

6. Putin has other places to put his money now?

[rubbersole]

10. Like all the other oligarchs...

...give it to Leonard Leo and tell him what you want. He has a price list.

[sop]

8. Someone needs to put the NRA permanently out of business.

Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore) investigated the NRA’s relationship with Russia and its potential violations of U.S. tax and sanctions laws. Wyden found "NRA insiders exchanged access to the American political system for the promise of lucrative personal business opportunities." The NRA also "may have violated tax laws prohibiting the use of any organization resources for personal benefit," and NRA insiders "may have violated U.S. sanctions by meeting with sanctioned Russian government officials in pursuit of personal business opportunities."

The IRS should do away with the NRA's tax-exempt status as a "501(c)(4) social welfare organization." Laughably, the NRA enjoys "tax-exempt nonprofit" status and is supposed to "operate in the public interest." Everyone knows the NRA exists primarily to increase profits for the gun industry at the expense of public safety.

[Straw Man]

11. Be careful what you wish for.

If the NRA goes bust, the fallback for gun-rights advocates is Gun Owners of America (GOA). They bill themselves as "The only no compromise gun lobby in Washington." They make the NRA look tame.

It might not be common knowledge, but the NRA still has its safety and education wing and still certifies range safety officers and trainers. GOA doesn't mess with any of that. Their purpose is lobbying and nothing but lobbying.

Also not widely known outside gun circles is the fact that LaPierre is persona non grata to many, if not most, gun owners. He is widely seen as an opportunist who has milked the organization to provide himself with a lavish lifestyle.

[sop]

12. I am under no illusion going after the NRA will slow down the epidemic of gun violence in this country.

Gun manufacturers will just create another astroturf lobbying group to bribe elected officials. However, it might slow down Russia's election interference campaign for a couple of election cycles.

[PTL_Mancuso]

14. Absolutely! The guns and weapons fetish is deep and abiding, NRA notwithstanding.

If NRA is dissolved, some other corporatistas will certainly pick up the reins as their are always $billions$ to be made selling fear and self-defense.

There must be about 5000 different gun magazines and periodicals out there (printed and online), so many containing scads of ads which sell the "stopping power" (i.e. the ability to kill a person dead with one shot) and the shear, sexy beauty of their wares and all the add-ons to make them more deadly when one is called upon to fight off one's librul neighbor kid's friends who knock on your door by mistake.

Honestly, go to a book store, pick up the latest Gun Luvver Monthly and browse through the ad copy! Pore over the hot photos of brave, manly men and women all decked out in their full multi-thousand dollar camouflage self-defense regalia, all ready to destroy the swarthy, malevolent intruders on a second's notice! Combat knives of every size, shape and description. Pepper sprays. Garrotes. You name it! Tell me that ain't sick. Then, turn on your TV or go to a movie and you'll see a lot of the same equipment and destructive fantasies! Ginormous, kid-frightening explosions and bloodshed, all kinds of good and evil and uncaring and serious folks with amazing fire power always killing, blowing up stuff, protecting and defending and revenging, and such.

You'd think the gubmint might tell them to tone it down a bit in the interest of national safety, wouldn't you?

Such a bad time to be a pacifist and even worse for children.

I used to be a "hi-fi/stereo" buff until I came to understand (thanks to wife and kids - ) that such continued fetishization would drain my bank account and there would always be newer, better, stuff that I needed to have. Now, it's just a reconditioned Walkman and a pair of little 3rd-world headphones I got for 50% off when Radio Shack went under.

Peace!

[ShazamIam]

13. I hope Ms. James includes investigating NRA laundering Russian money into Republican campaigns. (links below)

Sources about Russian money into Republican campaigns.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/13/us/politics/russia-election-interference.html

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/06/the-nra-spent-dollar30-million-to-elect-trump-was-it-russian-money

https://veteranstoday.com/2021/10/20/judge-orders-fec-to-move-against-nra-for-laundering-25m-in-russian-cash-into-trumps-pockets/

[onecaliberal]

15. He's still breathing which is more than so many children slaughtered by psycho's because of this evil pig.

[liberalla]

16. K&R

All good news. Thanks to Atty Gen James!