General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: You're a f#%king liar and you f#%king know it! [View all]JohnnyRingo
(18,580 posts)I'm not saying he's noble, not at all. Personally as a gun owner I can't stand him, but if you judge him on how many customers he sends to Winchester and Smith & Wesson a year, he's doing an unprecedented job as a lobbyist.
In an industry where a customer really "needs" only one or two of a company's items, LaPierre has convinced owners that they need a freakin' arsenal. He's actively exploited social fear and mistrust of the government to drive shooters to stockpile thousands of rounds of ammo that they can't possibly use in three lifetimes.
Unlike the oil industry lobby, the NRA pretends they represent the people who own guns instead of the companies that sell them. It'd be like if the AAA worked behind the scenes to defeat production of hybrid cars and kept gasoline prices at a premium for the sake of Exxon Mobil profit.
In LaPierre's case, while we're focusing on his right hand as it pounds the podium in anger, we're distracted from his left hand that's getting well greased by the gun makers, and no one can argue that they aren't getting their money's worth. For that reason. LaPierre could not care less that you call him a liar.