NRA CEO: "It's not paranoia to buy a gun. It's survival"

The CEO of the National Rifle Association delivered a dramatic call to arms - literally - in an opinion piece for the Daily Caller on Wednesday, warning of a dark, uncertain future when guns may be necessary for "survival" and promising that despite President Obama's recent gun control proposals, "We will buy more guns than ever."

Now more than ever, wrote NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre, gun ownership is important: "Hurricanes. Tornadoes. Riots. Terrorists. Gangs. Lone criminals. These are perils we are sure to face--not just maybe. It's not paranoia to buy a gun. It's survival. It's responsible behavior, and it's time we encourage law-abiding Americans to do just that."

"Responsible Americans realize that the world as we know it has changed," he wrote. "After Hurricane Sandy, we saw the hellish world that the gun prohibitionists see as their utopia. Looters ran wild in south Brooklyn. There was no food, water or electricity. And if you wanted to walk several miles to get supplies, you better get back before dark, or you might not get home at all."

And eventually, he warned, the government will use chaos as a pretext to take away gun owners' rights: "When the next terrorist attack comes, the Obama administration won't accept responsibility. Instead, it will do what it does every time: blame a scapegoat and count on Obama's 'mainstream' media enablers to go along...A heinous act of mass murder--either by terrorists or by some psychotic who should have been locked up long ago--will be the pretext to unleash a tsunami of Gun Control.

"No wonder Americans are buying guns in record numbers right now," LaPierre wrote, "while they still can and before their choice about which firearm is right for their family is taken away forever."

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Giffords, Newtown victims "deserve a simple vote," Obama says

The NRA has taken a leading role in the fight against President Obama's gun control proposals, which include a ban on military-style assault weapons and a limit on the size of ammunition magazines. LaPierre himself has emerged as something of a lightning rod for gun control proponents, who reacted savagely to his call for armed guards in schools in the wake of the December massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

Later today at the National Wild Turkey Foundation's convention in Nashville, LaPierre will deliver a response President Obama's State of the Union address.

Mr. Obama, in his speech Tuesday night, again pressed Congress to act on his agenda to reduce gun violence, "Because in the two months since Newtown, more than a thousand birthdays, graduations, and anniversaries have been stolen from our lives by a bullet from a gun."

"The families of Newtown deserve a vote," Mr. Obama said. "The families of Aurora deserve a vote. The families of Oak Creek, and Tucson, and Blacksburg, and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence -- they deserve a simple vote."

• Boehner: Congress has a "responsibility" to act on gun violence
• Before State of the Union, gun violence victims demand action

Despite LaPierre's ominous warnings in his opinion piece, he reassured readers, "Gun owners are not buying firearms because they anticipate a confrontation with the government. Rather, we anticipate confrontations where the government isn't there--or simply doesn't show up in time."

But as the debate over gun laws begins to move from discussion into potential action, the NRA's message could not be clearer: "We will not surrender. We will not appease. We will buy more guns than ever."

[marychgo]

Somebody needs to learn the meaning of the verb "to confiscate": it means to take away something someone already owns. No one -- in Congress or in the streets -- has proposed taking assault weapons or large ammunition magazines or anything else away from American citizens. (SOLE EXCEPTION: convicted felons are already -- under many states' laws -- prohibited from owning firearms, so THEY might indeed have their guns "confiscated." Is THAT something you'd disagree with?) The proposed legislation might prevent you from adding MORE weapons to your collection, but it WOULDN'T take away the guns you already own!

[seabass6251]

JSmith:

You said no proposed legislation intends to or uses the word confiscation, which is not true. Instead of name calling, please explain to everybody else how Feinstein's proposal confiscates personal property of American citizens.

[jsmith2600]

seabass6251 replies: "Those are only facts to libtards".



Only little children make such obnoxious attacks by name-calling like you persist with, along with your ridiculous ad hominem attacks, expecting to be treated as an adult!

I do not need any more of your partisan, and very childish behavior!

[seabass6251]

Wait a minute...you keep spreading absolute falsehoods about proposed legislation that does in fact confiscate the personal property of law-abiding Americans and choose not to address those falsehoods when called out on it. You can pooh pooh all you want, but you shouldn't be a part of this intelligent conversation.

[jsmith2600]

While I believe there is a zero chance of any gun bans for future sales passing in this dysfunctional Congress, NONE of the current legislation contains the word "CONFISCATION," which is just more of the pro-gun lobby paranoid schizophrenia that we're seeing today.


After Newtown, Modest Change in Opinion about Gun Control

Most Say Assault Weapons Make Nation More Dangerous

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center finds about two-thirds (65%) think that allowing citizens to own assault weapons makes the country more dangerous. Just 21% say that permitting these types of weapons makes the country safer.

[jsmith2600]

seabass6251 replies: "Confiscation proponent...where did you go"?



Typical -- putting words in other people's mouths after you make personal attacks on them is quite common, since not in one single post have I ever been a "confiscation proponent," which means you lied to make your ridiculous points!

[seabass6251]

Uh...may not use the word "confiscation", but Feinstein's proposal does just that.

[jsmith2600]

While I believe there is a zero chance of any gun bans for future sales passing in this dysfunctional Congress, NONE of the current legislation contains the word "CONFISCATION," which is just more of the pro-gun lobby paranoid schizophrenia that we're seeing today.


After Newtown, Modest Change in Opinion about Gun Control

Most Say Assault Weapons Make Nation More Dangerous

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center finds about two-thirds (65%) think that allowing citizens to own assault weapons makes the country more dangerous. Just 21% say that permitting these types of weapons makes the country safer.

[jsmith2600]

seabass6251 replies: "Free speech goes out the window after gun registration and confiscation".



Not in one piece of any proposed legislation is the term "confiscation."

I submit to the other posters, that this is indeed the tactics of paranoid schizophrenia of the pro-gun lobby, pushing for higher profits!

[seabass6251]

The word "confiscation" is not in any proposed legislation, however the act of confiscation is most definitely in proposed legislation.

Ingorance...

[jsmith2600]

You're getting even more desperate with your terms and usual SPIN of the actual legislation, proving my point of paranoid schizophrenia from the pro-gun lobby.

There is absolutely no FIREARM CONFISCATION or any ACT OF GUN CONFISCATION in any proposed federal legislation, and there is also ZERO chance of any guns being banned by this Congress!

Stop your paranoia and screeching!

[jsmith2600]

Fewer U.S. Households and Individuals have guns

A declining number of American gun owners own two-thirds of the guns in the United States

Violence Policy Center, www.vpc.org

[seabass6251]

You cite the Brady Campaign's successor as a credible source...that's cute.

[jsmith2600]

You're even cuter with your ad hominem attacks, which is just one step above your personal attacks calling people "ignorant".

[Herne42]

I have the same problem with our outdated "drug" laws. If we fixed our educational system, we would have less criminals. Well educated people are less likely to become junkies or mass murderers.
Not to mention our National Mental health care is a joke.

[jsmith2600]

There's actually a very weird dynamic happening in our country, as the number of firearms increases, the number of households with firearms is decreasing, meaning more guns in the hands of fewer people.

While the number of gun sales is steadily on the rise, according to several studies the amount of households with guns has actually been decreasing for several years.

It seems that Americans are buying more weapons, while fewer households own guns and crime involving guns is decreasing. What's behind this apparent contradiction?

There's a tendency for people who already own guns to buy more. It's rare for people who have never owned a gun to go out and buy one or several.



Analysis: Fewer U.S. gun owners own more guns
July 31, 2012

(CNN) -- A decreasing number of American gun owners own two-thirds of the nation's guns and as many as one-third of the guns on the planet -- even though they account for less than 1% of the world's population, according to a CNN analysis of gun ownership data.

The data, collected by the Injury Prevention Journal, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the General Social Survey and population figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, found that the number of U.S. households with guns has declined, but current gun owners are gathering more guns.

[seabass6251]

You cite liberal analysis and CNN's interpretation. Those are only facts to libtards.

[jsmith2600]

Only little children make such noxious attacks by name-calling like you persist with, along with your ridiculous ad hominem attacks, expecting to be treated as an adult!

[jsmith2600]

There's actually a very weird dynamic happening in our country, as the number of firearms increases, the number of households with firearms is decreasing, meaning more guns in the hands of fewer people.

The paranoia schizophrenia incited by the NRA is definitely fueling the gun market, with higher profits to gun and ammo manufacturers, but it's the same people buying more and more guns while less households have guns.

[seabass6251]

And where are your statistics?

From my personal experience, about half the gun purchasers are new owners of firearms.

[jsmith2600]

"the seemingly incongruous statistics -- more guns, but fewer households reporting that they have a gun -- is simply a reflection of fewer gun owners purchasing more guns".

factcheck.org/2012/12/gun-rhetoric-vs-gun-facts/



Fact is, you opinion and your own personal experience is such a small piece of the pie, it is laughable in scientific evaluations!