Fear Mongering, Lobbying, Money, Wayne LaPierre and the NRA

The day after President Obamas State of the Union Address, the Daily Caller published an op-ed article by Wayne LaPierre. In the piece, Stand and Fight, NRAs Executive Vice President says that under President Obama there will be an economic collapse. He says that when the country goes broke there will not be adequate police protection. Hurricanes. Tornadoes. Riots. Terrorists. Gangs. Lone criminals. These are perils we are sure to facenot just maybe. Its not paranoia to buy a gun. Its survival. Its responsible behavior, and its time we encourage lawabiding Americans to do just that. Creating paranoia by peddling fear and doom, however, is precisely what the NRA and LaPierre irresponsibly do best. Whether it is protecting the Second Amendment, universal background checks, assault weapons, or high capacity ammunition clips, their preaching is understandable once you understand NRAs survival depends on gun and ammunition sales. The fact is that the NRA has no earnest regard for the Second Amendment. As Joe Scarborough expressed it, This is about gun manufacturers [and retailers] making millions and millions and millions of dollars. This is about losing corporate partnerships, merchandizing revenues, and membership fees. In 2010, the NRA reported revenues of $227.8 million derived from those sources of income. In 2010, NRA executive director of general operations Kayne B. Robinsons compensation was just over $1 million. CEO and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre earned $970,300. There is no reliable information for executive compensation or NRA revenues since 2010. But, whatever their compensation today might be, it has certainly increased. Between 2005 and 2011, the firearm industry has contributed $38.9 million to the NRA. They have contributed millions more in 2012. Even having that much of a glimpse into the NRA is unusual because NRAs finances and money collected from contributors is a tightly guarded secret.

Following every mass shooting there is a call for gun control. And each time, LaPierre, on behalf of the NRA, perpetuates fear that the government is moving closer and closer to overturning the Second Amendment and confiscating Americas guns, perpetuating the fear that we need guns to protect ourselves from a tyrannical government. Former NRA lobbyist Richard Feldman supports that contention. In his book Ricochet: Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist he writes that NRAs leadership werent interested in actually solving problems, only in fueling perpetual crisis and controversy. That was how they made their money. Feldman talks about his experiences as a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association in an appearance on C-Span in August of 2009, calling the NRA a cynical mercenary political unit. Money and an inherent need to pursue profit is what hinder progress. For the NRA it will always be profit (or collecting more and more money since the NRA is a non-profit organization) over people. The conditions surrounding the need for money are a major reason why Americans feel they need guns to protect life and property, making them that much more vulnerable to the tactics of people like LaPierre and the NRA. If we could take money and profit out of the equation that drives gun ownership, we wouldnt need gun control because we wouldnt need guns. Albert Einstein once said, No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it. We must learn to see the world anew. And so it is that we cannot solve the predicament of guns in America unless we first change ourselves, the consciousness that created it. .