The Day After Teens Poured Their Hearts Out, NRA’s LaPierre Deflects, Rages and Filibusters.

The NRA is a key sponsor of the annual conservative conference, CPAC.

Kyle Mazza/NurPhoto/Zuma

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

In his first public comments since a gunman killed 17 people last week at a Florida high school, the leader of the National Rifle Association, Wayne LaPierre, went on the offensive Thursday morning, doubling down on the organization’s most strident pro-gun talking points, while heaping criticism on gun reform advocates.

“They want to sweep right under the carpet the failure of school security, the failure of family, the failure of America’s mental health system and even the unbelievable failure of the FBI,” LaPierre, NRA Executive Vice President and CEO, said during his 35-minute long appearance at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, in National Harbor, Md.

The NRA is a key sponsor of the conference, and until now largely quiet about the Parkland, Fl., high school shooting.

“We share a goal of safe schools, safe neighborhoods, and a safe country,” LaPierre added. “As usual the opportunists waited not one second to exploit the tragedy.”

Rather than gun restrictions, he called for armed security at every school in the country—something President Trump echoed in an early morning series of tweets. “We drop our kids of at schools that are so-called ‘gun free zones,’ that are wide open targets for any crazy madman bent on evil,” he said.

He also called out leading Democrats by name, denouncing Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and others as “European-style socialists”.

If Democrats take over the House or Senate in this year’s midterm elections, or—”God forbid,” he warned—the White House, “the first to go will be the Second Amendment.”

“Their goal is to eliminate the second amendment and our firearms freedoms, so they can eradicate all individual freedoms,” he said.

The NRA’s appearance comes the morning after a tense town hall-style broadcast on CNN in which student survivors of the Parkland massacre issued withering criticism of NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch, and Florida Republican senator, Marco Rubio. 

“Can you tell me right now that you will not accept a single donation from the NRA?” Cameron Kasky, a 17-year-old who survived the Parkland shooting, asked Rubio amid loud cheers. 

“The answer to the question is that people buy into my agenda, and I do support the second amendment,” Rubio said.

Watch LaPierre’s full speech below:

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate