America Has More Guns Than Cars With 867 Guns Per 1000 People | NRA Gun-Toting Militias for Schools
/National Rifle Association’s Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre dismissed on Friday any and all calls for tighter gun limits or control of ammunitions and magazines. This puts the NRA on a collision course with President Obama and the vast majority of Americans — including many members of the NRA — who support calls for reinstating and redefining an assault-weapons ban that expired in 2004, closing loopholes that allow gun buyers to avoid background checks and restricting high-capacity ammunition.
The NRA remains a formidable force with 4 million members, although recent op eds about the organization position LaPierre as out of step with his membership and a tool of both the gun and ammunitions industries and militias.
During a news briefing Friday in Washington, LaPierre criticized violence in entertainment media, calling it “the filthiest form of pornography.” He zeroed in on a video game titled, “Kindergarten Killers,” and singled out “blood-soaked” movies and music videos. The pro-gun zealot questioned the lack of national database of mentally ill people without mentioning states that refuse to submit information on gun purchases or criminal history to the federal government, leaving the federal data base with gaping holes.
It was LePierre’s call for armed guards in every school in America that caused the most commentary.
“The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” he said. Officials took no questions Friday and said they would begin responding to queries next week.
The NRA announced its intentions to develop a comprehensive school security plan for use nationwide, headed by former U.S. Representative Asa Hutchinson, an Arkansas Republican and a former undersecretary at the Homeland Security Department.
Forbesreports the reactions of well known Republicans:
Michael Steele, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, wasn’t shrill like the New York papers, but he was just as perplexed. When asked his response to LaPierre’s statement, he was at first silent, and then said, “I don’t know where to begin… . I just found it very haunting and very disturbing that we are country talking about arming our teachers and principals in classrooms. What does that say about us? … I do not believe that is the response that should be coming out of the tragedy in Newtown.” Michael Bloomberg, the sometimes Republican mayor of New York, called the NRA briefing “a shameful evasion of the crisis facing our country . . . a paranoid, dystopian vision.” Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said, “I don’t think that the solution to safety in schools is putting [in] armed guard … you’d have to have an armed guard outside every classroom. [And] you don’t want to make this an armed camp for kids.” John Cornyn of Texas, one of the most powerful Republicans in the Senate, said, “I always think making decisions when you’re angry or scared leads to worse decisions.”
Admittedly, we were surprised to learn that America has more guns than cars on the road. Thanks to the Telegraph Australiafor these charts.