Wayne LaPierre, the head of the NRA, resigns ahead of the start of the NRA corruption trial!

[thewayne]

Huh. Can't imagine why he'd do that! On January 5th, he stepped down before the trial began on the 8th. He has been accused of diverting NRA funds to support a lavish lifestyle. The NRA moved its headquarter from New York State to Texas in an effort to avoid prosecution, but that isn't really going to make a difference as the law suit was already in motion. The only thing it'll do is increase their travel costs.

From the article: "In December, a judge ruled against the NRA’s bid to have New York Attorney General Letitia James’ probe into the organization dissolved, the trial is set to begin on Jan. 8. Among the remediations sought by James was the removal of LaPierre from his position as a chief executive of the anti-gun control organization.

In 2020, James filed a lawsuit against the NRA alleging that LaPierre and other top-level executives at the organization had engaged in “illegal conduct because of their diversion of millions of dollars away from the charitable mission of the organization for personal use by senior leadership.” The lawsuit sought the full dissolution of the NRA, as well as restitution payments for violations of New York tax laws.

Yes, she's seeking the potential dissolution of the NRA! Wouldn't that be something! For years, the NRA has been taking in a lot more money from corporate sponsorship than it has from individual memberships, something that I find pretty sad.

Years ago, not long after LaPierre became head of the NRA, they wanted to make a TV commercial of him shooting guns. Makes sense, right? Head of the NRA, shooting guns? It's a natural! So they take him out to the range, camera crew, bunch of guns! Easy peasy!

The guy was a menace. Didn't know the first thing about gun safety. Was unsafely waving loaded guns around in all directions, endangering everyone around him. Finally they had enough and they scrapped the idea of the shoot before it became an actual shoot.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/wayne-lapierre-resigns-nra-corruption-trial-1234941163/

Comments

[acelightning73]

I don't LIKE guns, although I do have to admit that they are useful in certain situations. But unlike in movies or TV, a gun doesn't solve all your problems - it just gives you worse ones. (And if you get knocked unconscious by a blow to the head, you're not going to jump right up after the commercial break and start arguing with the cops.) I don't understand why people fetishize guns so much. And don't mention the Second Amendment, because that's not what those old white men had in mind.

[thewayne]

I enjoyed target shooting, and shooting black powder pistols.  I liked the mechanical precision of shooting guns.  But I've given that up.  I also enjoyed trap shooting, which I was also pretty good at.  But having had cataract surgery and with my eyes somewhat screwed up, I'm not sure I'd be any good at shooting any more.  And I completely agree!  Originalism be damned, 2A did not intend the ownership "rights" that people think it did.  It intended militias like the State Guards.

[acelightning73]

Yes. The Colonies didn't have standing armies, so they relied on militias. And in the colonies, almost every household had a long gun behind the front door, in case the scratching at the door was a bear or a Native or a renegade robber (and not just someone from the next farm with some kind of news to tell).

"If you want to play with guns, join the National Guard. And if you stay in long enough, they let you play with flame throwers and rocket launchers."