On Sunday, he'll be asked to give answers, after some decried his initial statement as insensitive and counterproductive.
NBC's David Gregory will interview LaPierre on "Meet the Press" Sunday morning.
The NRA effectively had
been silent until Friday, exactly one week after Adam Lanza shot his way
into Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown and killed 20 children -- none of
them older than 7 -- and six adults. He used a "Bushmaster AR-15
assault-type weapon" to mow down his victims, said Connecticut State
Police Lt. Paul Vance, before killing himself with a handgun.
The rampage ignited renewed national debates over gun control, mental health care and school safety.
Instead of expressing openness to more stringent gun control measures, LaPierre doubled-down and gave no hint he would support any restrictions, including those on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
Instead, he blamed video
games and the media, while also proposing putting an armed guard in
every U.S. school in order to protect schoolchildren.
"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," LaPierre said.
Some gun owners and
mostly Republican officials rallied around LaPierre, and some -- such as
Texas Gov. Rick Perry -- have indicated they support putting armed
guards, or even teachers with concealed weapons, in schools.
CNN iReporter Jason Asselin
applauded the NRA's stance, even proposing that U.S. troops returning
from war zones serve as armed guards. "Right now, our schools remain
unprotected," he said. "Action is needed. Our children deserve to be
protected."
But most of the reaction to LaPierre has been more negative.
Democratic Senator-elect and U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy,
whose district includes Newtown, called LaPierre's words "the most
revolting, tone deaf statement I've ever seen." New York Mayor Michael
Bloomberg, an independent, blasted them as "a shameful evasion of the
crisis facing the country." And former Republican National Committee
Chairman Michael Steele said he found the remarks "very haunting and
very disturbing."
This wave of criticism continued Saturday.
New York's normally
politically polar opposite tabloids, for instance, offered the same
take: The Daily News' headline called LaPierre the "Craziest Man on
Earth," while Rupert Murdoch's New York Post ran with, "Gun Nut! NRA
loon in bizarre rant over Newtown."
Rick Huffman,
another CNN iReporter and a retired police officer, cut up his NRA
membership card in the wake of the mass shooting, which he said changed
his views on gun control.
"There's got to be a limit to what they let citizens have at their disposal," the Michigan resident said.
Both sides, at least,
appear to agree something needs to be done to prevent more mass
shootings like what happened December 14 in the once quiet Connecticut
town. President Barack Obama used his speech at a prayer service for the
massacre's victims to call for action and subsequently tapped Vice
President Joe Biden to lead a group charged with coming up with
solutions.
Polls suggest that,
after Newtown, the American public is increasingly open to measures such
as the ban on assault weapons, which was in effect in the 1990s until
it lapsed in 2004.
A CNN/ORC poll
conducted after the shooting shows that a slight majority of Americans
favor restrictions on guns. Conservative Democrats and even some
Republicans who have supported gun rights have said they are open to
discussing gun control.
In his speech last Sunday night, Obama insisted inaction was not an option, especially when it comes to protecting children.
"We can't tolerate this
anymore," the president said, alluding not only to Newtown but three
other mass shootings over the past two years. "These tragedies must end.
And to end them, we must change."
Source: edition.cnn.com
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