Why Wayne LaPierre is a Greater Threat to Your Gun Rights Than Dianne Feinstein

Wayne LaPierre turned in the expected performance in front of the Senate this week. Arrogant, stubborn, and completely unaware that the national zeitgeist is moving against him and his Corporate masters. He is so accustomed to having his way with Congress that he did not notice that his personal bodyguards were in violation of Senate rules when they tried to manhandle the press in the halls outside the committee room (see Dana Milbank’s description of his boorish behavior here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-at-hill-hearing-wayne-lapierre-tries-to-manhandle-facts-and-logic/2013/01/30/e31a305e-6b2e-11e2-af53-7b2b2a7510a8_story.html).
He even felt empowered to interrupt a sitting United States Senator during the Committee hearing. Apparently, he has lost track of who was actually in charge of the hearing (note to Wayne: its not you–not this time anyway).

Why should this matter to the vast majority of responsible gun owners (the gun zealots and militia types need not read this. This is not for you.)? The behavior of LaPierre is turning off sensible and fair-minded people just as it is amping up the zealots. Blaming gun violence on everything but guns and offering the solution to the problem of simply more guns only makes sense in the local survivalist/militia meetings. And, of course, it makes sense to Glock and Sig Saur. No one outside this narrow fringe is buying it.

But it gets worse. LaPierre’s behavior and apparent attitude towards the nation’s agony over the murders of school children with perfectly legal firearms is revolting beyond description. Add the noise of the gun zealots trying to shout down a grieving father in a public hearing, and the noise of other gun zealots and right-wing blowhard bloggers rushing to the defense of the hecklers simply turns the stomachs of most people. And enrages some.

Compared to this lunatic fringe, Senator Feinstein’s proposed legislation is starting to look quite sensible. Even if one had doubts abut the wisdom or efficacy of an assault weapons ban (which I do), nothing could be worse than letting LaPierre and his deranged militia run rampant.

The NRA could have chosen a thoughtful, sensitive and reasoned course. They could have been part of the solution. Instead, they have decided to attempt to hide behind bombast and the most brittle defense imaginable. They have rendered themselves irrelevant to the national discussion.

I do not pretend to know the outcome in the current legislative session. But, over the long run, LaPierre and the NRA are not going to like the eventual solution. They will only have themselves to blame.