Wayne LaPierre

LaPierre in 2017

Wayne Robert LaPierre, Jr. (born November 8, 1949) is an American gun rights lobbyist who was the CEO and executive vice president of the National Rifle Association of America (NRA), a position he held between 1991 and 2024.

On January 5, 2024, the NRA posted on X that LaPierre would resign from his position on January 31. The announcement came amid allegations of corruption and ahead of a civil trial in Manhattan.

Quotes

• There are many politicians willing to sacrifice the Second Amendment as the first step in the homogenization of American culture.
  • In American Rifleman magazine in 2000 (Swenson, Michele (2004). Democracy Under Assault: Theopolitics, Incivility and Violence on the Right. Sol Ventures Press. p. 149. ISBN 9780976678809. ; Grossman, Arnold (2006). One Nation Under Guns: An Essay on an American Epidemic. Fulcrum Publishing. p. 64. ISBN 9781555915575. ; NRA Leader Wayne LaPierre’s “Homogenization” Quote Most Recent Addition to NRA History of Racist Commentary. Violence Policy Center (May 16, 2000).)

• During the second Obama term, however, additional threats are growing. Latin American drug gangs have invaded every city of significant size in the United States. Phoenix is already one of the kidnapping capitals of the world, and though the states on the U.S./Mexico border may be the first places in the nation to suffer from cartel violence, by no means are they the last.
  The president flagrantly defies the 2006 federal law ordering the construction of a secure border fence along the entire Mexican border. So the border today remains porous not only to people seeking jobs in the U.S., but to criminals whose jobs are murder, rape, robbery and kidnapping. Ominously, the border also remains open to agents of al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. Numerous intelligence sources have confirmed that foreign terrorists have identified the southern U.S. border as their path of entry into the country.
  When the next terrorist attack comes, the Obama administration won't accept responsibility. Instead, it will do what it does every time: blame a scapegoat and count on Obama’s "mainstream" media enablers to go along.
  A heinous act of mass murder—either by terrorists or by some psychotic who should have been locked up long ago—will be the pretext to unleash a tsunami of gun control.
  No wonder Americans are buying guns in record numbers right now, while they still can and before their choice about which firearm is right for their family is taken away forever.
  After Hurricane Sandy, we saw the hellish world that the gun prohibitionists see as their utopia. Looters ran wild in south Brooklyn.
  • February 13, 2013 in The Daily Caller ("Stand and Fight". The Daily Caller. February 13, 2013. ; Spaeth, Ryu (February 14, 2013). "NRA head Wayne LaPierre's paranoid gun manifesto". The Week. ; Cohen, Rick (February 19, 2013). "NRA’s Messaging Becomes Increasingly Odd". Nonprofit Quarterly. ; Hall, Katy (February 14, 2013). "NRA Scare Tactics: Things You Must Arm Yourself Against". HuffPost. ; "NRA's LaPierre: Guns Needed to Fend Off Apocalyptic Future". Newsmax. February 14, 2013. )

• [T]here's no telling how far Obama will go to dismantle our freedoms...reshape America. And when he's finished, he intends to go out with the coronation of Hillary Rodham Clinton. Yeah, I have to tell you eight years of one demographically-symbolic president is enough.
  • April 10, 2015, National Rifle Association annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee (Jaffe, Alexandra (April 15, 2015). "NRA's Wayne LaPierre: Obama, Clinton 'demographically-symbolic'". CNN. ; Blow, Charles M. (April 16, 2015). "Woe of White Men, Again?". The New York Times. ; Lynch, Dennis (April 11, 2015). "NRA Head LaPierre: 'Eight Years Of Demographically Symbolic President Is Enough'". International Business Times. ; Parton, Heather Digby (September 28, 2016). "Fear of a woman president: How the white backlash against Obama fueled Hillary hate and the rise of Trump". Salon. )

• [The National Rifle Association] has President Trump's back for the next eight years.
  • February, 2017 (Horwitz, Josh (May 19, 2017). "The NRA Proudly Presents *Insert Latest Trump Catastrophe*". HuffPost. ; Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (September 28, 2017). We know the NRA’s history. Yes, it’s racist..)

Quotes about LaPierre

• Hard to believe this is real. Every GOPer should read and decide if this delusional person will call the shots.
  • David Plouffe, February 12, 2013 on Twitter ("NRA's LaPierre: Guns Needed to Fend Off Apocalyptic Future". Newsmax. February 14, 2013. ; Killough, Ashley. "LaPierre says gun owners are ready to 'stand and fight'". CNN. ; Munro, Neil (February 14, 2013). "Obama strategist slams NRA’s op-ed in The Daily Caller". The Daily Caller. ; Spaeth, Ryu (February 14, 2013). "NRA head Wayne LaPierre's paranoid gun manifesto". The Week. )

• I don't know where to start…yeah, it's responsible to own a gun; it’s responsible to protect your family; it's responsible to have a handgun in your house; it's responsible to have a shotgun; it's responsible to have a hunting rifle, but Wayne LaPierre is suggesting if you are against Americans being able to own assault weapons with 30-round, high-capacity magazines ... and he said, Hispanic drug gangs are coming to America. And those terrible people in Brooklyn. Don't go out after dark. I mean, this is so laced with racial overtones ... the Republican Party, if they were smart, their leaders today would condemn it, but they're not smart; they're scared, and if they keep running scared they're going to lose more votes, they're going to get hammered in future elections if they allow this clown to continue to lead them around by their nose. They're shameful; they need to be leaders.
  • Joe Scarborough, February 14, 2013 on MSNBC's Morning Joe (Katchen, Drew (February 14, 2013). "Scarborough: Wayne LaPierre op-ed is ‘so laced with racial overtones’". Morning Joe. NBC News (MSNBC). ; Spaeth, Ryu (February 14, 2013). "NRA head Wayne LaPierre's paranoid gun manifesto". The Week. ; LoGiurato, Brett (February 14, 2013). "Joe Scarborough Explodes At NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre's 'Racial,' Paranoid Arguments". Business Insider. ; "NRA's LaPierre: Guns Needed to Fend Off Apocalyptic Future". Newsmax. February 14, 2013. )

• Perhaps we know Wayne LaPierre is wrong about good guys, and bad guys, and guns. I'm sure many of us find him hard to trust given his obvious use of racial demonization to spread fear that will lead to buying guns.
  • Touré on MSNBC's The Cycle (Rothman, Noah (February 15, 2013). "Touré: If Adam Lanza Shot Up A Black School, There Would Be No ‘National Conversation About Guns’". Mediaite. )

• Maybe at one time, the NRA was a legitimate nonprofit dedicated to the interests of sport-oriented hunters. Whether that is your cup or tea or not, the NRA had a legitimate function. Now, it is defending an imaginary version of Second Amendment rights against imaginary threats. It is not serving the interests of hunters or even most gun owners. Instead, it is serving the weapons manufacturers. And under LaPierre, it has turned into a nutty, survivalist organization drawing on incendiary imagery and fears. The NRA’s time is over, and LaPierre’s time has definitely come and gone.
  • Nonprofit Quarterly, February 19, 2013 (Cohen, Rick (February 19, 2013). "NRA’s Messaging Becomes Increasingly Odd". Nonprofit Quarterly. )

• Wow, I guess your dog-whistle wasn't working, and you just went with a regular whistle.
  • Jon Stewart (April 13, 2015) (Stewart, Jon (April 13, 2015). "Rundeclared". The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Comedy Central. ; Jaffe, Alexandra (April 15, 2015). "NRA's Wayne LaPierre: Obama, Clinton 'demographically-symbolic'". CNN. )

• Maybe, conservatives are done with dog-whistle politics. After all, NRA chief Wayne LaPierre traded his dog whistle for an air horn at a recent gathering of the gun faithful in Washington, D.C.
  • Leonard Pitts (April 18, 2015) (Pitts Jr., Leonard (April 18, 2015). "NRA chief should get used to new normal". Miami Herald. )

• LaPierre can try to reframe the NRA’s history, but he’s not fooling anyone. We know the NRA’s history. We’ve taken notes. Those who call out the NRA’s racism are right on the money.
  • Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (September 28, 2017) (Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (September 28, 2017). We know the NRA’s history. Yes, it’s racist..)

External links

• Cervantes, Bobby (December 21, 2012). "10 top quotes from NRA's LaPierre". Politico. 

Authority control: WorldCat search