NRA News Conference and Remembering Newtown Shooting Victims

NRA News Conference: In wake of Newtown shooting, NRA calls on Congress to put armed officers in every school in America

By

Julia Dahl

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Daily Blotter(CBS)  - In its first public statement since the massacre at a Connecticut elementary school last week, the National Rifle Association called on Congress to "act immediately" to put armed police officers in every school in America.

 "The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," said Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's CEO and executive vice president.

"We care about our president, so we protect him with armed Secret Service agents. Members of Congress work in offices surrounded by Capitol Police officers," said LaPierre.

"Yet, when it comes to our most beloved, innocent, and vulnerable members of the American family, our children, we as a society leave them every day utterly defenseless, and the monsters and the predators of the world know it, and exploit it."

In the week since 20 children and six teachers were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., the national dialogue has turned to guns and gun control. On Dec. 19, President Obama announced the formation of a task force on gun safety. The NRA press conference came after a period of relative silence from the organization, which announced in a statement on Dec. 18 that, in the wake of Newtown, it would announce "meaningful contributions" to the debate on Friday.

LaPierre, who did not take questions, discussed a decline in gun prosecutions, the impact of violent video games and movies like "American Psycho" and "Natural Born Killers," (which he said were "aired like propaganda loops on Splatterdays and every single day"). He also spoke of the nation's "refusal to create an active national database of the mentally ill."

Two protesters interrupted Friday's presentation, one carrying a sign reading "NRA Killing our Kids" and another with a sign reading "NRA Blood on Your Hands."

At the end of his speech, LaPierre introduced former Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark) who he said had been appointed the national director of the NRA's new National Model School Shield Program.

"The NRA is [going to] bring all its knowledge, all its dedication and all its resources to develop a model national schools shield emergency response program for every single school in America that wants it," said LaPierre.

"From armed security to building design and access control, to information technology, to student and teacher training, this multifaceted program will be developed by the very best experts in the field."

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57560490-504083/nra-news-conference-in-wake-of-newtown-shooting-nra-calls-on-congress-to-put-armed-officers-in-every-school-in-america/

National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre calls on Congress to pass a law putting armed police officers in every school in America during a news conference at the Willard Hotel December 21, 2012 in Washington, D.C. 

/ Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

NRA's Wayne LaPierre continues to reject new gun laws after Newtown shooting

Originally published: December 23, 2012 11:08 AM
Updated: December 23, 2012 11:11 AM
By BLOOMBERG NEWS

Photo credit: Getty Images | National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre delivers remarks during a news conference while a demonstrator from CodePink holds up a banner at the Willard Hotel in Washington. (Dec. 21, 2012)

http://newyork.newsday.com/news/nation/nra-s-wayne-lapierre-continues-to-reject-new-gun-laws-after-newtown-shooting-1.4369315

Bill Moyers Essay: Remember the Victims, Reject the Violence

December 20, 2012

In this timely essay, Bill urges us to remember the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre by name. He also rejects the notion of doubling down on guns and body armor as a response, and encourages all of us to work hard on realistic and moral solutions.

“Laws are hard to come by, civilization just as hard” Bill says. “But democracy aims for a moral order as just as possible — which means laws that protect the weak, and not just the strong.”

Today we remember:

Charlotte Bacon, 6
Daniel Barden, 7
Rachel D’Avino, 29
Olivia Engel, 6
Josephine Gay, 7
Ana Marquez-Greene, 6
Dylan Hockley, 6
Dawn Hochsprung, 47
Madeleine Hsu, 6
Catherine Hubbard, 6
Chase Kowalski, 7
Jesse Lewis, 6
James Mattioli, 6
Grace McDonnell, 7
Anne Marie Murphy, 52
Emilie Parker, 6
Jack Pinto, 6
Noah Pozner, 6
Caroline Previdi, 6
Jessica Rekos, 6
Avielle Richman, 6
Lauren Rousseau, 30
Mary Sherlach, 56
Victoria Soto, 27
Benjamin Wheeler, 6
Allison Wyatt, 6

http://billmoyers.com/segment/bill-moyers-essay-remember-the-victims-reject-the-violence/?gclid=CJneto-YsbQCFSmCQgodmEIARA

A demonstrator from CodePink holds up a banner as National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre delivers remarks

One week exactly after a horrific shooting at Newtown’s Sandy Hook Elementary claimed the lives of 20 children and half-dozen adults, the National Rifle Association (NRA) is imploring for guns in every school across America.

“I call on Congress today to act immediately to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every school — and to do it now, to make sure that blanket of safety is in place when our children return to school in January,” NRA Vice President Wayne LaPierre said early Friday.

LaPierre addressed a room full of reporters in the nation’s capital seven days from the date after 20-year-old Adam Lanza opened fire in a rural Connecticut elementary school, killing 26 people while also rekindling a national debate on gun control.

The NRA refrained from making any comments regarding the shooting in the week since, but on Friday LaPierre pleaded for the public to heed his group’s call for more guns — specifically guns in classrooms from coast-to-coast.

The NRA has “remained respectfully silent” in the aftermath of the tragedy, LaPierre said, but has now decided the time has come to take action.

According to the gun rights advocate, the most logical way to curb the chances of another bloody massacre is to install armed gunmen in every school in the country.

“Think about it,” said LaPierre during the Friday morning presser. “We care about our money, so we protect our banks with armed guards. American airports, office buildings, power plants, courthouses — even sports stadiums — are all protected by armed security.

“We care about the President, so we protect him with armed Secret Service agents. Members of Congress work in offices surrounded by armed Capitol Police officers,” he said, “Yet when it comes to the most beloved, innocent and vulnerable members of the American family — our children — we as a society leave them utterly defenseless, and the monsters and predators of this world know it and exploit it.”

As LaPierre read his prepared remarks, demonstrators with the protest group Code Pink unfurled a banner in front of his podium that read “NRA KILLING OUR KIDS.” Protester was removed from the room while shouting “Shame on the NRA,” and the conference continued after LaPierre paused for the hecklers.

A protester holds up a bannaer as he protests during NRA CEO and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre's news conference at the Willard Hotel prior to a news conference the association has scheduled December 21, 2012 in Washington, DC (Alex Wong / Getty Images / AFP)

Not once during his address did LaPierre actually touch on the issue of gun control, instead insisting that firearms were the only answer to ending school shootings. At one point during his remarks, LaPierre urged the government to create an active national database of the mentally ill as a proposed method of prevention against other attacks. Because they’ve refused to implement such a system, he said the government is just creating more killers.

In a briefing broadcast live on several major news networks, LaPierre blamed the US entertainment industry, the corporate media and even the government for the Newtown shooting. Had the NRA’s earlier answers been considered, he suggested the massacre might not have occurred.

“Is the press and political class here in Washington so consumed by fear and hatred of the NRA and America's gun owners that you're willing to accept a world where real resistance to evil monsters is a lone, unarmed school principal left to surrender her life to shield the children in her care? No one — regardless of personal political prejudice — has the right to impose that sacrifice,” he said.

At one point, LaPierre said he asked for armed security in schools following the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007.

“The media called me crazy,” he said. “But what if when Adam Lanza started shooting his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School last Friday he had been confronted by qualified, armed security?

“How many more copycats are waiting in the wings for their moment of fame — from a national media machine that rewards them with the wall-to-wall attention and sense of identity that they crave — while provoking others to try to make their mark?”  he said.

Medea Benjamin of CodePink is removed by a secretary personnel as she protests during NRA CEO and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre's news conference at the Willard Hotel prior to a news conference the association has scheduled December 21, 2012 in Washington, DC (Alex Wong / Getty Images / AFP)

LaPierre also attacked America’s alleged “callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people,” citing a number of outdated video games and motion pictures known for graphic imagery.

“Isn't fantasizing about killing people as a way to get your kicks really the filthiest form of pornography?” he said.

Until the media stops glorifying massacres, the NRA believes putting armed patrolmen in each and every school is necessary to stop another shooting.

“That's a plan of action that can, and will, make a real, positive and indisputable difference in the safety of our children — starting right now,” he said.

“Before Congress reconvenes, before we engage in any lengthy debate over legislation, regulation or anything else, as soon as our kids return to school after the holiday break, we need to have every single school in America immediately deploy a protection program proven to work — and by that I mean armed security,” LaPierre said.

A protester holds up a bannaer as he protests during NRA CEO and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre's news conference at the Willard Hotel prior to a news conference the association has scheduled December 21, 2012 in Washington, DC (Alex Wong / Getty Images / AFP)

Before concluding his address, LaPierre introduced former congressman and Homeland Security agent Asa Hutchinson, who will lead the NRA’s National School Shield Program.

“Under Asa's leadership, our team of security experts will make this the best program in the world for protecting our children at school, and we will make that program available to every school in America free of charge,” LaPierre said.

Hutchinson told the audience that the plan will indeed call for “armed, trained, qualified school security personnel,”and asked retired police, military and rescue personnel to consider offering their services to serve in the program.

“School safety is a complex issue with no simple, single solution. But I believe trained, qualified, armed security is one key component among many that can provide the ­rest line of deterrence as well as the last line of defense,” he said.

In the hours and minutes after both men finished addressing the crowd, the top-trending topics on Twitter involved the NRA. A large number of tweets that were widely circulated condemned the organization and its administrators for their remarks.

read more at https://rt.com/usa/news/nra-kids-protest-conference-591/