Date: Fri, 26 May 1995 05:05:38 -0600
From: "The Old Blue Howler" <[l--oa--l] at [ICSI.Net]>
To: [N--B--N] at [mainstream.com], [r--c] at [xmission.com]
Subject: FYI: INFO: Wayne LaPierre's Address to the NRA Annual Meeting

------ Forwarded Message
	     Wayne LaPierre, NRA Executive Vice-President
	       Address to the Annual Meeting of Members
			     May 20, 1995

We ... are being watched.

The eyes of the nation, the eyes of history, are upon us.

Our every word is being scrutinized, our every action studied.

And we should be grateful.  Let me tell you why.

A few weeks ago I decided what I wanted to say here today.

I wanted to give America a clear definition of our mission at NRA:

That at the end of this century we want to leave the Second Amendment
in the same condition as it was at the beginning of this century.

But since April 19, that day of terrible, cowardly cruelty in Oklahoma
City, I've realized that job will be harder than I thought.

As we gather here today, our mission is in jeopardy.

Because too many Americans are increasingly confused about who we are.

I don't know.  You could blame it on tragic events, or on poor
reporting, or on political opportunists, or even on our adversaries.

But all of a sudden, N-R-A patriots are being confused with Grade-A
terrorists.  Well ... to those in the national media, I hope you're
listening, because I'm going to put a stop to the confusion right here
and now.

I will not sit idly by while the media, or the President, or anyone
else, tries to disgrace the members of this great Association by
blurring the distinction between heroism, and terrorism!

There is a difference between democracy, and anarchy.

There is a difference between criticism, and insurrection.

There is a difference between sound reason, and sheer treason.

There is a difference between acting within the law, and acting above
the law.

And believe me, there is a difference between 3.5 million united NRA
members, and some scattered band of paranoid hatemongers!

And if someone in this room doesn't know the difference, THEN THERE'S
THE DOOR!

For 124 years the National Rifle Association of America has been
promoting liberty.

Not mutiny.

Our fight is for the minds of men.  Never against the lives of
children.

We do not do battle with bullets.  We fight with ballots.

We don't train for revolt in the woods.  We train for safety -- in
grade schools and shooting ranges and police departments.

We don't break laws.

We help make the laws.

We don't sit home and complain about bad government.  We vote for and
elect good government.

If there is anyone within the sound of my voice who still doesn't get
it ... get it and get it now:

There is not, nor has there ever been, any room at NRA for anyone who
supports -- or even fantasizes about -- terrorism, sedition,
insurrection, treason, conspiracy or any other unlawful activity.

Period!  End of story!

And you know what?

If you do support any of that stuff, you'd better not let the
Americans in this room find out about it.

At the same time, there is no room in America for those who support a
double standard of justice.  And at NRA, we've been saying so -- for
years.

I'm talking about the double standard that says if someone wants to
profiteer from rap music about killing cops, those rights are
defended.

But if a shotgun barrel is a quarter-inch below the legal minimum,
they can surround a Ruby Ridge home and shoot a 14-year-old boy in the
back and kill a mother holding a baby.

Then promote the guy in charge of it all.

I'm talking about the double standard that says, if a drugged-up
ex-con speeds through L.A., resists arrest and gets beat up, he can
sue for a few million bucks and win.

While the cop in charge gets ruined.

But if a religious cult is suspected of a gun law violation, it can be
assaulted with bullets, tanks and tear gas.  Everyone dies .. and the
cop in charge gets promoted.

I'm talking about the double standard that says, it's okay to call gun
owners "gun nuts" and call the NRA "an evil empire of lying, stupid,
rednecks, zealots and extremists."

But if we engage in some impassioned name-calling about abuses by a
few federal police, we are suddenly indicted, tried and found
guilty-by-association with America's most despicable criminals.

Nonetheless, for some of my words, an apology was due. And I
apologized.

I have repeatedly said it, and our actions back it up: The NRA is
pro-law-enforcement.

We respect and support our many heroes out there doing their jobs
every day under impossible circumstances.  We're proud of them --
hundreds of thousands are NRA members.

But I have also repeatedly said that if a handful of them behave like
bullies, we're gonna call them bullies.

If some of them act like thugs ... then that's what we'll call them.

That's why the NRA and the ACLU and several other civil rights groups
joined together 18 months ago to ask President Clinton to create a
commission to investigate serious abuses by federal law enforcement
agencies, in order to reduce many reported violations of
constitutional and human rights.

And what do we have to show for our repeated requests?  Nothing.

No fact-finding action that could settle the issue once and for all.

No hearings.

No investigations.

No answers.

Just hypocrisy and arrogance.

While he appealed for "toning down the rhetoric," Mr. Clinton
criticized NRA for our language ...  by using this language!  Let me
quote him from a few days ago, quote:

"We must stand up against these people who say they love their country
but not this government.  Who do these people think they are?" End
quote.

I'll tell you who we are.  We are the people who helped clean out
Congress in 1994, and who are going to help clean your clock in 1996!

Mr. President, there is nothing un-American about questioning our
leaders.  As citizens, it's our job.

There is nothing unpatriotic about being skeptical of our government.
As citizens, it's our job.

In fact, our very system of self-government requires us to question
our officials and candidates with each election cycle.  The more zeal
and passion we bring to the process, the better government we get.

So why do they so readily attack the NRA?

I'll tell you why.  They're attacking the messenger, instead of the
message, because most Americans agree with the message!

Most Americans think that government has grown so big it can't keep
its hands out of our pockets or off of our rights.

In fact, just eight days after the bombing in Oklahoma City, a 52%
majority of Americans said they think the federal government has
become so powerful that it poses a threat to the rights and freedoms
of its citizens.

That's not an NRA poll -- that's a Time/CNN poll April 27, 1995.

That's the message, and Mr. Clinton doesn't get it.

Think about it: Over half of your countrymen think the federal
government has become so powerful that it poses a threat to the rights
and freedoms of its citizens.

Surely you've felt that invasion bit by bit, year after year.  More
and more you've got to scoot-your-butt-over-and-make-room-for-a-
bureaucrat-and-his-book-of-rules.

I know you've felt it.  Especially if you own land, if you own a small
business, if you own a home, if you drive a car, or heaven forbid, if
you want to own a gun.

But it's not just about your gun freedoms.

It's about plans for a federal multi-agency super-police force called
the "Directorate of Central Law Enforcement" that Bill Clinton and
Janet Reno wanted to put together.

It's about HR97, a bill that would allow Reno to establish a
2,500-member "Rapid Deployment Strike Force" that could be deployed to
enforce federal, state and local anti-gun laws.

It's about special micro-chips that the government wanted to put in
every phone, fax and computer so it could tap into people's
communications at will.

It's about saddling the states with unfunded federal mandates,
paperwork, red tape and regulations that deny private property rights
and civil rights.

It's about that California farmer whose tractor was seized and who
faced a year in jail plus a $200,000 fine for allegedly running over
an "endangered" kangaroo rat while plowing his own land.

It's about federal agencies like HUD threatening to prosecute citizens
for exercising their First Amendment right by opposing criminal
halfway houses in their neighborhoods.

It's about why 300 Marines, on a written test at Twentynine Palms
Combat Center in California, were asked whether they would, quote
"fire upon U.S. citizens who refuse or resist confiscation of firearms
banned by the U.S. government," end quote.

In the end, it's about all these creeping cancers ... feeding on all
the freedoms we once took for granted. So it'll be tough to leave this
century with the Second Amendment in the same condition as it was at
the beginning of this century.

But with courage and character, we will.

Today, as 95 years ago, there is no room at NRA for any people that
support violence against government. But there is also no room in
America for government that supports violence against the people, and
a double standard of justice.

We will continue our important work of gun safety, hunting and
wildlife conservation, crime prevention, judicial reform and
protecting the cherished Second Amendment.

But we will meet the millennium with our more difficult -- and perhaps
more unpopular -- duty: of living on the leading edge of defining what
patriotism means in modern America ... of making government put our
freedom where its mouth is.

I began today by telling you that, like never before, we are being
watched.  And we will be judged not by what we say, but what we do.

So I ask those in the media who observe this Association to do so
closely, with fairness and balance.  But I also ask those who
participate in this Association to be worthy of scrutiny, by living up
to a promise you made ... when you were a kid:

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and
to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

In spite of the diversity of opinion that comes with 3.5 million
members, we are all still united by that promise.  Don't let the chaos
of current events tarnish the majesty of its meaning:

We don't promise to try when it's convenient, we pledge our
allegiance.

Not to who's powerful or popular, but to the flag of the United States
of America.

And not just to its stars and stripes, but to the republic for which
it stands.  Which isn't one faction, but one nation.  Not under
tyranny, but under God.  Not divided, but indivisible.

With liberty and with justice, not for a few, but for all.

Let's tell it, teach it, live it, and breathe it.

To give the kids of this country a running start at another glorious
century of being the envy ... of the world.

God bless you all and thank you.


------ End of Forwarded Message