From: [k--ne--r] at [phoenix.net]
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc
Subject: NRA LOON LAPIERRE PISSES OFF DOLE
Date: Mon, 01 May 95 19:22:54 PDT


NRA Official Defends Anti-Federal Agent Rhetoric 

By JIM ABRAMS Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The National Rifle Association's top official defended
the inflammatory language his organization has used about federal agents,
saying Sunday that references to "jack-booted government thugs" were 
accurate.

"Those words are not far, in fact they are a pretty close description 
of what's happening in the real world," NRA Executive Vice President Wayne 
LaPierre said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

The NRA's attack on federal agents in a fund-raising letter has been cited
as an example of the kind of rhetoric that creates a climate for violent
acts such as the Oklahoma City terrorist attack. LaPierre insisted that's 
not the case.

"That's like saying the weather report in Florida on the hurricane caused 
the damage, rather than the hurricane," he said.

But Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., appearing on ABC's "This Week
With David Brinkley," said the NRA "needs to get a little image repair 

job.

" Dole criticized an NRA computer bulletin board that provides bomb-making 
instructions, saying there are already "enough people out there who know 
how to make bombs."

Attorney General Janet Reno, also on NBC, demanded that critics of law
enforcement officials be specific in their charges. "I think the most 

damaging thing that we can do in the country is to talk in generalities or 

in picturesque terms."

Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the Senate 

Judiciary Committee, said he guessed that two people would resign from the 

NRA for every one who joins as the result of the anti-government rhetoric.

But LaPierre denied there was any dissension in the 3.5-million-member
group over the stridency of its positions. The Washington Post reported
Saturday that there is a division between the old guard interested in 

conservation and firearms education and hardliners who are concentrating 

on defeating gun control legislation.

He said there is no dispute in the leadership on the need to investigate 
alleged abuses by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and to 

protect gun ownership.

The six-page NRA letter signed by LaPierre and sent earlier this month
singles out lawmakers who are pressing for gun control legislation and 

says:

"It doesn't matter to them that the semi-auto ban gives jack-booted 

government  thugs more power to take away our constitutional rights, break 

in our doors, seize our guns, destroy our property, and even injure or 

kill us." It goes on: "Not too long ago, it was unthinkable for federal 

agents wearing Nazi bucket helmets and black storm trooper uniforms to 

attack law-abiding citizens."

The NRA is demanding congressional hearings into what LaPierre said was 
"a major trend toward abuses" by federal agents of constitutional 

guarantees against unreasonable searches and seizures.

"Let's put it all on the table. It's not only the NRA, it's the American
Civil Liberties Union, it's other groups, and let's see who's right or 

wrong. If you want to end the climate of fear and suspicion in the 

country, get it all out in front of the public, and that's what we're 

asking."

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said the Senate Judiciary Committee he heads
has no plans to open hearings on the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian 

religious cult near Waco, Texas, an event that galvanized antagonism in 

some groups against federal law enforcement officers.

But Hatch told NBC he will closely monitor hearings scheduled in the 

House. "I think everybody has some tendency to be upset about what 

happened there, and it may be that we're going to have to do more about 

investigating it."

Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that he agreed
there should be hearings on Waco, but added hearings should also be held
on the increasing acts of violence against federal officials.

LaPierre said the NRA agrees with Dole and House Speaker Newt Gingrich,
R-Ga., that Republican efforts to overturn the ban on assault weapons 

should be set aside for the time being in light of the Oklahoma tragedy.

"It was on a fast track. It's on a slower track. It will still come up 
down the road," he said.

Dole said he had no intention to take up the assault weapon issue soon,
and Hatch and Biden agreed that the issue should not be a part of the 

debate on the bill to strengthen anti-terrorism efforts now before 

Congress.

Story Number:00519 Story Date: 4/30/95