NRA Ad Uses Inflammatory Content

Wayne LaPierre/AP file photo

The NRA released an ad Wednesday, prior to President Obama's announcement of gun control proposals he wants Congress to consider, along with 23 executive actions he signed that day.  The ad poses the question, "Are the president's kids more important that yours?," and then claims that Obama is an "elitist hypocrite" because he disagrees with the NRA's proposal of placing armed guards at every school, although his daughters Malia and Sasha are protected by guards.  Despicable in its choice of content, the ad fails to recognize the the First Family has Secret Service protection by law  because they are targets by the very nature of the position the president holds.  To insinuate that Obama believes all kids are less important than his own is absolutely absurd.  Anyone who viewed his response to the Sandy Hook massacre couldn't have missed the emotion and grief he felt over the tragedy.

Ham on Wry  knows NRA members who have a more balanced view than the leadership spouts publicly, and it's time for the membership to demand a return to common sense regarding gun ownership in America.  Nicholas Kristof cited a study on the opinion page of Friday's Tampa Bay Times from Southern Medical Journal 2010, which reported that a gun is 12 times more likely to result in killing a member or guest of a household than an intruder.  Myriad studies reveal that the rate of gun death in the United States outpaces any other developed nation by a minimum multiple of 2.25.  While Canada had a rate of 2.5 deaths per 100,000 people in 2009, the United States had 10.2 deaths per 100,000 according to the Coalition for Gun Control.

Wayne LaPierre's philosophy of "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun" pretty much sums up an extreme philosophy that has brought America to something akin to an armed camp.  Ham on Wry sees no defense for owning assault rifles and ammunition designed for war.  This country is devolving into an armed camp under the LaPierre philosophy, and my father would be turning over in his grave to see the way the NRA has changed since he died.  LaPierre and his ilk fail to consider the intent the framers had in including the second amendment.  I suggest that he study it more carefully and consider the many documents available that explain the reason for it.  It was definitely not written under the premise of "all guns, all the time, for all reasons" as LaPierre seems to believe.

NRA members who believe that he is too radical in his views should force him out.  Americans want to feel safe, but not at the cost of putting guns in the hands of people who shouldn't own them.  I know.  I know.  Criminals will find a way to buy guns, but we don't have to make it so easy for them.  Assault rifles belong only in the hands of the military for which they were designed and other enforcement officers who have valid reasons to carry them.  It's time for everyone to speak up and support solutions that can work.