Dear Editor:

The leadership of the National Rifle Association (NRA) has once again hit a new low. Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s Executive Vice President and national spokesperson, appeared on national television on Sunday to accuse the President of the United States of promoting violence.  This is what he said about the President on ABC’s This Week, “I've come to believe that he needs a certain level of violence in this country.  He's willing to accept a certain level of killing to further his political agenda and his vice president too.”

This preposterous and sick accusation is one of the most egregious charges ever leveled by the NRA’s leadership.  What is he going to do next  -- accuse school grief counselors of inciting more school shootings so they can have more business?

In a fundraising letter in 1995, LaPierre described federal agents as “jack-booted government thugs” wearing “Nazi bucket helmets and black storm trooper uniforms to attack law-abiding citizens.”  At that time, President Bush turned in, and rightfully so, his lifetime membership card to the NRA in protest of LaPierre’s letter.

 I believe LaPierre has a lot of explaining to do to the NRA’s three million members and to the American people.

Thirteen children die each day from gun violence. To their grieving parents, LaPierre is saying it’s not the guns; it’s the President.  NRA members, I invite you to reject that nonsense, and instead join the President and the vast majority of Americans in support of common sense gun safety laws.
 

Sincerely,

Jan Schakowsky
Member of Congress