By Kevin Foley
The media spotlight on Trayvon Martin’s killing seems to be getting a little too intense for National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre.
His organization, in an effort to help sell more guns, cooked up the “Stand Your Ground” legislation signed into law in Florida and other states. It permits those who feel threatened to shoot their assailant and not risk prosecution.
Critics of the bill call it “Kill at Will.” The media coverage of Martin’s shooting at the hands of a vigilante has drawn considerable attention to the NRA’s role behind law.
NRA board member and former president Marion Hammer drafted the Florida bill in 2005. It became the model for legislation the American Legislative Exchange Council flogged in other states.
LaPierre no doubt likes to keep the NRA’s bill writing activities and association with ALEC on the down low, which explains why he’s so mad at the “media.”
“You reporters…manufacture controversy for ratings,” declared LaPierre at the recent NRA convention in St. Louis. “You don’t care about the truth, and the truth is the national news media in this country is a national disgrace, and you all know it.”
Actually, the truth is the NRA is all about putting guns and ammo in the hands of as many Americans as possible and letting them wield their weapons where ever they go including churches and schools. That helps explain why America has one of the highest firearm homicide rates in the world and Stand Your Ground is sure to add to the body count.
Ironically, LaPierre wants to know where the “outrage” is, why the media is focused on Trayvon Martin and not the hundreds of other Americans who’ve been gunned down.
“Everyday victims aren't celebrities. They don't draw ratings, don't draw sponsors. But sensational reporting from Florida does.”
Except Trayvon Martin wasn’t a celebrity. He was an anonymous teenager as late as February 25. On February 26 he was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, according to Florida Attorney Angela Corey, who charged Zimmerman with second degree murder.
But the local police didn’t arrest or charge Zimmerman. It took intense pressure by civil rights leaders and media figures, a special prosecutor, and 45 days to finally get both.
That’s a news story, although it’s understandable why the NRA doesn’t want it told.
“…it’s getting worse every single day,” scolded LaPierre, “and your dishonesty, duplicity, and moral irresponsibility is directly contributing to the collapse of American freedom in our country.”
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, so LaPierre is always quick to wrap the NRA in the American flag when he feels it’s threatened.
After the horrific Columbine High School massacre in 1999 and the ensuing national debate over easy access to guns, it will be remembered, the NRA shamelessly went ahead with its national convention in nearby Denver just ten days after the slaughter left 13 dead and 21 wounded.
And LaPierre grouses about the media’s “moral irresponsibility”?
The late Charlton Heston, who served as NRA president (“From my cold, dead hands!”) from 1998 to 2003, beat LaPierre to the draw on media-hating at the Denver convention when he said, “The dirty secret of this day and age is that political gain and media ratings all too often bloom on fresh graves. Simply being silent is so often the right thing to do.”
Yes, silence would certainly suit Mr. LaPierre where Stand Your Ground is concerned, but it may be too late. A campaign called “Second Chance on Shoot First,” launched by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and supported by the NAACP, the National Urban League and other organizations, seeks to repeal or reform Stand Your Ground laws in the states like Florida where they’ve been enacted.
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Kevin
Foley is president of KEF
Media Associates, an Atlanta-based producer and distributor
of sponsored news content to television and radio media. |