Gun Shop Owner’s Open Letter To Wayne LaPierre

[Straw Man]

Mike Weisser is a former college professor who owns a gun shop and is a Senior Firearms Instructor for the NRA
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-weisser/open-letter-to-wayne-lapi_b_3219807.html?u

Dear Wayne:

Sorry I couldn't make it to the annual meeting. I'm a Life Member and I try to get there every year. But this year is different. If I showed up you'd tried to get me to help you fight a "culture war." But if there is a war going on, you represent the wrong side.

I just watched your speech. I think it's time you dropped this nonsense about protecting our "rights." Be honest and tell it like it is. The reason you're opposed to background checks has absolutely nothing to do with the Second Amendment. It's about making it as easy as possible for everyone to own a gun. More guns means more profits for the gun companies, and that's who you really represent.

In 2011, Ruger's stock was trading at $21 a share, now it's at $51. Smith & Wesson's stock was three bucks a share, today it's almost nine. I remember after the 2010 elections when it looked like the Obama administration was going to be toast, gun dealers like myself couldn't give away the inventory. Now we can't keep anything on the shelves. You keep referring to the president as an enemy of the gun industry. The truth is that Barack Obama is the best salesman the industry ever had.

And the reason he's such a good salesman, Wayne, is because you and your allies have spent the last 20 years making every gun owner believe that the only reason we have any gun laws at all is because the Washington "elites" want to take away all our guns. So when a tragedy like Sandy Hook occurs and well-meaning people react to such senseless violence by looking for ways to make it harder for guns to get into the wrong hands, you and the other "protectors" of the Second Amendment get right to work convincing responsible gun owners that such laws are aimed at them. You are protecting illegal and "irresponsible" gun owners, and lumping them in with the majority of legal gun owners who are careful with their weapons. That's because an irresponsible gun owners' money is just as good for gun companies as a responsible gun owner, and you want to protect your market share, even at the expense of innocent lives.

It's easy to cloak yourself in a holier-than-thou mantle of God-given rights to avoid looking at the facts. And the facts are that private-citizen vigilantism doesn't protect anyone from gun violence; it actually results in more violence and deaths. It's easy to disparage the 90 percent of Americans who are in favor of expanding background checks by telling your audience that some unnamed Congressman from some unnamed state hasn't gotten any calls. But maybe the time has finally come when most Americans are more worried about ending the 100,000+ firearm deaths and injuries than whether you and your NRA cult of followers can Stand and Fight.

For all your talk about defending liberty Wayne, I'll give you something more important to defend: the young children whose lives always seem to take a back seat to how many guns you can get Americans to buy. I'm talking about children at Sandy Hook, a 4-year-old in New York, a 2-year-old in Kentucky. There's something immoral about denying any connection between the deaths of children and the explosion in gun sales that you claim show how much we love our freedom. I'd rather have those kids alive, even if it costs me more than a few bucks in gun sales. I joined Evolve so I could be part of an organization that wants gun owners and non-gun owners to lead with solutions that can talk about saving human lives and preserving our Second Amendment rights. That's patriotic and that is a future worth fighting for.

[tonymctones]

who ever said private citizen vigilantism protects ppl from gun violence?

LMFAO this letter is full of shit

[Straw Man]

who ever said private citizen vigilantism protects ppl from gun violence?

LMFAO this letter is full of shit

I like how you pick one thing in the letter that you've never heard of and then declare the entire letter BS

In fact the person to whom the letter is addressed has made such remarks (you know, the ones you're not aware of)

The author of the letter is an owner of a gun store and a Senior Firearms instructor for the NRA

[Fury]

No one cares. The leftist gun control push is DOA.

Murder rate continues to drop despite the number of guns in this country increasing. Suck on that, bitch.



Take out the black-on-black violence (and the illegal guns that cause it) and the murder rate drops even more. L-O-L.

[tonymctones]

I like how you pick one thing in the letter that you've never heard of and then declare the entire letter BS

In fact the person to whom the letter is addressed has made such remarks (you know, the ones you're not aware of)

The author of the letter is an owner of a gun store and a Senior Firearms instructor for the NRA

thats the only thing worth mentioning as the rest is opinion based or simply irrelevant....

please post or link some of those comments where pierre said the private vigilantism protects ppl from gun violence

[Hugo Chavez]

one of the things LaPierre has been absolutely right on the entire time has been the fact that loss of a right doesn't happen all at once. It gets chipped away at until it's gone.

What do these background checks involve?  Why hasn't there been details on what they want to include on that or where it will eventually go?  Will someone be prevented from owning a firearm because they were depressed and subscribed meds during a time of their life?  Maybe someone who lost their family in a car crash and was depressed and later can't get a firearm because he can't pass the background?  That's shit that needs opposed without details.

And on the article he goes into a rant about the stock of companies producing firearms?  WTF is that?  He's blaming the NRA for the increase in stock?  Shit, glenn beck had more to do with that than anyone and as much as I wanted to call BS on Glenn, turns out he was right.  There were dems willing to step up and attempt to push for as much control as they could get away with and have the president support it as much as he could.  And don't freaking pretend there hasn't been a media burst pushing for strict gun control right along with it so I'm glad there is an organization like the NRA to oppose that.

The NRA isn't made up of corporations, It's primarily funded by citizens who feel the organization represents them.  I'm sure they get ad revenue and shit from gun manufactures but to suggest the organization is there just for them is flat out false.

[JOHN MATRIX]

one of the things LaPierre has been absolutely right on the entire time has been the fact that loss of a right doesn't happen all at once. It gets chipped away at until it's gone.


The NRA isn't made up of corporations, It's primarily funded by citizens who feel the organization represents them.  I'm sure they get ad revenue and shit from gun manufactures but to suggest the organization is there just for them is flat out false.

This is the truth..its not some shadowy corporation like the dumbshit administrstion is trying to get everyone to think..its an organization made up of millions if americans...and as long as they are the main force standing up as the voice of common sense in all this bullshit, I will continue to support them.

[Option D]

who ever said private citizen vigilantism protects ppl from gun violence?

LMFAO this letter is full of shit

WOW..

[Soul Crusher]

What utter nonsense cliche and pap riddled bs. 


Wait till his customers read this mamby pampy drivel - he will be out of business soon. 

[Straw Man]

thats the only thing worth mentioning as the rest is opinion based or simply irrelevant....

please post or link some of those comments where pierre said the private vigilantism protects ppl from gun violence

fundy libtards such as yourself have obviously forgotten that not only are 90% of the public in favor of background checks but so is a large majority of NRA members

If anyone is capable of offering an opinion on this subject then surely an NRA safety instructor and current gunstore owner is included in that group

pay attention to this next point closely - if his opinion is irrelevant then so is yours and essentially anyone else's for that matter

as for links to LaPierre statements you can go find those yourself

if there is one thing I've learned about you is that your opinions are immune to facts so there is no point in wasting my time

since you have claimed you are uninformed about LaPierre's statements you can easily locate them yourself if you're interested (which I know that you are not)

[Soul Crusher]

There already is a background check for almost every purchase now. 

Typical ignorant liberal pussies clueless on yet another issue. 

[Straw Man]

There already is a background check for almost every purchase now. 

Typical ignorant liberal pussies clueless on yet another issue. 

typical fundy libtard response

how about internet sales
how about private party sales
how about the many states that don't require if for gun shows

and on and on

[Soul Crusher]

typical fundy libtard response

how about internet sales
how about private party sales
how about the many states that don't require if for gun shows

and on and on

Sales over the internet go through an FFL who runs it through the NICs check

Almost every states all purchases via FFL runs it through NICS check


Again - you are ignorant, clueless, and a typical leftist troll emotionally driven by an issue you know nothing about 

[Roger Bacon]

This is the truth..its not some shadowy corporation like the dumbshit administrstion is trying to get everyone to think..its an organization made up of millions if americans...and as long as they are the main force standing up as the voice of common sense in all this bullshit, I will continue to support them.

Good post John Matrix, and welcome back!

It's the same with the media blatantly lying, as if the American people favor losing their rights more when that couldn't be any further from the truth.  Gun Control was defeated because no one supports it.

[tonymctones]

LMFAO so not links or quotes where someone is saying private citizen VIGILANTISM protects ppl from gun violence

EXACTLY WHAT I THOUGHT, this letter is full of shit

[Option D]

LMFAO so not links or quotes where someone is saying private citizen VIGILANTISM protects ppl from gun violence

EXACTLY WHAT I THOUGHT, this letter is full of shit

What do you think Wayne means when he says "i bet the people of Boston wish they were armed"
and "the way to stop a bad guy with a gun is to have a good guy with a gun"

[Straw Man]

LMFAO so not links or quotes where someone is saying private citizen VIGILANTISM protects ppl from gun violence

EXACTLY WHAT I THOUGHT, this letter is full of shit

if you had half a brain in your head you would look at the letter he explains that it is in response to LaPierres comments and the link that I provided has a link to those comments

again, you are a waste of my time

you're lucky you get any time from me at all

[tonymctones]

What do you think Wayne means when he says "i bet the people of Boston wish they were armed"
and "the way to stop a bad guy with a gun is to have a good guy with a gun"

It means exactly what it says...Where is he advocating for vigilantism?

do you consider protecting yourself vigilantism?

if one of those bombers had run into a house and got gun down would you consider the person whos house they broke into a vigilante?

come the fuck on mal

[Straw Man]

What do you think Wayne means when he says "i bet the people of Boston wish they were armed"
and "the way to stop a bad guy with a gun is to have a good guy with a gun"

yeah, you'd think Tony would be able to read and follow links

these are not the first comments of this kind from LaPierre so it's kind of hard to understand how someone like Tony who seems to want to be taken seriously can't be bothered to get even just a little bit informed about the topic at hand

[tonymctones]

if you had half a brain in your head you would look at the letter he explains that it is in response to LaPierres comments and the link that I provided has a link to those comments

again, you are a waste of my time

you're lucky you get any time from me at all

the reason I asked is b/c of the article and your link doesnt have any links to any quotes of lapierre.

try again broham...

[tonymctones]

yeah, you'd think Tony would be able to read and follow links

these are not the first comments of this kind from LaPierre so it's kind of hard to understand how someone like Tony who seems to want to be taken seriously can't be bothered to get even just a little bit informed about the topic at hand

LMFAO so you think that he was advocating vigilantism

or do you think that defending yourself is vigilantism?

[Straw Man]

It means exactly what it says...Where is he advocating for vigilantism?

do you consider protecting yourself vigilantism?

if one of those bombers had run into a house and got gun down would you consider the person whos house they broke into a vigilante?

come the fuck on mal

yes he was advocating for that and has done so before

basically LaPierre's position is that we should turn our schools, communities, etc.. into an armed state as a way to PREVENT gun violence

that is his argument for putting armed guards in every school

why is it you always need this shit explained to you ?

You seem to want to play semantics over one phrase and then use that as a lame excuse to dismiss this guys entire point (again this guy makes his living selling guns so he has more skin in the game than either of us)

I personally think every gun in this country should be registered and every gun owner should have to pass both annual background check and also a safety test and probably, in some cases emotional and psychological evalaution

[tonymctones]

yes he was advocating for that and has done so before

basically LaPierre's position is that we should turn our schools, communities, etc.. into an armed state as a way to PREVENT gun violence

that is his argument for putting armed guards in every school

why is it you always need this shit explained to you ?

You seem to want to play semantics over one phrase and then use that as a lame excuse to dismiss this guys entire point (again this guy makes his living selling guns so he has more skin in the game than either of us)

I personally think every gun in this country should be registered and every gun owner should have to pass both annual background check and also a safety test and probably, in some cases emotional and psychological evalaution

lol so putting armed guards at schools is a form of vigilantism?

this isnt semantics brain child this is a fundamental difference in views

apparently to you defending oneself is considered vigilantism

[Straw Man]

lol so putting armed guards at schools is a form of vigilantism?

this isnt semantics brain child this is a fundamental difference in views

apparently to you defending oneself is considered vigilantism

yes, private citizens arming themselves for the express purpose of doing police work, trying to stop crimes, etc.. is a form of vigilantism
tough shit if you don't like that fact.   The Guardian Angels were also accused of being vigilantes if you recall.   There are many different modes of conduct congruent with that word

you want to know what is really funny

the NRA used to actually be against this back in the 1960's (this is clearly before their main focus shifted to nothing more than being an advocate for gun manufactures with the only purpose being more gun sales at all costs)


http://www.iop.harvard.edu/wayne-lapierre-gun-salesman

First is the implication that it is the responsibility of the woman, not, say, the police, to defend herself from sexual assault. Interestingly, conservatives, the NRA included, used to oppose this kind of gun-toting vigilante justice. In the late 1960s, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, the founders of the California-based Black Panthers, advocated individual gun ownership to allow blacks to defend themselves in a nation where police were reliably racist and racists were reliably violent. In response, California conservatives proposed a law banning loaded weapons from city streets. Then-governor Ronald Reagan supported the law, calling guns a “ridiculous way to solve problems that have to be solved among people of good will,” and claiming that the law “would work no hardship on the honest citizen.” The NRA also supported this measure, as well as the gun-control measures passed at the national level in the ’60s

[tonymctones]

yes, private citizens arming themselves for the express purpose of doing police work, trying to stop crimes, etc.. is a form of vigilantism
tough shit if you don't like that fact.   The Guardian Angels were also accused of being vigilantes if you recall.   There are many different modes of conduct congruent with that word

you want to know what is really funny

the NRA used to actually be against this back in the 1960's (this is clearly before their main focus shifted to nothing more than being an advocate for gun manufactures with the only purpose being more gun sales at all costs)


http://www.iop.harvard.edu/wayne-lapierre-gun-salesman

LOL its not vigilantism if they are hired to protect individuals....

so you think a person who owns a gun for protection is a vigilante?