National Rifle Association Testimony Before Congress
There are two classes of criminals in America today; the ones referred to by Wayne R. LaPierre and Charlton Heston below, and those who are elected into office and do not uphold the law. The following information is from the 1999 NRA FACT CARD: Imprisoned criminals serve only one third of their sentences, on average; for murder, 7.7 years; rape,4.6 years; robbery 3.3 years; and aggravated assault 1.9 years. Every day in America there are 14 murders, 48 rapes and 578 robberies by convicted criminals on parole or early release from prison. The average career criminal commits more than 180 crimes a year (Rand Corp.), contributing significantly to the nearly 13.5 million violent and property crimes last year. (FBI) The answer to this problem is expanded prison capacity and truth-in-sentencing laws which require violent offenders to serve at least 85% of their sentences. Why don't DA's prosecute criminals as the law demands? One reason may be that by choosing not to put criminals behind bars, the argument can be made that more gun laws are necessary to protect us from them. Politicians colluding with criminals will thus attain their goal of disarming law abiding citizens. Can't happen huh? In 1935 Hitler in effect disarmed the German people to "make the streets safer". Back to the future??
Testimony of Wayne R. LaPierre Executive Vice-President, National Rifle Association, before the House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Crime, U.S. House of Representatives, June 6, 1999
My adult life has been almost entirely devoted to understanding and vindicating the Second Amendment to our Constitution. The individual, personal freedom to choose to lawfully own a firearm -- without permission from, or apology to, anyone -- is as clear and intentional as the rest of the Bill of Rights.
Our freedoms are already endangered enough by those who oppose them. But I've learned that a freedom is most at risk when its in the hands of honest people who think, for some perceived common good, they ought to give it up.
Today we are a country in shock, still bewildered by what confluence of forces could possibly lead young people to hurt each other.
In that tender state, good people are vulnerable. They want to do something, anything, for the common good. Indeed, some are so perplexed about what to do that legislators admit from the outset that their legislation could not have prevented the very crimes that provoked drafting it.
That's the very definition of a perceived, but fictitious, common good.
As this made-for-TV lawmaking gets played out, it needs a villain. So good Americans have been exposed daily to a well-coordinated systematic bashing of the National Rifle Association's membership as somehow a reckless societal pathogen, a mighty extremist empire opposed to safety, caution, and reason.
That is a cruel and dangerous lie.
Because nobody -- nor any combination of entities you care to add up -- has invested even a measurable fraction of what we have invested toward keeping safety and sanity central to the lawful exercise of the Second Amendment.
And nobody is more committed than we are to keeping guns out of criminals' hands. That's obviously in our best interest. it's just whether you believe you're more likely to keep guns and criminals apart with new laws you write and ignore, or with existing laws you enforce.
Some think our insistence on enforcement is unreasonable. Others say we oppose reasonable restrictions on gun ownership. So let's talk about what's reasonable and what's not.
We think it's reasonable to provide mandatory instant criminal background checks for every sale at every gun show. No loopholes anywhere for anyone. That means closing the Hinckley loophole so the records of those adjudicated mental ill are in the system.
This isn't new, or a change of position, or a concession. I've been on record on this point consistently, from our national meeting in Denver, to paid national ads and position papers, to news interviews and press appearances. But I've repeatedly emphasized that this Administration must stop illegally keeping records of lawful gun buyers.
In fact, it's the media's well-kept secret that the NRA was an early architect and supporter of the National Instant Check System now in place. Congressman McCollum knows we worked with him on instant checks more than a decade ago.
We think it's reasonable to provide for instant checks at gun shows just like at gun stores and pawn shops. But what's unreasonable is how the proposed Lautenberg legislation ignores the 250,000 prohibited people like felons who've walked away from gun stores -- instead of being prosecuted for a federal felony for trying to buy a gun.
We think it's reasonable to prevent all juveniles convicted of violent felonies from owning guns, for life. What's unreasonable is how Lautenberg can prevent your law-abiding son from inheriting his grandpa's shotgun collection because Lautenberg classifies him as a gun show dealer who must be federally regulated.
We think it's reasonable to prosecute more than just two dozen thugs last year for putting illegal guns in criminals' hands. What's unreasonable is that Lautenberg considers legal guns in private hands subject to intrusive federal regulation, even in the privacy of your home.
For a century we've taught it's not just reasonable but essential to use safety locks, trigger locks, gun safes or any voluntary means appropriate to keep firearms out of the wrong hands. What's unreasonable is that Lautenberg can put you in prison just for failing to keep records on how many guns you own.
We think it's reasonable to make gun show instant checks just like gun store instant checks. What's unreasonable is how Lautenberg could define your Walmart, or your uncle's skeet-shooting range, or your next-door firearms collector, or your local sporting clays competition, or any person or place with 50 or more firearms as a "gun show" subject to intrusive government regulation. That's crazy!
We think it's reasonable to demand strict prosecution of criminal activity, whether it takes place in a big-city alleyway or small town gun show. What's unreasonable is that Lautenberg instead demands strict registration of law-abiding gun buyers, giving the federal government the name and address, type of gun and serial number --- not of criminals but of Americans deemed NOT to be criminals by the instant check!
We think it's reasonable to provide full funding for the National Instant Check System so it operates efficiently and instantly. What's unreasonable is how Lautenberg authorizes an unlimited gun tax on purchases by law-abiding citizens.
We think it's reasonable to expect our government to prosecute more than 24 hoods last year for providing guns to criminals. What's unreasonable is how Lautenberg makes everyone prosecutable if you just talk about buying or selling a gun at a gun show -- even if you have no gun in your possession!
We think it's reasonable to support the federal Gun-Free School Zones Act. What's unreasonable is letting 6,000 students caught with illegal guns at school go, prosecuting only 13 of them the past two years.
We think it's reasonable to demand that when a lawful gun buyer passes the criminal background check and purchases a firearm, records of that transaction be destroyed immediately. What's unreasonable is Lautenberg's decree that we trust government bureaucrats to compile and keep names and addresses and firearm types of millions of honest, legal gun owners for no legitimate law enforcement purpose.
We think it's reasonable is to expect full enforcement of federal firearms laws by the federal government. What's unreasonable is when the Justice Department claims that federal gun laws are for the states to enforce! Reasonable people know that a case made in state court means plea bargains, judge shopping and no mandatory minimum sentencing. Even Mayor Ed Rendell of Philadelphia knows this, even if the Justice Department does not. He said, quote: "In state court, we average for these types of gun violations a 4-month prison sentence. The federal guidelines are 59 months in prison. That's a 5 1/2 year difference. Incarcerating convicted felons in possession of firearms for that length of time will save lives. It will save carnage. It will save people from being maimed."
That's why we support Project Exile -- the fierce prosecution of federal gun laws that has cut crime rates overnight the few places its been tried. Even though this Administration resists it, we think it's reasonable because it works.
We only support what works, and our proud list is long. From Project Exile to three-strikes-you're-out, to truth in sentencing, to ten-twenty-life, to mandatory minimums -- what's reasonable is what works; what's unreasonable is what doesn't work.
What's unreasonable is further erosion of privacy, further intrusion into private transactions, and further government penalizing of the law-abiding many instead of the lawbreaking few. America will not tolerate further surrender of precious freedoms in return for nothing but perceived but fictitious promises that make none of us safer.
The Lautenberg legislation is not only unreasonable, it is unworkable... unacceptable... and to our Founders who gave us the Second Amendment, unthinkable.
And finally -- somebody's got to say this out loud: it's reasonable for well-meaning people to convene hearings like this to find and fashion solutions. What's unreasonable is when a new level of hate rhetoric becomes acceptable because it's aimed at honest gun owners, as in the violent language of influential film-maker Spike Lee who last week reportedly said about NRA President Charlton Heston, quote, "Shoot him -- with a.44 caliber Bulldog." By his defiant silence, instead of the quick apology most American role models would offer, he sanctions hate and bears his share of culpability for the kind of violence this body seeks to stop.
On behalf of millions of gun owners who are NRA members, and tens of millions who are not yet, I am asking you to practice yourselves what is so readily preached to us: Be reasonable.
National Rifle Association Annual Meeting of Members Denver, Colorado, May 1, 1999, Opening Remarks to Members by Charlton Heston, President of the NRA
Good morning.
I want to welcome you to this abbreviated annual gathering of the National Rifle Association. Thank you for coming and thank you for supporting your organization.
I also want to applaud your courage in coming here today. Of course, you have a right to be here.
As you know, we've canceled the festivities and fellowship we normally enjoy at our annual gatherings . This decision has perplexed a few and inconvenienced thousands. I apologize for that.
But it's fitting and proper that we should do this... because NRA members are, above all, Americans. That means whatever our differences, we are respectful of one another and we stand united, especially in adversity.
Wellington Webb, the mayor of Denver, sent me a message: "Don't come here. We don't want you here."
I say to the Mayor, "I volunteered for the war they wanted me to attend when I was 18 years old. Since then, I've run small errands for my country from Nigeria to Vietnam. I know many of you could say the same. But the Mayor said, "Don't come."
I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry for the newspaper ads saying the same thing. "Don't come here." This is our country. As Americans we are free to travel wherever we wish in our broad land.
They say we'll create a media distraction. But we were preceded here by hundreds of intrusive news crews.
They say we'll create political distraction. But it has not been the NRA pressing for political advantage, calling press conferences to propose vast packages of new legislation.
They say, "Don't come here." I guess what saddens me most is how it suggests complicity. It implies that you and I and eighty million honest gun owners are somehow to blame, that we don't care as much as they, or that we don't deserve to be as shocked and horrified as every other soul in America mourning for the people of Littleton.
"Don't come here." That's offensive. it's also absurd, because we live here.
There are thousands of NRA members in Denver and tens upon tens of thousands in the state of Colorado.
NRA members labor in Denver's factories, populate Denver's faculties, run Denver corporations, play on Colorado sports teams, work in media across the front range, parent and teach and coach Denver's children, attend Denver's churches, and proudly represent Denver in uniform on the world's oceans and in the skies over Kosovo at this very moment.
NRA members are in City Hall, Fort Carson, NORAD, the Air Force Academy and the Olympic Training Center.
And yes, NRA members are surely among the police and fire and SWAT team heroes who risked their lives to rescue the students of Columbine from evil, mindless executioners.
"Don't come here"? We are already here. This community is our home. Every community in America is our home. We are a 128-year-old fixture of mainstream America. The Second Amendment ethic of lawful, responsible firearm ownership spans the broadest cross-section of American life imaginable.
So we have the same right as all other citizens to be here... to help shoulder the grief... to share our sorrow... and to offer our respectful, reasoned voice to the national discourse that has erupted around this tragedy.
One more thing. Our words and our behavior will be scrutinized more than ever this morning. Those who are hostile toward us will lie in wait to seize on a soundbite out of context, ever searching for an embarrassing moment to ridicule us. So let us be mindful... the eyes of the nation are upon us today.
National Rifle Association Annual Meeting of Members Denver, Colorado, May 1, 1999 Closing Remarks to Members, Charlton Heston, President of the NRA
I have been advised not to be here, not to speak to you here. it's not the first time.
In 1963, I marched on Washington with Dr. Martin Luther King, long before Hollywood found civil rights fashionable. My associates advised me not to go. They said it would be unpopular and maybe dangerous.
Thirty-six years later my associates advised me not to come to Denver. They said it would be unpopular and maybe dangerous. But I am here. Let me tell you why.
I see our country teetering on the edge of an abyss. At its bottom brews the simmering bile of deep, dark hatred. Hatred that's dividing our country politically, racially, economically, geographically, in every way.
Whether it's political vendettas, sports brawls, corporate takeovers, or high school gangs and cliques, the American competitive ethic has changed from "let's beat the other guy" to "let's destroy the other guy." Too many are too willing to stigmatize and demonize others for political advantage, money or ratings.
The vilification is savage. This week, Rep. John Conyers slandered three million Americans when he called the NRA merchants of death on national television, as the First Lady nodded in agreement. A hideous editorial cartoon by Mike Peters ran nationally, depicting childrens' dead bodies sprawled out to spell N-R-A.
The countless requests we've received for media appearances are in fact summons to public floggings, where those who hate firearms will predictably don the white hat and hand us the black.
This harvest of hatred is then sold as news, as entertainment, as government policy.
Such hateful, divisive forces are leading us to one awful end: America's own form of Balkanization. A weakened country of rabid factions, each less free, and united only by hatred of one another.
In the past ten days we've seen these brutal blows attempting to fracture America into two such camps.
One camp would be the majority -- people who believe our Founders guaranteed our security with the right to defend ourselves, our families and our country. The other camp would be a large minority -- people who believe that we will buy security if we will just surrender these freedoms.
This debate would be accurately described as those who believe in the Second Amendment, versus those who don't. But instead it is spun as those who believe in murder, versus those who don't. A struggle between the reckless and the prudent, between the dimwitted and the enlightened, between the archaic and the progressive, between inferior citizens and elitists who know what's good for society.
But we're not the rustic, reckless radicals they wish for. No, the NRA spans the broadest range of American demography imaginable. We defy stereotype, except for love of country. Look in your mirror, your shopping mall, your church or grocery store. That's us. Millions of ordinary people and extraordinary people -- war heroes, sports idols, several U.S. presidents and yes, movie stars.
But the screeching hyperbole leveled at gun owners has made these two camps so wary of each other, so hostile and confrontational and disrespectful, that too many on both sides have forgotten that we are, first, Americans.
I am asking all of us, on both sides, to take one step back from the edge of that cliff. Then another step and another, however many it takes to get back to that place where we're all Americans again... different, imperfect, diverse, but one nation... indivisible.
This cycle of tragedy-driven hatred must stop. Because so much more connects us than divides us. And because tragedy has been and will always be with us. Somewhere right now, evil people are scheming evil things. All of us will do every meaningful thing we can do to prevent it. But each horrible act can't become an axe for opportunists to cleave the very Bill of Rights that binds us.
America must stop this predictable pattern of reaction. When an isolated, terrible event occurs, our phones ring, demanding that the NRA explain the inexplicable.
Why us? Because their story needs a villain. They want us to play the heavy in their drama of packaged grief, to provide riveting programming to run between commercials for cars and cat food.
The dirty secret of this day and age is that political gain and media ratings all too often bloom upon fresh graves.
I remember a better day, when no one dared politicize or profiteer on trauma. We kept a respectful distance then, as NRA has tried to do now. Simply being silent is so often the right thing to do.
But today, carnage comes with a catchy title, splashy graphics, regular promos, and a reactionary package of legislation. Reporters perch like vultures on the balconies of hotels for a hundred miles around. Cameras jockey for shocking angles, as news anchors race to drench their microphones in the tears of victims.
Injury, shock, grief and despair shouldn't be "brought-to-you by sponsors." That's pornography. It trivializes the tragedy, it abuses vulnerable people, and maybe worst of all, it makes the unspeakable seem commonplace.
And we're often cast as the villain.
That is not our role in American society, and we will not be forced to play it. Our mission is to remain a steady beacon of strength and support for the Second Amendment, even if it has no other friend on the planet. We can not let tragedy lay waste to the most rare and hard-won human right in history.
A nation cannot gain safety by giving up freedom. This truth is older than our country. Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. Ben Franklin said that.
If you like your freedoms of speech and of religion, freedom from search and seizure, freedom of the press and of privacy, to assemble and to redress grievances, then you'd better give them that eternal bodyguard called the Second Amendment. The individual right to bear arms is freedom's insurance policy, not just for your children but for infinite generations to come.
That is it's singular, sacred beauty, and why we preserve it so fiercely.
No, it is not a right without rational restrictions. And it's not for everyone. Only the law-abiding majority of society deserves the Second Amendment. Abuse it once and lose it forever.
That's the law. But remarkably, the NRA is far more eager to prosecute gun abusers than are those who oppose gun ownership altogether... as if the tool could be more evil than the evildoer.
The NRA also spends more and works harder than anybody in America to promote safe, responsible use of firearms. From 38,000 certified instructors training millions of police, hunters, women and youth... to 500 law enforcement agencies promoting our Eddie Eagle gun safety program distributed to eleven million kids and counting.
But our essential reason for being is this. As long as there is a Second Amendment, evil can never conquer us.
Tyranny, in any form, can never find footing within a society of law-abiding, armed, ethical people.
The majesty of the Second Amendment, that our Founders so divinely captured and crafted into your birthright, guarantees that no government despot, no renegade faction of armed forces, no roving gangs of criminals, no breakdown of law and order, no massive anarchy, no force of evil or crime or oppression from within or from without, can ever rob you of the liberties that define your Americanism.
And when they ask, "So indeed you would bear arms against government tyranny?"... the answer is, "No. That could never happen, precisely because we have the Second Amendment."
Let me be absolutely clear. The Founding Fathers guaranteed this freedom because they knew no tyranny can ever arise among a people endowed with the right to keep and bear arms.
That's why you and your descendants need never fear fascism, state-run faith, refugee camps, brainwashing, ethnic cleansing, or especially, submission to the wanton will of criminals.
The Second Amendment... there can be no more precious inheritance. That's what the NRA preserves.
Now, if you disagree, that's your right and I respect that. But we will not relinquish it or be silenced about it, or be told, "Do not come here. You are unwelcome in your own land."
Let's go from this place renewed in spirit and dedicated against hatred. We have work to do, hearts to heal, evil to defeat, and a country to unite. We may have differences, yes. And we will again suffer tragedy almost beyond description. But when the sun sets on Denver tonight and forevermore, let it always set on we, the people... secure in our land of the free and home of the brave.
I, for one, plan to do my part.
Thank you.
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