The NRA provided a pdf transcript of LaPierre's remarks. WonkBlog has a nice summary of the policy recommendations, Six ways the NRA would deal with gun violence.
Basically they want armed guards in every schools. "With all the foreign aid, with all the money in the federal budget, we can’t afford to put a police officer in every school?" FYI, at first glance he's right, there are about 100,000 public schools in the US, at $50K a year for a guard, that's $5 billion. The annual US foreign aid budget is a little under $30 billion. So even if they need 2 per school, the math works. Of course the aid does go to preventing people from starving and to eradicating disease and building up economies to make the world safer.
Here's some slightly different math saying it would come to $18 billion and "An annual license fee of about $75 per gun should adequately cover the expense of the NRA's proposal to put armed police officers at every K-12 school in the US."
He also says there should be a national database for the mentally ill and blames hollywood for movies and the violent video game industry.
Greg Sargent says the NRA resorts to its usual tricks: Obfuscation and distraction. "Keep in mind that all of this is deliberately designed to serve an overarching strategic goal — distraction. The NRA absolutely must keep the focus off of the problem of easy gun availability, and what can be done about it, for as long as possible."
Still it's so easy to have fun with this idiocy.
Igor Volsky pulls The 10 Craziest Quotes From The NRA Press Conference.
Gawker points out, While the NRA Was on TV Talking About the Need for More Guns Some Guy Was Walking Up and Down a Road in Pennsylvania Shooting People
Chris Hayes was pretty shocked by the press conference on twitter. Some of his better tweets and retweets:
NRA about to propose it seems, putting armed guards outside every school. This. Is. Horrifying.
Totally reasonable, sober proposal: a secret service detail for every school child in America. #omfg
TSA EVERYWHERE! #newnraslogans
NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre at one point said, "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." Hayes' comment: Good guys w/ guns vs bad guys w/ guns is, ironically, the moral cosmology of a small child.
Useful reminder: The first person Adam Lanza murdered owned a bunch of guns.
Some others:
Chase Mitchell: Just want to point out the NRA's plan to stop school shootings is literally the plot of Kindergarten Cop.
Seth Meyers: NRA: If we banned schools there would never be another school shooting.
Michael Ian Black: Oh cool, George Zimmerman is going to be protecting my kids in school.
Michael Ian Black: When somebody shoots up a dentist's office, they'll be advocating for armed dental hygienists.
Bob Schooley: If only Ft. Hood had armed, trained security personnel.
Ana Marie Cox: WHY STOP AT ARMED GUARDS IN SCHOOLS? That's the question. Personal security, around the clock, for everyone, everywhere. It's our only hope.
Ana Marie Cox: LaPierre insisting that this armed-guards everywhere strategy is "proven." And it's true military states have lower rates of street crime.
Catherine Rampell: N.R.A. Calls for Armed Guards in Schools to Deter Violence http://nyti.ms/Yu6pon there was an armed guard at Columbine.
Lawrence Lessig: Ah yes, the problem isn't the 2d A, it's the 1st A. "NRA blames Hollywood
Alex Bowles follows: Meanwhile, back in Canada—where you find all the same movies and games—the most violent thing to happen regularly is hockey.
Jay Rosen: Exact quote just now from the NRA press conference. "This is the beginning of a serious conversation. We won't be taking any questions."
Ezra Klein: So tracking private gun sales is an unconscionable assault on liberty but we can have a national database of the mentally ill.
I will point out that he edited that for maximum effect. The full statement by NRA President Dave Keene at the end of the conference was: "This is the beginning of a serious conversation. We won't be taking questions today but, Andrew Arulanandam, our public affairs officer, is here. We will be willing to talk to anybody beginning on Monday."
Matt Seaton: This NRA presser is not train wreck. It's an asteroid impact. Media profs will be teaching it for years as epic 'how not to' do crisis comms
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