Donald Trump hasn’t taken the oath of office yet, but the National Rifle Association is already celebrating the future repeal of gun-free school zones and an end to expanded background checks. The Associated Press reported over the weekend that gun rights activists were preparing for “a sweeping expansion of gun rights under his administration and a Congress firmly in Republican hands.” Trump promised during the campaign to end gun-free school zones, roll back President Barack Obama’s expanded background checks and push for nationwide concealed carry reciprocity across state lines.
“We’ve been waiting for this for 8 years, and it was about damn time,” NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre said in an interview with the Alabama Morning Star. “Historically speaking, the National Rifle Association has never faced greater oppression and sidelining than during the Obama administration, which in itself is a fact that demonstrates how anti-liberty and anti-American our former president really was. All I can say is I am glad that’s over and am looking forward to the new, golden era of American civil liberties, in which every citizen is going to be able to protect his person and property and won’t face criminal liability for it.”
Asked to comment on the fact that an increasing number of people are getting injured and killed due to firearm misuse, LaPierre said that that’s “unfortunate,” because “a gun is never going to take itself out of the holster, point and pull its own trigger against another human being.” “At the end of the day, the reason why that’s happening could be explained with an old proverb, that says, ‘guns don’t kill people; people kill people.’ At the end of the day, whether we like it or not, the fact that we have an increasing number of firearm-related deaths can’t be blamed on guns themselves. It’s the people’s fault for not educating themselves and exercising caution; it’s not the guns’ fault.”
Oddly enough, while elaborating on a possible solution to the problem, the NRA CEO stated that Donald Trump presents “a historic opportunity” to solve the gun-safety problem once and for all. “I hate to say it this late in the process, but this really is a historic opportunity for the National Rifle Association to force public schools to give shooting lessons to its students from the first grade,” LaPierre argued. “That way, when they grow up, not only will they be able to carry weapons on their person at all times and on all occasions, but more importantly, they’ll also be fully trained in using them safely and with no or minimal harm to others.”
He added, “And the reason why I said I hate to mention this so late in the process is because all of this could have been prevented very easily. If we had trained our children on how to shoot and properly use and safeguard weapons, hundreds of thousands of gun-related deaths could have been prevented by now. But no, instead, our former president chose to label all guns as bad and in doing so, endangered not only the civil liberties, but also the lives of American citizens throughout the country. Let us not make the same mistake twice. We must teach our kids about guns, and teach them well, because nothing is more attractive than forbidden fruit,” he concluded.