NRA’s Wayne LaPierre Speaks Up for Gun Rights at CPAC

In his speech at CPAC Friday, National Rifle Association (NRA) CEO and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre called the NRA “freedom’s safest place” and gave a pointed defense of his organization, the right to keep and bear arms, and rights in general, saying, “They are all linked.”

His point that “to defend the Second Amendment, we need to preserve the First Amendment and the right to privacy” was well received and met with broad applause. There’s no question about it: CPAC is both a gun and NRA-friendly place.

“The 5 million members of the NRA talk hard truth and stand on principle,” he said. “We fight for the entire Bill of Rights because it’s all connected.”

LaPierre was also quick to call out “the liars” in media, who shy away from reporting the truth about guns in America. Where right-to-carry laws are employed, violent crime rates drop, but the media are loath to report it, according to LaPierre.

Pronouncing anti-gun laws “a waste of time” and “nanny state social schemes,” he asserted that existing gun laws that protect the citizenry from criminals are not enforced. “Face the truth: individuals are in charge of our own security,” he insisted. LaPierre’s point was that politicians can’t and won’t protect you; only “the ironclad safeguard of the Second Amendment to keep and bear arms can protect you.”

The line triggered a long, rousing applause.

“Guns empower women,” he went on, pointing to the NRA’s Refuse to Be a Victim program, which teaches women how to protect themselves, with and without a firearm.

“You don’t empower women leaving them defenseless, and you don’t strengthen a nation by taking its weapons,” he said.

Finally, he called for Congress to “pass right-to-carry reciprocity, and pass it today,” which received approval from the CPAC audience.

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