Debbie Wasserman Schultz: NRA ‘Just Shy of a Terrorist Organization’

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) told the Huffington Post Tuesday that the NRA is “just shy of a terrorist organization.”

Her statement came in response to newly-chosen NRA president Oliver North’s comments about gun control proponents who emerged following the February 14 Parkland attack.

The Washington Times quoted North talking about threats which some have directed toward the NRA, including splashing blood “on the Virginia home of a top NRA official.” He said, “They call them activists. That’s what they’re calling themselves. They’re not activists — this is civil terrorism. This is the kind of thing that’s never been seen against a civil rights organization in America.”

Schultz responded, telling the HuffPo, “The NRA is kind of just shy of a terrorist organization. They have done everything they can to perpetuate the culture of violence that we have in our country with the spread of assault weapons across the nation.”

She added, “People that are dying as a result of the infection that is the spread of assault weapons thanks to the NRA are being murdered in cold blood without any cessation or interest on the part of the NRA to do anything about it.”

Breitbart News reported FBI crime stats for 2016 showing over four times as many people were stabbed to death than were killed with rifles of any kind. According to  FBI Uniform Crime Report Table 12, there were approximately 374 people shot and killed with rifles of any kind in 2016. A fraction of these 374 fatalities would have been due to “assault weapons.” At the same time, 1,604 people killed with “knives or cutting instruments.”