NRA, Interrupted by Protester, Blames Films, Media, Video, Unarmed Schools for Massacres
The NRA broke its silence on the Newtown shootings by blaming unarmed schools, the media, music videos, video games, and films like "American Psycho" and "Natural Born Killers" for mass killings.
Saying the killings were carried out by "genuine monsters," NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre also called for a national database of the mentally ill. The group, which pledged earlier this week to work to prevent future shootings, suggested that it was other groups -- and not his -- that had to change.
If any antigun groups had hoped the NRA would back away from its longstanding positions Friday, they were surely disappointed Friday. The disdain many hold for the group was apparent just moments into LaPierre's speech, when it was interrupted by a protester holding up a banner that blocked him from view and declared, "NRA Killing Our Kids."
As the protester was led from the room, he shouted, "NRA stop killing our children! It's the NRA and assault weapons that are killing our children. ... We've got to stop the violence and violence begins with the NRA!"
LaPierre shook his head slightly and went on with his remarks.
"The truth is," he said, "that our society is populated by an unknown number of genuine monsters."
He said the only solution was to provide more armed protection for schoolchildren, just as the armed protection for stadiums, airports, banks and politicians.
He also said a "national media machine rewards killers with wall-to-wall attention and a sense of identity that they crave."
He also blamed violent video games, including a shooting game he said his staff found online called "Kindergarten Killers."
"How come my research staff can find it, and all of yours couldn't -- or didn't want anyone to know you had found it?" he asked the assembled reporters.
He also pointed to the decade-old film "American Psycho" -- which features no gun violence -- and the nearly two-decade old "Natural Born Killers" -- which has plenty of it -- as the type of films that sicken society. He said the "blood-soaked" films are "aired like propaganda loops on splatterdays."
He also pointed to music videos that "portray life as a joke... and portray murder as a way of life"
"And then they all have the nerve to call it entertainment," he said. "Isn't fantasizing about killing people as a way to get your kicks really the filtiest form of pornography?"
More to come...
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