Too Little, Too Late

From a NRA-ILA press release dated 9/12/2005:

Disaster Can't Destroy Gun Rights

(Fairfax, VA) -- National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre slammed New Orleans authorities Monday for seizing legal firearms from lawful residents.

"What we've seen in Louisiana - the breakdown of law and order in the aftermath of disaster - is exactly the kind of situation where the Second Amendment was intended to allow citizens to protect themselves, " LaPierre said."When law enforcement isn't available, Americans turn to the one right that protects all the others - the right to keep and bear arms, This attempt to repeal the Second Amendment should be condemned."

The New York Times reported last Thursday that no civilians in New Orleans will be allowed to have guns, quoting the superintendent of police that "only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons."

A Louisiana state statute allows the chief law enforcement officer to "regulate possession" of firearms during declared emergencies.

"But regulate doesn't mean confiscate," said Chris W. Cox, the NRA's chief lobbyist."Authorities are using that statute to do what the looters and criminals could not: disarm the law-abiding citizens of New Orleans trying to protect their homes and families. The NRA will not stand idly by while guns are confiscated from law-abiding people who're trying to defend themselves," he said. "We're exploring every legal option available to protect the rights of lawful people in New Orleans, and we're taking steps to overturn such laws in every state where they exist."

"Local authorities in New Orleans are turning nature's assault on human life into man's assault on human rights," LaPierre said. "Four million NRA members intend to stop this unconstitutional power grab."

End of NRA press release.

My thoughts: Where was the NRA when this was going on? I know they can't be everywhere in a physical sense, but why wasn't Wayne LaPierre on the news last Friday, September 9, 2005 decrying these actions? Did he have to spend the whole weekend watching CNN and consulting with his advisors to write a small press release?

This is just another example of why the NRA no longer gets any of my money. When I donate it goes to groups that are actually trying to do something, not a group that is more concerned with maintaining it's presence.

Maybe, just maybe, if I see the NRA dragging a few of those people who wrongly denied others of their rights guaranteed under the 2nd, 4th, 5th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution into court to pay for their actions, then MAYBE I will once again begin supporting the NRA.