We're all awfully busy these days. But we're all also of course deeply interested in what's happening around our current national conversation about guns.
If you missed the NRA's response to the Sandy Hook tragedy -- being the speech read last Friday by the NRA's Wayne LaPierre (which I considered in my post Bring Lawyers, Guns and Money) -- below is that speech in a nutshell; it's the Cliff Notes version of it, if you will. The words are presented in the order in which they appear in the speech.
I've heard a lot of people express outrage at the NRA for using the Sandy Hook tragedy as a way of unconscionably promoting the material interests of the gun manufacturers they represent. They say the speech is purposefully inflammatory, shamelessly opportunistic, a grossly irresponsible exercise in fear-mongering. But I dunno. See what you think.
horror
the safety of our nation's children
every insane killer in America
schools are the safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk
we leave our children utterly defenseless, and the monsters and the predators of the world know it
an unknown number of genuine monsters
People deranged, evil, possessed by voices and driven by demons walk among
the next Adam Lanza is planning his attack on a school
a dozen more killers, a hundred more
killers, robbers, rapists, gang members in every community across our nation
violent crime is increasing
Another hurricane, terrorist attack, man-made disaster
a national nightmare of violence
a callous and corrupt shadow industry selling and stowing violence against its own people
Vicious, violent
Bullet Storm
Splatter House
Kindergarten Killers
Another hurricane, another natural disaster
Blood-soaked films out there
murder as a way of life
fantasizing about killing people
the filthiest form of pornography
shock, violate, and offend every standard of civilized society
toxic mix of reckless behavior and criminal cruelty right into our homes. Every minute, every day, every hour of every single year
the only way to stop a monster from killing our kids
your glass breaking at three a.m
Adam Lanza started shooting his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School
evil monsters
a police officer in every single school
protect ourselves and our loved ones
a protection plan for every single school
protect our kids now
put armed police officers in every single school in this nation.
erect a cordon of protection around our kids right now.
put security forces in place right now
protect our schools and our children now
the greatest level of protection possible
decisive action
the next unspeakable crime
for the sake of every child in America
protect our children
In the days following his speech, Mr. LaPierre invited everyone to call him crazy. But given that he also made explicitly clear his opposition to "the mentally ill" being allowed to posses firearms, we assume that he doesn't really want to be considered crazy.
Besides, do the words above sound to you like those of an insane person?