Inside Track
NRA Warns That Socialists Are Smearing Gun Rights Advocates
“Socialism is a movement that loves a smear,” Wayne LaPierre, the CEO of the National Rifle Association (NRA), told the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on February 22. “Racists, misogynists, sexists, xenophobe and more. These are the weapons and vitriol these character assassinations scream to permanently hang on their targets ... because socialism feeds off manipulated victims.”
In his fiery speech, LaPierre argued that “European-style socialists” are taking over the Democratic Party. He stated that many leftist groups — including Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, and Antifa — want to eliminate the requirement for due process enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. “The elimination of due process is the very gold standard of the socialist state,” he said. LaPierre told CPAC, “The whole idea from some of our opponents that armed security makes us less safe is completely ridiculous.”
However, one of the proposals of LaPierre’s own NRA bears careful scrutiny itself when it comes to the issue of due process. The NRA has argued that persons with severe mental illness should be precluded from purchasing or owning a firearm. While this seems, on the surface, to be a reasonable proposal, what are the criteria for determining who is too mentally ill to be allowed to possess a firearm? After all, Joy Behar of The View recently alleged Vice President Mike Pence was mentally ill due to his Christian views on prayer; some have even charged that President Donald Trump is suffering from mental problems. In the old Soviet Union, any person who opposed communism was considered to be suffering from mental illness.
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