The National Rifle Association, Wayne LaPierre and America's Elite

On February 22, 2018 at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, Wayne LaPierre, current CEO and Executive Vice President of the National Rifle Association, made the following comment regarding the gun control debate that has once again flared up after the Florida school shooting that left 17 dead ( 1 minute 58 second mark):

"They hate the NRA.  They hate the Second Amendment.  They hate individual freedom.  In the rush of calls for more government, they've revealed their true selves.   The elites don't care not one wit about America's school system and school children.   If they truly cared, what they would do is they would protect them.  For them, it's not a safety issue, it's a political issue." (my bold)

Here is his speech in its entirety:

 

In this posting, I'd like to focus on the highlighted section of Mr. LaPierre's speech in the excerpt that I have provided in the second paragraph, where he refers to the elites, a clear tactic to divide the United States into two contrasting parts, the haves and have nots as you will.  

While Mr. LaPierre and his viewpoints do make the news cycle on a fairly regular basis, what is rarely discussed, is how much he is paid to proffer his opinions by the National Rifle Association.  Given that he refers to "the elites", let's just look at some interesting data that will help us put Mr. Lapierre and his disgust with "the elites" into perspective.  From the United States Census Bureau, we find the following information on the median household income in the U.S.:

In 2016, the median income for American households was $57,617 but, as you can see, the median ranges widely wider as shown on this table:

In fact, median household income in 2016 ranged from a low of $44,344 in Arkansas to a high of $78,945 in Maryland

Let's look at the average hourly earnings of all private sector employees in the United States and how they have grown over the past decade:

On average, at the end of 2015, the average private sector employee was earning $25.95 per hour.

Now, thanks to the laws that apply to organizations that are exempt from paying income tax, we can get some inside information on the finances of these non-profits from their annual Form 990 filings.  In the case of the National Rifle Association, the entire filing for the 2015 tax year can be found here. Let's look at the first page of the NRA's 990:

At the bottom of this page, you will note that, on average, Wayne Lapierre spends 60 hours per week on NRA business:

Now, let's look at Mr. Lapierre's compensation for 2015 along with the compensation for the rest of the NRA's executive team:

In 2015, as the NRA's Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice President, Mr. LaPierre's base compensation was $1,090,515.  In addition, he earned $15,000 in bonuses and incentive compensation, $3,810,734 in other reportable compensation, $19,605 in retirement and deferred compensation and $40,131 in nontaxable benefits for a grand total of $5,110,985.  This is up substantially from 2014 as shown here:

...and 2013 as shown here:

As I noted, according to the NRA's 990 filing, Mr. LaPierre worked an average of 60 hours per week on "company" business.  In 2015, his average hourly earnings worked out to $349.52 per hour if we use his base salary and $1638.14 per hour if we use his total compensation package.

Given that Mr. LaPierre's total compensation for 2015 was 89 times that of a median American family and that his hourly earnings were 63 times that of an average private sector worker, it begs the question, who are really the "elite" in Wayne LaPierre's world?  If it's not someone who is making seven figures in a year, then I don't know who it could possibly be. 

Fairy Tales and Guns in America

While just about every American is familiar with the pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment National Rifle Association, far fewer people are aware of NRA Family, the family friendly side of America's largest firearms-based non-profit.

In an attempt to appeal to the children of America, NRA Family has published alternative takes on the fairy tales that we all grew up with, however, there is one key change to the story; at least some of the characters are carrying firearms of one sort or another.  Here's how the stories are introduced to young readers and their parents:

"Most of us probably grew up having fairy tales read to us as we drifted off to sleep. But how many times have you thought back and realized just how, well, grim some of them are? Did any of them ever make your rest a little bit uneasy? Have you ever wondered what those same fairy tales might sound like if the hapless Red Riding Hoods, Hansels and Gretels had been taught about gun safety and how to use firearms? The author of this piece, Amelia Hamilton has—and NRA Family is proud to announce that we’ve partnered with the author to present her twist on those classic tales. We hope you and your children enjoy this first instalment!"

In the first story about Little Red Riding Hood, Little Red learned that her grandmother was not feeling well so she loaded up a picnic basket, slung her rifle over her shoulder and headed for Grandma's place in the woods.  Along the path through the woods, she noticed some wolf tracks in the snow; fortunately, Little Red "felt the reassuring weight of the rifle on her shoulder" and, after a brief conversation with the big, bad wolf, she shifted her rifle so that it was in her hands and scared off the wolf.  Unfortunately for the hapless wolf, he foolishly showed up at Grandma's cottage and this is what happened:

"The wolf leaned in, jaws open wide, then stopped suddenly. Those big ears heard the unmistakable sound of a shotgun’s safety being clicked off. Those big eyes looked down and saw that grandma had a scattergun aimed right at him. He realized that Grandmother hadn’t been backing away from him; she had been moving towards her shotgun to protect herself and her home. 

“I don't think I’ll be eaten today,” said Grandma, “and you won't be eating anyone again.” Grandma kept her gun trained on the wolf, who was too scared to move. Before long, he heard a familiar voice call “Grandmother, I’m here!” Red peeked her head in the door. The wolf couldn’t believe his luck—he had come across two capable ladies in the same day, and they were related! Oh, how he hated when families learned how to protect themselves." 

The two ladies tied up the wolf, rescuing themselves thanks to their trusty firearms.

Here's the new story of Hansel and Gretel who, in this version, had to help their families hunt for food because times were tough.

The brother and sister had been trained in the safe use of firearms and had been hunting with their parents for most of their lives.  As they headed into the woods with their hunting gear, they were able to bag a few squirrels and rabbits and bigger game as you can see in this quote from the story:

"Before long, they heard a rustling in the leaves, and slowly turned to see a magnificent 10-point buck drinking from a stream. Gretel readied her rifle and fired.

Her training had paid off, for she was able to bring the buck down instantly with a single shot. She and Hansel quickly field-dressed the deer and packed up to head back home, hardly believing their luck. They were excited to show their parents what they’d gotten."

Unfortunately for the duo, the lost the light of day and got lost in the woods, only to stumble across a candy-based cottage.  This is what happened next:

"Tired and hungry, Hansel and Gretel were tempted to stop for food and a rest, but knew that it wasn’t safe to talk to strangers. So, with a sigh, they kept walking. And heard an urgent whisper.

Hansel heard it first and stopped his sister, and they both heard it again. ”Help us!” the whisper said, as Hansel and Gretel looked to see who it was. “We’re in the gingerbread cottage,” the whisper continued. “The witch has us!” They went to the window, where they saw two young boys, clearly brothers, locked in a cage before a simmering pot.

“We thought nobody would ever come!” the boy whispered excitedly, seeing Hansel and Gretel. “We have been here a week. The witch is fattening us up to make us into a stew! I don't know how much time we have left” Hansel and Gretel exchanged horrified glances.

“Where is the witch now?” Gretel asked.

“Asleep,” the boy replied, looking over his shoulder, towards the bedroom from which they could hear the soft sounds of snoring.

“We’re going to get you out of here,” Hansel told the boy, hoisting himself up and climbing into the window, helping Gretel in after him, for he was stronger than his sister.

The boys directed Hansel to the key that would unlock their cage while Gretel stood at the ready with her firearm just in case, for she was a better shot than her brother. Hansel unlocked the cage and opened the door. The hinges gave a groan and the sound of the witch's snoring stopped, the silence filling the room as they looked at each other in panic. Gretel got her rifle ready, but lowered it again when the snoring resumed. They helped the boys back out the window and hurried into the forest, breathing a sigh of relief when the cottage was out of sight. They knew they had to get home to their parents to get help with the witch."

The author of these two stories is Amelia Hamilton, a conservative blogger with a Master's degree in English and 18th century history and a post-graduate diploma in fine and decorative arts.  She has written a series of books for children called the "Growing Patriots".

Let's close this posting with some data from the Centers for Disease Control.  In 2013, this is how many children between the ages of 0 and 19 years were unintentionally injured by a firearm discharge:

Here's how many children of the same age group were unintentionally injured by a firearm discharge between 2001 and 2013:

Here's a map from Everytown Research showing the location of child shootings (aged 17 and under) in 2015 with red dots showing a child death and pink dots showing a child shooting:

That's a total of 278 child shootings in 2015 alone.  And that's most definitely not a fairy tale outcome.

Mass Shootings in America

Updated February 2016

A website, Shooting Tracker, examines the number of mass shootings in the United States.  Shooting Tracker tracks the number of mass shootings which are defined as shootings where four or more people are shot but not necessarily die as a result of their injuries.  All of the data is sourced from reliable media coverage of the events.

Let's start with a list of the mass shootings thus far in 2016:

So far in 2016, there have been 33 mass shootings in the United States with a total of 51 people killed and 131 people injured.

Rather than looking at the details for 2013, 2014 and 2015, I will just provide you with a summary for each year:

2015

Number of mass shootings: 330

Average number of mass shootings per day: 0.90

Number of people killed: 367

Number of people injured: 1317

Average number of casualties per mass shooting: 5.1

2014

Number of mass shootings: 336

Average number of mass shootings per day: 0.92

Number of people killed: 383

Number of people injured: 1239

Average number of casualties per mass shooting: 4.83

2013

Number of mass shootings: 363

Average number of mass shootings per day: 1.0

Number of people killed: 502 

Number of people injured: 1266

Average number of casualties per mass shooting: 4.87 

In the past three years alone, mass shootings in the United States have taken the lives of 1332 people.

Let's close this rather sobering posting with a bit of data.  Here is a bar graph from Open Secrets showing how much the gun rights lobby has spent on lobbying in Washington each year going back to 1998:

So far in 2015, the gun rights lobby has spent $8.402 million.  At its peak, the gun rights lobby spent $15.292 million on lobbying in 2013.  Here are the top 8 gun rights lobbying clients and how much each has spent:

In sharp contrast, here is a bar graph showing how much the gun control lobby has spent on lobbying in Washington each year going back to 1998:

So far in 2015, the gun control lobby has spent $1.258 million.   At its peak, the pro-gun control lobby spent $2.218 million on lobbying in 2013.  Here are the top 6 pro-gun control lobbying clients and how much each has spent:

Now we have some idea why it is highly unlikely that anything will change.

The Anti- Anti-Gun List

In surfing around on the internet, I stumbled on this link which provides a listing of organizations, individuals and celebrities that have officially endorsed an anti-gun stance according to the National Rifle Association - Institute for Legislative Action or NRA-ILA.  In some cases, these organizations have allowed their name to be used in support of specific campaigns that have the purpose of passing anti-gun legislation and, in addition, some have provided financial support.

First, let's pick out a few anti-gun organizations:

American Federation of Teachers

American Association of School Administrators

American Bar Association

American Medical Association

American Nurses Association

B'nai B'rith

International Association of Educators for World Peace

International Ladies' Garment Workers Union

Manhattan Project 2

Mennonite Central Committee

National Association of Chain Drug Stores

NAACP

National Association of School Safety and Law Enforcement Officers

National Association of Elementary School Principals

National Association of Secondary School Principals

United States Catholic Conference

People for the American Way

Unitarian Universalist Association

United Methodist Church

United Church of Christ

YWCA of the U.S.A.

Most of these organizations are familiar to us, however, one that caught my eye was People for the American Way.  While the name rings of right wing politics, PFAW is actually a liberal-leaning organization founded in 1981 by Norman Lear, the creative mind behind “All in the Family”, among others who were disturbed by the "divisive rhetoric of newly politicized televangelists".  They hadn't seen anything yet.  Just wait three decades!

Now, let's look at a sampling of the NRA-ILA's list of anti-gun individuals and celebrities:

Alec Baldwin

Bob Barker

Drew Barrymore

Kevin Bacon

William Baldwin

Benjamin Bratt

Dr. Joyce Brothers

Mel Brooks

James Brooks

Steve Buscemi

Sean Connery

Matt Damon

Ellen Degeneres

Art Garfunkel

Mark Harmon

David E. Kelley

Denis Leary

Madonna

Jack Nicholson

Dennis Quaid

Tim Robbins

Jerry Seinfeld

Bruce Springsteen

Sylvester Stallone

Harvey Weinstein

Sigourney Weaver

It is interesting to look through the entire list; it's pretty much a who's who in Hollywood.  What I find rather surprising is that some of these celebrities have starred in/directed/produced very violent movies including Sylvester Stallone in the very recent "Bullet to the Head" as shown in this trailer:

Count the number of shots showing Stallone holding a firearm.  On top of that, here is a link that will provide you with information regarding his request for a concealed carry weapons permit in 2004.  I guess you don't have to practice what you preach when you are employed in Hollywood!

Lastly, here is a partial list of anti-gun corporations:

A&M Records

American Multi Cinemas Entertainment, Inc.

Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc.

General American - St. Louis

Kansas City Chiefs

Kansas City Royals

Levi Strauss

Sara Lee Corporation

Southland Corporation (i.e. 7-eleven)

Southwestern Bell Telephone

St. Louis Rams

Time Warner Inc.

Just in case you wondered, American Multi Cinemas is currently showing the previously mentioned "Bullet to the Head".  One has to wonder if General American has its own interests at heart with their anti-gun stance; they are a life insurance company.

While it is intriguing to see which organizations and individuals in America are taking an anti-gun stance, it is even more interesting to see that the NRA keeps track of those who they deem “anti-Second Amendment”.  You are being watched!