I realize that this will come as a surprise to no one, but still, it's interesting to watch them go ahead and make the case for continued profitability for gun manufacturers. I read on ThinkProgress this morning that NRA's CEO Wayne LaPierre made a fool of himself again by opening his mouth.
Typically when the latest instance of gun violence makes national headlines, the NRA doesn't make waves, trusting in the American people to forget about it in fairly short order. Perhaps we can thank Bob Costas for keeping the story alive, so to speak...long enough for the gun enthusiast LaPierre to yield to his urges.
So, this is the latest from Wayne LaPierre courtesy of
USA Today.
"The one thing missing in that equation is that woman owning a gun so she could have saved her life from that murderer," LaPierre told USA TODAY Sports on Thursday.
LaPierre went on to blather about guns in the home being such a "mainstream part of American culture". What's next? Traditional family values? Apple pie, football, and Smith & Wesson? This typical whinge about
if only the victim had a gun, however, contains one potential flaw. According to
Sports Illustrated, not only were guns plentiful in the household, but Perkins apparently enjoyed visiting the gun range with Jovan Belcher. The
SI article cites Brianne York and Devene Dunson-Rusher, friends of Kasandra Perkins.
Belcher and Perkins, York says, enjoyed going to gun ranges together. Once, when York was at the couple's house, she noticed a handgun on the kitchen table. "I guess they forgot it was out," she says. Dunson-Rusher recalls once seeing a rifle leaning against a chair in the room she called Belcher's man cave. Again, underscoring how wide the gulf can be between one perception of a man and another, every one of the West Babylon friends of Belcher's who spoke with SI had no idea he was interested in guns.
Nice to see that the NRA is so successful at promoting safe and responsible gun ownership in (allegedly) mainstream American culture. Now, I can't tell from the Sports Illustrated article if Kasandra Perkins just went to the range, or if she also enjoyed a little target practice, or if she always carried a weapon on her at all times, etc. So there is perhaps some room for Wayne LaPierre to squirm, and squirm he must.
But while LaPierre speculates about whether or not more guns would have solved this problem, he doesn't seem to realize that his theory is looking somewhat less plausible. Unfortunately for the victim, she becomes part of the statistics on gun violence in the home cited in the ThinkProgress article.
Having a gun in the home increases the likelihood of both murders and suicides. According to the Brady Campaign, “A gun in the home is more likely to be used in a homicide, suicide, or unintentional shooting than to be used in self-defense.”
Put simply, Perkins was a victim of domestic violence by a man who was able to purchase guns that, until the incident occurred, LaPierre would have said were for self-protection. The two guns Belcher used (on himself and Perkins) were both obtained legally.