On Friday, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post brutally mocked National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre in a column for demanding extra security for himself in a charged political atmosphere.
“After two horrific mass shootings, we come together as a nation to confront an urgent question: How are we going to keep Wayne LaPierre safe?” wrote Milbank. “The longtime head of the National Rifle Association, it turns out, is worried sick about his personal safety in this gun culture.”
Milbank noted the recent reports that the NRA considered buying a $6 million mansion in Dallas for LaPierre, who considered his Virginia home too easy for potential attackers to find.
“Some will see hypocrisy in LaPierre trying to get the NRA to buy him a mansion in a gated community when the NRA, at the time of the attempted acquisition, issued a statement decrying the anti-gun ‘elites’ who ‘live in gated communities,’” wrote Milbank. “Many will see it as ironic that LaPierre feels unsafe because of the very gun culture his policies have created. But it’s good to know he apparently feels some of what most Americans feel: that gun violence is out of control.”
“My 15-year-old daughter was caught up in one such panic in June. At the Capital Pride Parade in Dupont Circle, a man with a BB gun set off a stampede of hundreds of people, and falling metal barriers may have convinced others that shots had been fired. Several were injured. My daughter, separated from her group, sheltered in a hotel basement until police gave the all-clear,” noted Milbank. “She has been skittish about being in crowds since then, and understandably so. Since El Paso and Dayton, and Gilroy and Virginia Beach and Pittsburgh, millions don’t feel safe shopping, attending festivals, going to school or houses of worship, walking the streets or going out at night.”
“This is directly because of the madness LaPierre’s NRA has inflicted on America,” concluded Milbank. “Now he knows what it feels like.”