NRA Chief LaPierre Slams 'Shameful Politicization' of Florida Tragedy

The National Rifle Association, like most of the nation was "horrified" by the shootings in Parkland, Florida, last week, NRA chief Wayne LaPierre said Thursday, while slamming politicians and members of the media who are "shameful" in their efforts to "exploit tragedy for political gain."

He also insisted, while speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), America's schools are soft targets that need to be "hardened" in to protect the nation's children.

"We share a goal of safe schools, safe neighborhoods, and a safe country," LaPierre said. "As usual, the opportunists wasted not one second to exploit tragedy for political gain."

Such people "hate the NRA" and the Second Amendment, as well as individual freedoms, LaPierre said.

"In the rush of calls for more government, they've also revealed their true selves," LaPierre said.

"The elites don't care one whit about school children. If they truly cared what they would do is protect them. For them, it's not a safety issue. It is a political issue. They care more about control and more of it. Their goal is to eliminate the Second Amendment and our firearms freedoms so they can eradicate all individual freedoms."

But more laws do not stop crime, he insisted, and the NRA is working on contributing "real solutions" to the "very real problem" of school violence, LaPierre said.

"It's a bizarre fact that in this country our jewelry stores all over this country are more important than our children, our banks, our airports, our NBA games, our NFL games, our office buildings, our movie stars, our politicians, they are all more protected than our children at school," he said.

"Does that make any sense to anybody? Do we really love our money and our celebrities more than we love our children?"

Schools are designated as "gun-free zones," he continued, leaving them as "wide open targets for any crazy madman bent on evil to come there first."

LaPierre called on all communities, school districts, parents and teacher unions to "harden their schools," including placing effective, trained armed security officers that will "absolutely protect every innocent child in this country."

Making schools safer is vital, LaPierre said, as "evil walks among us and God help us if we don't harden our schools and protect our kids."

The idea that arming guards at schools makes them less safe is "completely ridiculous," he added.

"If that's true, let's just go ahead and remove it from everywhere," said LaPierre. "Let's remove it from the White House, from Capitol Hill, and remove it from all of Hollywood."

Schools that need help in defining solutions should call the NRA's school shield program, LaPierre said, and it will provide immediate assistance for absolutely free, and "that's more than anybody at the Democratic National Committee or NBC News or The Washington Post is offering."

However, he added, the tragedy in Parkland is being used to push a political agenda, and that is "shameful."

"I've had the pleasure of working with a number of Democrats who believe America to be the greatest country in the world because of our free market capitalism and because of our individual liberties, but during the last decade, the Obama decade, many of those leaders have been forced out as a tidal wave of new European-style socialists seize control of the Democratic Party," he said.

"I'm not just talking about Bernie Sanders," LaPierre said. "But how about Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren. Christopher Murphy, Cory Booker, and Keith Ellison? They're not Democrats in the mold of John F. Kennedy or Tip O'Neill. They hide behind labels like Democrat, left wing, and Progressive to make their socialist agenda more palatable and that is terrifying."

Such Democrats, he continued, believe "absolute control of our government is their ultimate dream," he said.

"That should terrify every citizen who values the American ideal in this country of individual liberty. They politicize the Department of Justice, they weaponize the Internal Revenue Service, the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency]. Perhaps cripple the FBI and intelligence community and seize an embedded leadership in all of them to advance their agenda."

He also railed against the nation's intelligence community, saying it "shrouds everything in secrecy" in the name of national security.

But there is no stronger supporter of law enforcement than the NRA, LaPierre insisted, and there are many in the national, federal, state, and local law enforcement who are members.

However, with the FBI and its connection to the Russia investigation, "no one challenges authority. Everyone keeps their mouth closed and their heads down, and that's exactly how socialistic societies function."

President Donald Trump praised LaPierre as he spoke:

• Florida Legislators Vote Down Gun Ban as Parkland Students Watch
• Trump Touts Concealed Carry for Schools, Urges End to 'Gun-Free' Zones