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Remarks by Wayne LaPierre at NRA's 2009 Annual Meeting of Members, Phoenix, Arizona, May 16, 2009

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Good morning ladies and gentlemen, are you ready for a great meeting?  

That's great!  

But tell me this: Are you ready for a tough fight ahead for your freedom?  

Well, that's a good thing.  

Because considering what your freedoms are up against, you need to be ready!  

A long time ago, the American humorist and political observer Mark Twain said something we should all pay close attention to today.  

Twain said there are three kinds of lies: 

 

Plain old lies...

damned lies...

and statistics.

 

Now, a plain old lie is the kind a kid tells when he comes home after curfew... or when we tell someone how much we weigh.  

But a damned lie is something totally different.   

A damned lie is sinister.
A damned lie is dangerous.   

A damned lie attacks credibility. 

 

Erodes confidence...  

Exposes vulnerability... and exploits weakness.    

But don't listen to me.  

Listen to Attorney General Eric Holder.  

Here he is, barely three weeks after he took office:  

»ROLL VIDEO -

Lou Dobbs

 

You know, that gun ban is a damned lie! 

You know, Holder backed away from that bombshell fast. 

But that doesn't mean the bomb isn't armed and the fuse isn't burning.  

But the lies keep coming... lies like this one from Senator Dianne Feinstein, just a few weeks ago on "60 Minutes":

 

»ROLL VIDEO-

DIANNE FEINSTEIN

 

Or lies like this one from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton back in March: 

 

»ROLL VIDEO - HILLARY CLINTON

 

Secretary Clinton, that semi-auto ban your husband passed was a damned lie!  

He won it into law as a lie.  

And after 10 years, that law flopped on its face!  

His own Justice Department said so!  

The gun ban didn't affect gun crime because the guns they banned weren't used in many crimes in the first place!  

And they were no different than the guns that weren't banned.  

They weren't machine guns... they didn't spray bullets... they weren't more powerful...

they didn't make bigger holes... they weren't more deadly... they didn't shoot faster... and they weren't used in crimes more than any other guns!

 

Every one of those claims was a proven... damned lie!  

You know, Vladimir Lenin once said that: "A lie told often enough becomes the truth."  

But Franklin Delano Roosevelt said: "Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth."   

So: Who would our opponents side with? Lenin? Or FDR?  

It's a fair question.  

Because now we're hearing a whole new form of lying... 

Mark Twain's statistics cobbled together to prop up proposed new gun bans.  

You know, every time I hear a number pop up out of nowhere on the news... then get picked up and repeated on every airwave out there... my B.S. detector hits the wall.   

That's what happened when I heard this soundbite on the news a month ago. Take a look:

 

»ROLL VIDEO-

OBAMA  Fox Business

(4-16-09)

 

That 90% figure is a perfect example of Mark Twain's "damned lie" and "statistics"

working together!   

Here's the truth: The Mexican government has recovered hundreds of thousands of guns.  

But the Mexican government has turned over just a small fraction of those guns to the

ATF for tracing. And "magically," 90% of those guns are claimed to originate in the United States.

 

BUT, when we probe further, we learn that... quote: "originates within the United States..." actually means any gun with U.S. markings.   

Even guns legally sold to foreign governments … including - the Mexican army!  

But when we ask more questions about that, the only answer we get is, "Well, that's classified."  

Now... when does "classified" mean "cover-up" ? 

Something stunk about the whole story.  

So I started asking questions… 

I even sent an NRA news crew to the border to separate the bull from the B.S. Please watch:

 

»ROLL VIDEO

 

Ladies and gentlemen, you and I know those drug cartels in Mexico make billions of dollars every week.  

They control their own banks, airlines, shipping lanes, and multi-national criminal networks... and a standing army that may outnumber the Mexican army’s men in uniform.  

Payoffs, assassinations, extortion, and corruption reach from the local protection-racket cop... right up to the highest levels of Mexico's government.   

It’s so bad, our own Federal law enforcement has to carefully vet their Mexican counterparts before dealing with them. 

And yet, the media and anti-gun politicians wants you to swallow the idea that this international criminal Medusa... with tentacles on every continent...  is being armed by

guns smuggled in pickup trucks, purchased from mom and pop sellers at gun shops,

gun shows, or from pawn shops along the border.  

 

You know, black-market arms dealers from Venezuela to Russia, China, and the Middle East must be laughing over their Swiss bank accounts right now.  

Because that’s a... damned.... lie!  

You and I know that everything those drug cartels do - from drug smuggling to gun running, kidnapping, and cop-killing - is already illegal in both countries!

 

So how can passing more laws here... possibly control the lawless and ruthless there?  

Mexico's ambassador to the United States has been writing to me since last year,

trying to blame your freedoms for his country's failures. 

 

Here he is on "Face the Nation":

 

»ROLL VIDEO - SARUKHAN

 

If Mexico's government really wants to fight crime... they ought to give their own people

a Second Amendment right to defend themselves.... instead of coming here and trying to

take away yours!

 

So here's my advice for the Mexican government:  

You keep your drugs, we'll keep our guns, and you keep your hands off of our freedoms!  

Right now, from the Attorney General’s office to the Speaker’s office... gun grabbers are maneuvering to hitch every gun ban they can think of to Mexico's drug war funeral parade.

 

It's all on the table. Ask House Speaker Nancy Pelosi:

 

»ROLL VIDEO - PELOSI

 

In New York, Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy and others... are racing to see who can introduce more anti-gun bills in Congress.

 

»ROLL VIDEO - McCARTHY

 

Worse yet, many of these schemes are slithering their way into international agreements.

 

But don't take it from me.

 

Take it from John Bolton, the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Here he is on CNN three weeks ago:

 

»ROLL VIDEO - BOLTON (4-20-09)

 

You know, international gun-ban groups are working at the United Nations to impose global gun-control treaties on you.  

When John Bolton was ambassador, he told them that any restrictions on your Second Amendment rights... were off the table and out of the question.  

But now... under THE Clinton State Department.... the UN gun-ban crowd thinks everything is on the table.  

Right now, global gun initiatives are moving through the United Nations.  

If you don't think these initiatives endanger your rights... think again.  

Here's John Bolton:

 

» ROLL VIDEO - BOLTON  (4-20-09)

 

You know, it's funny to hear the United Nations talk about "civilized consensus" ...

when its members include some of the most dictatorial, despotic, despicable, national governments on earth!  

It's no surprise that freedom-loving countries - like Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Zimbabwe, or Cuba... don't want their subjects to have guns.  

That would be like the foxes in the henhouse arming the chickens!  

What's no joke is that the gun haters in Washington just might use "global cooperation" and "reconciliation" ... as excuses to give UN gun grabbers everything they want … 

and everything you have.  

Here's John Bolton again:

 

»ROLL VIDEO-

BOLTON

 

Ladies and gentlemen, when that day comes... your Second Amendment rights will be wiped away by an international tribunal that may not speak your language... will not understand your culture... and could... not... give... a... damn... about the legacy of Washington, Jefferson, and Adams.

 

So there you have it: All the ingredients for a global, gargantuan perfect storm against your right to keep and bear arms.  

All the pieces are in place.  

The blizzard of "damned lies" and "statistics" is beginning to rage.  

And you can bet that when the conditions are right....  

....after a terrorist attack, or a school or workplace shooting....  

the enemies of freedom will once again exploit that tragedy to unleash a barrage of Second Amendment killing legislation that will stop freedom cold.

 

Registration.  

Licensing.  

Gun bans ... with thousands of our guns on their lists.  

One-gun-a-month. Ballistic fingerprinting. And the gutting of Right to Carry.

 

They'll come at us with everything!!

But you know what? We're gonna be ready for them!  

So let's draw a line in the sand right here and now.  

American gun owners are not the cause, nor will we accept the blame, for the institutionalized crime and corruption that permeates Mexico's government.  

Diminishing America’s right to keep and bear arms, or our right to buy and sell at gun shows, can never make Mexico a safer country.  

If foreign governments and freedom-hating gun-ban groups want us to bend our knees,

bow our heads, and accept their bogus so-called freedom... well they can kiss my Constitution!  

They may not want to hear it, but here's the truth:

 

The people who have the guns make the rules.

 

That's why the Second Amendment was put into our Constitution …  

...to guarantee the good guys would always be armed.

 

So when ANY government tries to take our firearms, our freedom, or our sovereignty as a people... all I have to say is....  they had better pack a lunch!  

"We the people" addressed that issue in our Constitution back in 1789.   

For those who don't think that document stops them from stealing our freedoms... 

I can summarize its central message to them in two simple words from history:  

BACK OFF!

 

The American people will never surrender their right to defend themselves, their families,

and their freedom from harm.  

And the NRA will always defend that God-given birthright from every enemy – foreign or domestic.  

If they're politicians, we'll unseat them.  

If they're gun-ban groups..... we'll defeat them.  

If they're foreign governments.... we'll make them retreat.  

But we will never, ever surrender!  

We will not be silenced.  

We will not be shamed.  

We will defend this freedom always for the American people and for the good of all mankind!  

And so for everyone within the sound of my voice who even thinks about encroaching upon our precious right to keep and bear arms... let them hear our voices now, and know that we… are... here... 

And when it comes to defending freedom - we... are... ready!

 

Thank you very much

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Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.