IMHO, there's not much to like about Wayne LaPierre. On the contrary, there's plenty to despise about the fellow who heads the odious and malign National Rifle Association. This is, after all, the man who, in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre of so many sweet little ones, told those of us clamoring for some gun regulations (we were all thinking if not now, when?) that "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." Even, I guess, if that good guy with a gun would need to have been a first grader.
Wayne LaPierre. What's not to despise?
As I've said many times - in fact, just a week or so ago - I am not anti-gun. If people want to go deer hunting, fine. I eat meat, too. If people want a handgun for "protection", have at it: just make sure your kids can't get at it. But our rabid gun culture is beyond belief. And I really hate those hunts where "hunters" kill nearly-penned in animals. Where they use assault rifles to do their dirty deed. And when they murder non-game animals - like elephants - for the hell of it.
In any case, I wasn't surprised to learn that it's just come out that, a year after Sandy Hook, LaPierre went to Botswana to bag an African bush elephant, "the largest land mammal on Earth."
The trip was filmed by a crew from “Under Wild Skies,” an N.R.A.-sponsored television series that was meant to boost the organization’s profile among hunters—a key element of its donor base. But the program never aired, according to sources and records, because of concerns that it could turn into a public-relations fiasco. (Source: The New Yorker)
That fiasco would have come about because it turns out that Bwana Wayne is not much of a shot:
After LaPierre’s first shot wounded the elephant, guides brought him a short distance from the animal, which was lying on its side, immobilized. Firing from point-blank range, LaPierre shot the animal three times in the wrong place. Finally, a guide had the host of “Under Wild Skies” fire the shot that killed the elephant. Later that day, Susan LaPierre showed herself to be a better shot than her husband. After guides tracked down an elephant for her, Susan killed it, cut off its tail, and held it in the air. “Victory!” she shouted, laughing. “That’s my elephant tail. Way cool.”
"Way cool," huh? Have I already used the words odious and malign?
I have long suspected that Wayne LaPierre isn't exactly a gun nut. He was born in Schenectady. His father worked for GE as an accountant. He went to Siena College, then Boston College. Not that you can't have a conversion experience, but none of this suggests someone primed and ready to become a big time gun aficionado. More the cynical executive type, who knows a good thing when he sees it. And he saw a good (ka-ching) thing in the NRA.
As we learned during the NRA bankruptcy trial (oh, boo-hoo), and from other legal findings, Wayne likes living in the lap of luxury. It has been revealed, among other things, that the NRA dressed Wayne in $300K worth of Ermenegildo Zegna over the course of 14 years.
All the while, the NRA was running ads saying that:...the group’s coalition includes “steelworkers,” “cowboys,” “hard-rock miners,” “swamp folks in Cajun country who can wrestle a full-grown gator out of the water,” “the mountain men who live off the land,” and “the brave cops who fight the good fight in the urban war zones.”
Do hard-rock miners and swamp folks wear $4,000 suits? Asking for a friend.
Wayne didn't wear Zegna on his safari:
The footage of LaPierre in Botswana first shows him walking through the bush dressed in loose-fitting safari attire and an NRA Sports baseball cap.
The everyman's gear didn't improve his hunting skills much.
He got off a shot, but it was ill timed and wasn't a shoot to kill. The animal was still alive. The guide brings him over to finish things off, but Wayne shoots the poor creature in the wrong place. He shoots again and misses. Despite the fact that the guides are guiding him every step of the way. Then there's another misguided miss. A friend accompanying the expedition finishes the elephant off.
“That’s it,” the guide declares, before turning to the N.R.A. chief to congratulate him.
Congratulate him for what, exactly? Maybe you had to be there.
The friend who actually killed the elephant has nothing but praise for his buddy:
“You dropped him like no tomorrow.”
Well, no tomorrow for the elephant, anyway.
As noted, his wife Susan was a better shot:
“That was amazing,” Susan says, patting her chest. “Wow. My heart is racing. I feel great.” She walks over to the elephant. “That was awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.” She inspects the elephant, bends at the waist, and seems to think the elephant is still alive. “Aww, he’s still there. Look at his eyes.” She places her hand on her chest, laughs, walks around the elephant, and pats one of its tusks. “Beautiful animal,” she says, and then, speaking to the elephant, “You’re a good old guy. A real good old guy.”
She grows emotional and appears to choke up, then asks a guide about the elephant’s age.“Must be close to fifty years old, I would say,” the guide says. “You think so?” she asks. “That’s exactly what I wanted. An old bull. Near the end of his age.”
Wayne LaPierre is 71, so Susan has another old bull on her hands. Or maybe he's just an old bullshitter.
I hope he's good and embarrassed that this video has finally come out. It would be too much to hope that he'd be good and ashamed.
Anyway, this whole scene is another elephant on the table of the NRA: their big dog, Bwana Wayne LaPierre, can't hunt.
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