You might not have thought the NRA could get crazier or dabble more in incitement than they already were. But you’d be wrong. In truth, outgoing president David Keene (a long time conservative activist not exclusively tied to the gun issue) was the less confrontational face of the organization relative to Wayne LaPierre (low bar). But all that’s in the past with the ascension of new President James Porter.
Porter got things going yesterday by pledging to fight a “culture war” against “fake President” Barack Obama. He also says that all Americans should be trained to use standard military weapons for possible use against the United States government.
Two other things stand out about Porter. First, he appears to signal a doubling down on the NRA’s base among older, white male Southerners or to put it more frontally, on racists, calling the Civil War “the War of Northern Aggression.” Secondly, Porter’s background as an attorney defending firearms manufacturers from lawsuits points to what is many ways the organization’s real role as a trade organization for firearms manufacturers.
In any case, with Porter’s ascendency we seem to have moved a big step closer to the NRA leadership’s full embrace of milita-style rhetoric and increasingly open threats of violence against government officials and workers.
