For Release: Friday, January 5, 2024
Washington, DC — Following the resignation announcement today by National Rifle Association (NRA) Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, Josh Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy Center (VPC) and author of the 1992 book NRA: Money, Firepower, and Fear and the VPC’s Blood Money studies, which first detailed the gun industry’s financial support of the NRA, issued the following statement:
Today’s announcement by Wayne LaPierre continues a decades-long history of NRA leaders resigning amidst scandal. LaPierre’s resignation as executive vice president was preceded by the resignation of Warren Cassidy in 1991 amidst allegations of sex discrimination and sexual impropriety and G. Ray Arnett’s resignation in 1986 for using “funds of the Association for his personal enjoyment” and making “personnel decisions” regarding a female staff member on the basis of “personal interest.” During his tenure LaPierre cemented the NRA’s role as a de facto trade association for the firearms industry, accepting millions of dollars in gun industry blood money to further joint marketing efforts targeting women, communities of color, and even children as potential gun owners. The shameful legacy of Wayne LaPierre, and the NRA leaders who came before him, is one of death and injury and the cementing of a dangerous gun culture that exposes every American to the trauma of gun violence on a daily basis.
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The Violence Policy Center is a national educational organization working to stop gun death and injury. Follow the VPC on X/Twitter and Facebook.
