The long-time leader of the National Rifle Association (NRA), a powerful American firearms lobby, announced his resignation on Friday, January 5. His announcement comes three days before the start of a civil trial in New York in which he is accused alongside other NRA leaders of embezzlement for personal purposes.
Wayne LaPierre, 74, executive vice president and general manager, said his departure would take effect on January 31. He has been head of the NRA since 1991. Andrew Arulanandam will become interim CEO and executive vice president, announced the organization, which claims more than five million members.
“With pride in all we have accomplished, I announce my resignation from the NRA”declared Mr. LaPierre in a press release published by the organization. “I have been an integral member of this organization for most of my adult life, and I will never stop supporting the NRA and its fight for defense (…) of the second amendment. My passion for our cause burns more than ever”he continued.
The super VRP for gunsmiths
For more than three decades, this tireless defender of the right to bear individual arms has been the known face of the NRA, an association weakened by recent affairs but which nevertheless retains a formidable hold over elected officials.
It is under the leadership of Wayne LaPierre that the lobby has become extremely active with political leaders, whom it finances or rates unfavorably, managing to block in Congress the legislative proposals that it considers unfavorable. For example, the NRA contributed tens of millions of dollars to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016.
A lawsuit filed by New York State Attorney General Letitia James against the NRA, Mr. LaPierre and others who held leadership positions within the organization is scheduled to begin Monday. After a 15-month investigation, Letitia James, a Democrat, accused Mr. LaPierre and other leaders of illegally embezzling tens of millions of dollars from the NRA and spending the organization’s funds on personal travel, contracts of convenience and other abuses of corporate assets.
After having tried in vain to obtain the dissolution of the NRA and at the same time demanding the withdrawal of Mr. LaPierre, the prosecutor therefore sees this second objective achieved before the hearing even begins.
Presented by his detractors as a super salesman for gunsmiths, Wayne LaPierre is probably one of the most hated men in the United States. On the contrary, he is adored by millions of other Americans who appreciate his diatribes aimed at billionaires “socialists” George Soros or Michael Bloomberg, Democrats, Hollywood elites, universities or the Black Lives Matter movement.
The World Application
The Morning of the World
Every morning, find our selection of 20 articles not to be missed
Download the app
His words, in 2012 after yet another deadly school shooting, had an impact: “The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” »