The National Rifle Association blasted out an urgent fundraising appeal by Executive Director Wayne LaPierre Tuesday night, hours ahead of President Barack Obama's announcement of 23 executive actions on gun control.
"I warned you this day was coming and now it’s here," LaPierre wrote. "This is the fight of the century and I need you on board with NRA now more than ever. My strength, and the strength of our entire NRA organization comes from you and your strong commitment to our membership. I need you in our corner TODAY.”
"The NRA sat in on a White House meeting that was sold to the public as an ‘open discussion’ about how to improve school safety," he continued. "But that was a dirty lie. They didn’t listen to gun owners’ concerns … they didn’t consider any real solutions on how we can keep our kids safe. Instead Barack Obama, Joe Biden and their gun ban allies in Congress only want to BLAME you, VILIFY you, BULLY you, and STRIP you of your Second Amendment freedoms."
Wrote LaPierre, "Right now, they’re steamrolling ahead with legislation that would ban your guns, register your ammunition purchases, and even force you to register the firearms you already own with Obama’s anti-gun bureaucrats."
The NRA has touted its membership spike since the Newtown shooting, but the group has also deeply discounted the costs.
The email comes as the group released an ad blasting Obama as an "elitist hypocrite" for allowing the secret service to protect his daughters while being "skeptical" about the NRA's proposal to require armed guards in schools. Obama's school safety proposal incentivizes such guards, but doesn't require schools to have them.
Obama challenged the NRA -- without naming it -- while unveiling his gun control proposal Wednesday. "The only way we will be able to change is if their audience, their constituents, their membership says, this time must be different, that this time we must do something to protect our communities and our kids," he said. "I will put everything I’ve got into this, and so will Joe."
Before You Go
