(WASHINGTON, DC) -- Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, called the Clinton-Gore Administration the "Barnum & Bailey of American law enforcement," in response to the Administration's media event today to propose a $15 million federal gun buyback program.
"This Administration is the ‘Barnum & Bailey' of American law enforcement. It's all about the show and the spotlight of the news media circus, and nothing about enforcing existing federal laws to take armed criminals, one by one, off the streets of America," LaPierre said. "And when the circus of nonsense is over, Bill Clinton and Al Gore would leave the lions uncaged to prey upon the audience of American citizens."
LaPierre pointed out that there is no evidence anywhere that so-called gun buyback programs have any effect on armed criminals or violent crime rates, but that citizens should be free to participate in such programs if they wish. "People have a right to do what they want with their own personal property," LaPierre said. "But let no one be fooled into thinking these programs have any effect on violent crime, regardless of their good intentions."
The real tragedy, LaPierre said, is that the $15 million proposed for the program could be better used to implement "Project Exile" -- a tough enforcement effort that has dramatically reduced violent crime in Richmond, Virginia -- in the ten most violent cities in the country. "Last year, the NRA lobbied Congress for $1.5 million to initiate this life-saving program in Philadelphia," LaPierre said. "But instead of supporting this effort to fully enforce existing federal laws, an effort that cut gun murders in Richmond by 63 percent, the Clinton-Gore ringleaders offer yet one more stunt that will have no effect at all on violent, armed criminals."
"At a time when prosecutors are crying for the resources to enforce existing laws and prosecute armed criminals to remove them from our neighborhoods, this Administration holds another photo opportunity at the White House," LaPierre said. "But the NRA will continue to push for $50 to $75 million to implement ‘Project Exile' nationwide, compared to the pathetic cap of $5 million in the Administration's budget for enforcement. Tough enforcement of current law saves lives, the overwhelming majority of Americans support that tough enforcement, and NRA will continue to fight for it."
"This Administration has not learned what most Americans already know," LaPierre said. "The tough solutions to taking violent criminals out of America's neighborhoods are not to be found at the circus, but on the crime-ridden streets of America. And that is where unflinching enforcement of existing law equals crime prevention."
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