New NRA President Oliver North Supported the Assault Weapons Ban, Waco Raid
Jon Stokes 05.15.18
Via Reddit comes word that way back in the 90’s, incoming NRA president Oliver North supported the Clinton-era Assault Weapon Ban, and told Larry King that anyone who wanted to shoot an “assaut weapon” should join the marines.
This is actually not at all surprising to me, given that the NRA itself backed the ban (with the sunset provision inserted). This was back in an age when black rifles were considered “commie guns” and weren’t loved by the NRA or the NSSF.
As I reported in my Wired piece on the AR-15, the NSSF didn’t really even want the tactical stuff on the show floor until the early aughts, and if you had an ad with an AR-15 in it then it had to be shown in a hunting context only. So North’s support for the AWB makes him nothing more than a creature of the 90’s, like LaPierre and Nugent. If you had any doubt that the old guard intends to maintain a tight grip on the org, then his appointment should disabuse you of that.
It’s also worth nothing, though, just how forcefully North came out in defense of the federal raid on the Branch Davidians at Waco. If you go down to the second page of this scan, you can see his claim that the Davidians shot first and hat it coming.
Basically, North is an old-school, 80’s-era Fudd. He has no doubt updated his act a bit to fit more with the current scene, but, like Nugent and LaPierre, he’s a creature of the 80’s and 90’s. I expect him to make a speech railing against the evils of violent video games, shortly. Maybe he’ll even crusade against “cop killer” bullets, warn of the link between Dungeons and Dragons and suicide, or speak out against Satanic Ritual Abuse.
