There was a story yesterday about a hearing over the NRA's claim of bankruptcy. Just filing for bankruptcy doesn't mean a court will grant some. Not only does the court have to be convinced that the person filing isn't trying to avoid paying what it's required to, but sometimes an application for bankruptcy is made so that the petitioner can delay a separate court proceeding against it. In this case, the state of New York is attempting to shut down the NRA -- since corporate-owned lobbying organization was based in the state but has subsequently moved to New York, and some feel that the NRA is trying to avoid the lawsuit.
One of the issues in the hearing that came to light is about a deposition with the NRA's executive director, Wayne LaPierre, who has had charges of massively excessive spending made against him. And in the deposition, he was asked about how after the Sandy Hook and Parkland school gun massacres, he spent time living on a 108-foot yacht -- not the usual residence of those who are bankrupt. "They simply let me use it as a security retreat because they knew the threat that I was under," LaPierre told the court in his deposition, later adding, "And this was the one place that I hope could feel safe, where I remember getting there going, 'Thank God I'm safe, nobody can get me here.' And that's how it happened. That's why I used it." The best response to LaPierre's deposition came from Shannon Watts of Moms Demand. She tweeted that "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good friend with a yacht?" Of course, it's possible that LaPierre is telling the truth. There are two big problems with that profoundly unlikely theory.. The first is that if true, it would be a massive admission by the executive director of the corporate-owned NRA that people with guns who are upset with others put them at the risk of their lives, and the public shouldn't feel safe and needs to go in hiding. The other is that if Wayne LaPierre actually felt so unsafe whenever there was a gun massacre that he had to retreat to a yacht, then he would be spending his life for the past decade on a yacht. And since he doesn't actually live on a yacht, it doesn't appear true. And since he spent his tenure as executive director of the NRA saying how safe guns are, he clearly doesn't appear to believe the other either. There is a gun massacre on average every other week. And yes, there was another one just days ago. The good news is that by the law of averages, we should all be safe for about another 10 days. https://www.rawstory.com/yacht-lapierre/
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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