NRA leadership: Duo of hypocrites

The hypocrisy of NRA President David Keene and Vice President Wayne LaPierre has entered the realm of the bizarre. After a week of silence following the Newtown shootings, these men re-engaged the American public by pointing accusatory fingers at the video game industry and Hollywood movie makers as instigators of real world violence.

LaPierre in particular issued a scathing public indictment of video games. Subsequently, the NRA power elite spent the ensuing weeks rallying their troops and expending political clout in an attempt to squash any new firearm restrictions.

As staunch constitutionalists, the NRA leadership’s battle cry is that any restrictions on magazine capacities or assault weapons would be an infringement upon the Second Amendment.

Therein lies the mother of all hypocrisies. Keene and LaPierre condemn violent video games while fiercely defending the Second Amendment. But what of the First Amendment? Does freedom of speech not extend to Hollywood or the video game industry? Or are these men suggesting it is somehow OK to selectively reinterpret certain parts of the Constitution while holding other parts as sacred cows?

Perhaps LaPierre and Keene are suggesting that certain constitutional amendments do not apply equally to all American interest groups. As one of the most powerful lobbying groups in Washington, the NRA certainly benefited from a 2010 high court ruling declaring campaign contributions are indeed a form of “speech,” and as such should not be restricted. [See Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission]

Yet the NRA leadership is not the least bit shy in calling for infringement upon the free speech of video game programmers. Nor are they ashamed to do so while drawing a wide circle in the sand around the Second Amendment and declaring, “Over this line you shall not pass!”

Only two plausible explanations exist for such a self-contradiction. Stupidity or delusion. Keene and LaPierre strike me as reasonably intelligent men, so that leaves delusion, a delusion of the hypocritical self-righteous kind.

Without knowing it, the NRA leadership may actually be pushing the political narrative and public opinion in the opposite direction of their organization’s cause. By calling so much attention to the most vile offerings from the video game industry as clearly not what the Founding Fathers had in mind as they drafted the First Amendment, the NRA is shining a light on the true beauty of the Constitution. The most beautiful thing about the U.S. Constitution is that it can be altered by the people it serves. My countrymen and countrywomen do not serve a Constitution. It serves us. As the needs and the will of the people evolve with the times, so should the Constitution.

I for one agree to an extent with the NRA regarding violent video games. Though I am fundamentally opposed to censorship, public well-being is hindered rather than preserved if we ignore the emerging science starting to reveal some rather troubling neuro-psychological implications of exposing children to violence in certain media forms. [See Rene, Ute, & Klaus in Media Psychology, 2006, Vol. 8 (1), pp 39-60.]

The emerging science is, however, by no means conclusive, and we should not be quick to judge. Protecting children and adolescents from media offerings that may or may not be harmful while preserving the highest possible degree of freedom of speech is a task no less perilous than protecting the Second Amendment while placing reasonable limitations upon the types of armaments available to the general public. The point being that neither dilemma — media violence or gun control — should be legislatively off limits; and constitutional traditionalism should never trump public well-being or the will of the people.

I for one thank the NRA for pointing out that the American Constitution is not a shield for special interests to hide behind but a malleable document meant to serve the people. I for one shake my head in disgust at the NRA leadership for their refusal to hold their own cause to the same standards to which they want the video-game industry held.

It simply must require a perfect and total arrogance to infer that Amendment No. 1 of our Constitution should somehow be curtailed for another interest group while Amendment No. 2 has to be preserved as a sacred cow for their stakeholders.

Hypocritical, self-righteous delusion. Therein lies the greatest threat to the safety of our citizens.

Cardin is a resident of Kalispell.