The head of the National Rifle Association, Wayne LaPierre admitted that after the Sandy Hook and Parkland school shootings, he feared for his safety so he retreated to the only place he felt truly safe — on a hundred-foot yacht.
You read that right. The leader of the NRA, according to NBC News, made that astounding revelation in a deposition that’s part of the gun group’s bankruptcy case happening in Dallas. The gun-rights organization filed for bankruptcy and fled to Texas in part because New York AG Letitia James sued to dissolve the group and accused executives like LaPierre of using NRA funds to pay for lavish trips, designer suits and other costly expenditures.
To hear LaPierre tell it, he was under siege daily from threats to his personal safety. Despite having a security detail paid for by the NRA, he said he only truly felt safe hiding out on a friend’s luxury vessel, sailing the high seas. As you can imagine, this information was met with quite a bit of scorn and ridicule online.
You’ll notice that Shannon Watts, the gun-reform advocate, pointed out that LaPierre’s timing for boarding the yacht doesn’t coincide with the Parkland massacre. There were other inconsistencies in LaPierre’s deposition. He revealed that he did not disclose on his conflict-of-interest form that he was taking trips on the yacht, owned by a Hollywood producer named Stanton MacKenzie with business ties to the NRA, and not paying for it.
Even more curious is that LaPierre felt so safe on the yacht despite that his NRA security team didn’t properly vet of the ship or the staff onboard.
Seeming to undercut his claim that use of the yacht was for to keep him safe from bad guys, LaPierre testified that his Director of Security did not review safety or security on the yacht, nor did he conduct security checks on the other people who would be on the boat with him. pic.twitter.com/xDUOCu8F2S
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) April 5, 2021