Lt. Colonel Oliver North, USMC (Ret.) is the new president of the National Rifle Association of America. READ MORE
SOURCE: The Washington Post
Former NRA president Pete Brownell announced last Monday that he has decided not to seek election to another term as president so that he can devote his full energy and time to his family business.
North is a popular speaker before the group and brings star power at a time when gun-control advocates seek to seize on momentum against the gun lobby in the wake of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history and one of the deadliest school shootings.
North announced he would retire from his career as a Fox News host effective immediately. He said in a statement that the NRA board was giving him a few weeks to get his affairs in order before starting his new gig.
NRA executive vice president and CEO Wayne LaPierre called North’s appointment “the most exciting news for our members since Charlton Heston became President of our Association.” Heston famously said that his gun could only be taken “from my cold, dead hands.” LaPierre called North “a legendary warrior for American freedom, a gifted communicator, and skilled leader.”
Robert J. Spitzer, chairman of political science at the State University of New York at Cortland and an expert on firearms and Second Amendment issues, called North the closest thing the NRA has to a celebrity “and maybe they figure they need a more prominent person at the helm, as opposed to the string of relative unknowns who have served in recent years.”
North, 74, first emerged into the spotlight in the 1980s for his role in the Iran-Contra scandal, involving the sale of weapons to Iran with proceeds being funneled to right-wing rebel groups in Nicaragua. He has since run for office, written several books and is frequently on the speaking circuit.
He says he’s eager to take on this new role soon and is retiring from Fox News, effective immediately. “I am honored to have been selected by the NRA Board to soon serve as this great organization’s President,” North said. “I appreciate the board initiating a process that affords me a few weeks to set my affairs in order, and I am eager to hit the ground running as the new NRA President.”
The best news I’ve heard today!!
Geez, Guys. At a time when we need some good press and more favorable intellectual support in order to cast a wider net for new members, we shoot ourselves in the foot to satisfy our own egos by electing Oliver North to president?! So many of us don’t seem to be able to think outside the box at this pivotable point in our NRA’s history. Oliver North can be supportively called a traitor by a great many citizens. Regardless of personal positions, America is still, and should be, a country of laws. This man broke many and tried to undermine laws adopted by the majority of both Congress and the American public. His appointment is going to be viewed by many as a mistake.
Oliver North is the absolute wrong choice for the presidency of the nra, (small case intentional), not because he is a “traitor,” (he was found not guilty of ALL charges), but because he is A SELF AVOWED ANTI-GUNNER!!!! When asked during an interview with Larry King, in the lead up to the vote on the clinton assault weapons ban, if he thought the American people should be able to own assault weapons, he said “absolutely not, if someone wants to own a weapon like that, they need to join the Marines.” Now, this anti-gun idiot is the president of the “compromise your rights away” nra. Well, perhaps that is as it should be, an anti-gun buffoon at the head of the biggest sell out gun organization in the United States. What a twisted world we live in, that gun owners support with their hard earned money the organization that has written most of the key anti-gun legislation of the past 75 years. Anyone who supports the nra should have their head examined.
It is way past time that commenters stop playing so loosely with the truth. It is bad enough that we have a president that does so now. North was NOT found innocent of ALL charges. Why would you say such a thing? Maybe because most our voting public doesn’t have intellectual ability, or the discipline to examine facts, especially if it supports their present views. Here is a quote from a normal news report to show your words are sophistry. Your other words are your opinion, and I have no desire that you change them. But do so on FACTS, and not the spewing of nonsense based on fraud or a lack of discipline on your part. Here is the truth…….”The three counts North was found guilty of were: shredding government documents; accepting a bribe in the shape of a security fence; and seeking to keep the truth from Congress.” Pleasestop playing loose and free with the facts. We would appreciate it.
Go troll elsewhere little man. This space is for people with brains that haven’t been tainted with exposure to the democrat party. It is painfully obvious you are a democrat troll. Go back to whatever rock you crawled out from under and continue finding more ways to allow illegal aliens access to our country and welfare system. This would be preferable since you consistently make a fool of yourself when speaking of guns and gun legislation, two subjects about which you know absolutely nothing. It is also painfully obvious you know nothing about history, since you don’t know that Col. North was exonerated of all charges against him by the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1991. But, of course a Democrat troll with an IQ of 11 wouldn’t know that.
If you are an nra member, I’m not surprised. You are certainly the caliber of membership that Wayne and Chris would be comfortable with. Perhaps you should go back down to Nicaragua, I think Ollie North left you a bribe to finish shredding some documents he forgot…….you Jug head.
Thats the ‘ Worst news” I’ve heard this year . Sorry!
I am sorry for you also. I can’t imagine what good news would be to you. President HiLIARy?
If we continue to try to distill every possible subject down to old, unimportant things in our wake, we will continue to be stuck in the ditch. Let’s not worry about ancient punching bags, and figure out ways to stop the present erosion of perhaps our most important amendment.
Ollie should’ve gone to prison but I guess the NRA is as good as any place for him now.