Wayne LaPierre’s Cynical Exploitation of Outrage

It’s been a strange few days in the American gun debate—with teenagers shaking an otherwise moribund discourse into new territory, senators being cowed on national television, and President Trump edging toward minor gun regulations. In the wake of the shooting, the Conservative Political Action Conference decided not to put National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre on its list of speakers.*

But LaPierre spoke, and it was a stemwinder. , LaPierre was combative and provocative. At a moment when students and others are