Colwell: Let's offer thoughts and prayers for outgoing NRA leader

The least we can do is offer our thoughts and prayers to Wayne LaPierre, the corruption trial defendant who resigned under fire — although not assault-rifle fire — as leader of the National Rifle Association.

The least is what LaPierre always did after all those mass shootings. He offered only thoughts and prayers as a substitute for doing anything to reduce gun violence.

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Just last spring, LaPierre was honored in the Indiana Senate with a resolution praising his more than three decades of NRA leadership. He was in Indianapolis for the NRA annual meeting, featuring acres of guns and gear from manufacturers and retailers and appearances by former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence — not appearing together, of course.

Even then, although he was honored in a legislature that had done away with requirements for gun permits, LaPierre’s days of leadership were numbered.

Other NRA officials were maneuvering to oust him, with membership declining sharply, revenue dropping, talk of bankruptcy, programs slashed and embarrassing disclosures of LaPierre using association money for a lavish lifestyle at home and abroad, including African safaris, millions of dollars for private jets and eight trips to the Bahamas over a three-year span.

LaPierre defended his cruising in the Bahamas on a vendor’s luxury yacht as a security measure necessitated by threats he received after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Connecticut and the Florida high school shootings in Parkland.

Well, he has a point. He was safe out there on the waters from the bullets flying around in so many American cities.

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In fact, if the parents of those little kids gunned down at Sandy Hook had cared enough to take the families out on luxury yachts, their children would have been safe. Instead, they sent them to school.

Same in Parkland. Why weren’t the victims, those high schoolers, out cruising in the Bahamas instead of facing the danger of going to school?

The Parkland shootings apparently did hurt LaPierre. March for Our Lives, formed after those shootings, sent a letter to New York’s attorney general asking for an investigation of the reports of misconduct and corruption involving NRA officials. That was a factor in bringing the civil court case in which LaPierre and some other NRA defendants face the possibility of large financial judgements for any ill-gotten wealth and a ban on holding NRA positions.

LaPierre beat a ban by beating a hasty retreat to retirement. Another defendant reached a $100,000 settlement, agreeing to admit misuse of funds.

March for Our Lives, whose young Parkland survivors were ridiculed by LaPierre devotees as trouble-making brats too stupid to understand the Second Amendment, issued a statement about LaPierre’s resignation and how the NRA once was regarded as “an untouchable and seemingly all-powerful political juggernaut.”

Untouchable?

“All that it took was some meddling kids and a whole lot of determination to take down one of the largest and most powerful lobbying machines in American history,” March for Our Lives said.

Gun owners, the law-abiding kind, played a role in LaPierre’s downfall. Many dropped NRA membership, unwilling to support the organization’s efforts to assure the easy access to guns, including military-style weapons, for the law UN-abiding, those in gangs, those in terror groups, those who shoot up schools.

Membership reportedly dropped from nearly six million to 4.2 million, with revenue down 44 percent from 2016.

The organization, founded in 1871 and with a proud past reputation for promoting responsible gun ownership was becoming viewed as defending irresponsible gun use.

LaPierre was viewed by other NRA officials with whom he battled for control as more interested in protecting his lifestyle than in protecting legitimate gun rights.

As Wayne LaPierre departs, we should offer our thoughts and prayers: Thoughts about all he has done. And prayers for victims of gun violence who couldn’t escape to the Bahamas.

Jack Colwell is a columnist for The Tribune. Write to him in care of The Tribune or by email at jcolwell@comcast.net.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: As Wayne LaPierre departs the NRA, think of all he's done.