For Immediate Release                    For Information
Contact:
May 10, 1995                           Bill Powers (703)
267-3820

                   Statement by Wayne LaPierre
      Executive Vice President, National Rifle Association

(Washington, DC) -- Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of
the National Rifle Association of America, issued the following
statement today:

"I am releasing a copy of a letter from NRA President Tom
Washington to former President George Bush.  It speaks for
itself
and I can only add that the issue has been joined on matters of
critical importance to our nation's future.  The American public
needs to know the truth about BATF abuses.  We will meet our
critics in congressional hearings and I am confident that when
all the testimony is in, our words and actions will be
completely
vindicated."

                            -- nra --

May 10, 1995

President George Bush
P.O.Box 79798
Houston, Texas 77279-9798

Dear President Bush:

I was surprised and saddened to see your letter of May 3, 1995.
I can understand and sympathize with the deeply emotional
consequences you are enduring as a result of losing a close
friend in the Oklahoma City tragedy.  We, too, have NRA members
who were victims and rescuers that were scarred by that most
horrendous crime.

I'm sorry that you have chosen to unequivocally condemn NRA's
words without first seeking an explanation.  Surely, a private
exchange between us might persuade you to at least reserve a
final opinion until all the facts are examined.  Such a course
of
action, I believe, would have better served the country than
what
now will become a public disagreement that can only lead to more
polarization in these troubled times.

Within hours of the bombing, NRA issued a statement declaring
that "The National Rifle Association of America has nothing but
contempt for terrorists or hate groups that attempt to disguise
themselves as patriots."  Deploring the monstrous act, we called
for the death penalty for those found responsible, praised
federal, state and local authorities and declared that law
enforcement has "... no stronger ally than the NRA."
Following the President's call on Sunday, April 23 for a
"lowering of voices,"  NRA began the week of April 24 with no
intention of seeking political advantage from such a calamity.
By nightfall, Mr. Clinton, Congressman Schumer, anti-gun groups
and members of the media had begun a full frontal assault on so-
called "hate-speech."   Our offices in Washington were
immediately flooded with press inquiries demanding that we
defend
numerous statements we had made in recent months with regard to
the conduct of the BATF.  Each day continued to bring new
participants in the NRA bashing frenzy that today grips the
national media.  NRA has been accused of contributing to an
atmosphere that encourages unstable people to commit violent
acts.  Our words have been characterized as grievous,
defamatory,
insensitive distortions of truth.  In return and with respect
for
the heartbreaking aftermath the nation has witnessed, we have
tried to respond with a measured tone.  We have argued calmly
and
responsibly that our position has merit and that a fair,
unbiased
analysis is the only way to address these issues.  After
exhaustive interviews with The New York Times, The Washington
Post, NBC, CBS, ABC, Time and dozens of others, it is
disheartening to see such enthusiasm for stories on NRA rhetoric
and so much reluctance to balance those presentations with fact.
As someone who has been victimized yourself by such media
tactics, I would have expected you to allow us to offer
information that was not being provided by the press.

On January 10, 1994, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU),
the NRA and other organizations appealed to President Clinton
for
the appointment of a national commission to "... investigate
serious allegations of abuse by federal law enforcement agencies
and to recommend steps that must be taken to reduce
constitutional and human rights violations by federal law
enforcement personnel."  Citing "... serious allegations of
abuse, including the improper use of deadly force...", our
letter
offered specific examples of black suited, masked, massively
armed mobs of screaming, swearing agents invading the homes of
innocents:

DONALD CARLSON
     On August 25, 1992 at about 10:30 p.m., Donald Carlson
returned to his home in Poway, California, opened his garage
door
with a remote control device, simultaneously illuminating the
garage so that Drug Enforcement Administration agents conducting
surveillance from nearby could see inside.  Just after midnight,
when Carlson was asleep, a group of DEA agents burst into his
house.  Thinking they were robbers, Carlson grabbed his pistol
to
defend himself.  He also dialed 911 for help.  The agents shot
Carlson three times, twice after he was down and clearly
disabled.  Carlson spent seven weeks in intensive care, fighting
for his life.  No drugs were found on the premises.

     It was later learned that the Federal Customs Service, the
DEA and the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego had relied on an
informant who was known to be untrustworthy and who claimed
Carlson's garage contained 2,500 kilograms of cocaine (a large
amount which would have taken up most of the garage) and four
armed guards.  The agents conducted the raid in spite of the
fact
they could see the informant's information was erroneous.

     As of this writing, none of the federal agents involved in
the incident have been sanctioned nor has Mr. Carlson been
compensated for his injuries.

SINA BRUSH
     Just after dawn on September 5, 1991 some sixty agents from
the DEA, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms (BATF), and National Guard, complete with painted faces
and camouflage and accompanied by another twenty or more
National
Guard troops with a light armored vehicle, raided the homes of
Sina Brush and two of her neighbors near Montainair, New Mexico.
Brush and her daughter were still asleep.  Hearing noises
outside, Ms. Brush got up and was only halfway across the room,
when the door was kicked in by the agents.  Clad only in their
underwear, Ms. Brush and her daughter were handcuffed and forced
to kneel in the middle of the room while the agents searched the
house.  No drugs were found.  Just as in the Carlson case, the
police had obtained a warrant using information furnished by an
unreliable informant and had entered Brush's home without
knocking first.

WACO
     This most notorious case has stunned the sensibilities of
millions of Americans.  According to The Wall Street Journal,
"...the BATF showed up at the Davidian compound with two cattle
trucks full of agents in battle gear and a plan for 'dynamic
entry'."  The siege that followed the initial assault included
terrifying, psychological warfare tactics and ended when a
second
attack, utilizing tanks and gas, led to conflagration. "Weird
cultists"  (your words)?  Some of the adults, but certainly not
the children.

For two years now, thousands of calls and letters of outrage
have
been received by government, the media and yes, the NRA.  The
cries of "thugs",  "Nazi" and "storm trooper" came first, not
from the NRA, but from the minds and mouths of Americans
describing what they had seen on television.

RANDY WEAVER
     This debacle at Ruby Ridge continues to fan a seething
backlash in the country.  A fourteen year old boy was shot in
the
back and killed.  A mother was shot by a sniper in the head and
killed while holding a baby.  A jury found BATF guilty of
entrapment and the defendant was acquitted.  How does it all add
up to justifiable behavior by, once again, black shrouded forces
with armored personnel carriers, helicopters and snipers all
arrayed against a family in a cabin?  Hundreds of good people
have told me that scene reminds them of what this country once
fought against and should never stand for.

Mr. President, there are more names and more abuse;

JANICE HART
PORTLAND, OREGON
FEBRUARY  1993
     Janice Hart pulled up to her house from grocery shopping
with her daughters to find her house being ransacked by ATF
agents who had kicked in the door.  Agents searched her home,
throwing dishes, pulling clothing from hangers and emptying
drawers on the floor (she photographed the damage).  Some eight
ATF agents interrogated her in the basement for an hour before
reading her her rights.  She asked to call an attorney and the
agents refused.  When they finally asked her if she was Janice
Marie Harrell, she told them no, that she was Janice Hart.  ATF
agents mocked her, accused her of selling firearms and cocaine,
then arrested her.  The Portland Police, who she commended for
their professional demeanor, took her downtown for booking and,
within thirty seconds of fingerprinting her, realized ATF had
the
wrong person.

LOUIS KATONA
BUCYRUS, OHIO
     Louis Katona is a police officer in Bucyrus, Ohio.  When
shouting and cursing BATF agents rushed into his home to seize
his firearms collection, they grabbed his pregnant wife, Kim,
and
shoved her into a wall.  Within days, she suffered a
miscarriage.
A federal judge threw the government's case out of court and
ordered BATF to immediately return Mr. Katona's guns or face
jail
themselves.  The Katonas are presently pressing civil charges
against BATF.

I could go on to tell you about Harry and Teresa Lamplugh, Ron
and Elaine Miller, Howard and Sandy Wittenberg and many others.
All victims of forceful, abusive and often vicious assaults on
their homes and businesses by BATF agents who turned out not to
have a case.  You would hear about cancer medicines thrown all
over the floor, family pets stomped to death, terrified children
separated from their parents, tires slashed, threatening and
hang-up telephone calls and other such behavior that has nothing
to do with the America I grew up in.

If all the above is not bad enough, just 62 days ago, on
Wednesday, March 8, 1995 USA Today  reported that "...a group of
black agents has sued the 4,200-employee agency (BATF), charging
widespread discrimination."   The special agent in charge of
ATF's Houston office, Donnie Carter, said, "There's
institutional
racism.." inside BATF.  The article continues: "The suit charges
ATF officials have routinely ignored racial abuses while
funneling blacks into low-paying, but dangerous street
assignments with little career potential.  The black agents'
legal documents cite numerous racial problems, including how:
White agents in Oklahoma City in 1991 plastered their walls with
a Confederate flag, a 'State of Oklahoma Nigger Hunting
License',
and a Ku Klux Klan business card.  Black agents at the ATF
office
in Chicago in 1991 went to the photocopier and found a picture
of
civil rights activist Jesse Jackson with the words 'jungle
bunny'
scrawled on it."

Mr. President, if you watched any of NRA's recent appearances on
national television, you know that we did not use this article
to
deflect criticism of our own language.  Nor did we refer to the
"60 Minutes" report that appeared on Sunday, January 12, 1993 in
which female BATF agents themselves described a sickening
pattern
of sexual harassment, intimidation and retaliation in their own
ranks.  One agent reported, "I was held against the hood of my
car and my clothes ripped off by two agents."  Another said a
male agent had "... repeatedly left dildos on my desk."  She
then
reported that, "... he trapped me in a room and told me he would
screw me in a New York minute."

A male BATF agent who had come forward to support the charges of
the female agents summed it up this way:  "They violate the
basic
principles and tenets of the Constitution and the laws and
simple
ethics of morality.  That's what disgusts me."

Just last Thursday, May 4, The New York Times, in an editorial
stated that BATF, "...has had its share of problems, including
inexcusable errors leading up to the tragedy at Waco."  The
editorial went on to say that BATF, "... is badly in need of
internal reform.  Waco was merely the most spectacular in a
series of lapses in which the BATF became too aggressive...".
They referred to BATF's, "...woeful record of sex and racial
discrimination."  They said, "BATF is struggling with a legacy
of
mismanagement and large, visible mistakes that have undermined
the public's confidence in its ability to do its job."  And
finally, the editorial declared that, "...if the agency is to
survive, it must face its demons."  Toward that end, the
editorial concluded that congressional hearings, "...can serve a
useful purpose."  That is exactly what NRA, ACLU, BATF's victims
and millions of concerned citizens have been demanding for the
last two years.

The same editorial reminded its readers that, "Representative
John Dingell has called its agents 'jack-booted American
fascists'  and Representative Harold Volkmer has called BATF
'one
of the most Rambo-rogue law enforcement agencies in the United
States'."

Let me also call to your attention that the last time BATF
abuses
were investigated was in hearings before the Subcommittee on
Treasury, Post Office and General Appropriations of the Senate
Appropriations Committee in July 1979 and April 1980, and before
the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Senate Judiciary
Committee in October 1980.  They concluded, "Based upon these
hearings it is apparent that enforcement tactics made possible
by
current federal firearms laws are constitutionally, legally, and
practically reprehensible.  ...These practices, amply documented
in hearings before this Subcommittee, leave little doubt that
the
Bureau has disregarded rights guaranteed by the Constitution and
laws of the United States.  ...It has trampled upon the Second
Amendment by chilling exercise of the right to keep and bear
arms
by law abiding citizens.  ... It has offended the Fourth
Amendment by unreasonably searching and seizing private
property.
...It has ignored the Fifth Amendment by taking private property
without just compensation and by entrapping honest citizens
without regard for their right to due process of law. ... The
rebuttal presented to the Subcommittee by the Bureau was utterly
unconvincing. ...Evidence was submitted establishing that
approximately 75 percent of BATF gun prosecutions were aimed at
ordinary citizens who had neither criminal intent nor
knowledge...."

Following the lead of the Senate, it was the Reagan-Bush
Administration that cracked down on BATF and cleaned up the way
they conducted themselves throughout the ensuing decade.  Have
you forgotten, President Bush, your previous passion for justice
and fairness for all law-abiding citizens?

The facts are there, Mr. President.  No American citizen can be
proud of this agency's record in the last four years.
Certainly,
there are many fine, professional and heroic BATF agents who
have
served our nation with great distinction during this period, but
their professionalism and honor are being overwhelmed by an
increasingly angry and outraged American public that will not
tolerate fear of their own government.  That's why The Wall
Street Journal in an editorial last Tuesday, May 2, 1995 said
"...recent history suggests that the people in charge of this
country's system of law, order and justice had better get their
acts together pretty darn quick."  And, in a little noted and
largely ignored Time/CNN poll conducted eight days after the
bombing in Oklahoma City, fifty-two percent of those questioned
agreed that "...the federal government has become so powerful
that it poses a threat to the rights and freedoms of citizens."
That so many Americans actually fear their own government is a
storm cloud on this country's horizon of unimaginable
proportions.

Are NRA's words to blame? Are John Dingell's?  Is it the
rhetoric
of Rush Limbaugh or Bill Clinton or David Letterman?  I don't
think so.  I believe more and more Americans see an emerging
double standard that disgusts them.  Again, I quote from The
Wall
Street Journal editorial of May 2, 1995, "Allowing for the
dilemmas of the real world, we seem to have a double standard
today:  It says that law enforcement officials can do what they
want with unpopular defendants like religious fanatics and white
supremacists.  But in dealing with suspects who might charge
racial prejudice, they have to be careful indeed.  Even in the
wake of Oklahoma City, we are about to have the release of a
Mario Van Peebles film making the Black Panthers into
entertainment, guns and all."

President Bush, NRA never intended for its words to offend your
sense of decency and honor or your concept of service to
country.
I firmly believe that after a thorough congressional examination
of BATF, you will agree that our words have been more truth than
slander.  I believe you will judge too much of what BATF has
done
to be inexcusable and deserving of your personal repudiation.
Therefore, I respectfully ask you to reconsider your resignation
as a Life Member of the National Rifle Association until all the
facts are known.  Then, if you still feel that NRA has been
wrong
in the way it has confronted this issue, NRA will deserve your
resignation.  Until then, I believe we and the American people
deserve your help in getting to the truth.

Respectfully,

Tom Washington
President
National Rifle Association of America

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