Robert Legge of the Culpeper Star Exponent, is helping the newspaper live up to its name by some exponentially sour rhetoric about the National Rifle Association:
Joining the NRA became almost a patriotic duty, especially for rural Americans. But somewhere along the way, the NRA’s tenor grew more ominous. After the 1994 sieges at Waco and Ruby Ridge, the NRA leadership whipped up anti-government hysteria, culminating in a famous fundraising letter warning of “jackbooted thugs … (who could) break in our doors, seize our guns, destroy our property, and injure or kill us.â€
Timothy McVeigh bought into that kind of incendiary rhetoric. A week after that NRA letter was sent, he blew up the federal Murrah building, killing many of the U.S. federal agents he so despised.
Actually, the infamous “jackbooted thugs” rhetoric can trace its origins to Congressman John Dingell (D-MI). But why let the facts get in the way when you’re trying to pin McVeigh on the NRA.
Wow, I’m impressed. The NRA has such weight and power that after reading their letter, in just one week’s time, McVeigh planned his attack, scoped out the building, acquired all the supplies, put everything together and then executed it. Wew! The NRA must have some influence to force McVeigh into such overdrive. He must have welcomed the jail time just to rest.