Now, we all know by now
that this is the craziest election
Americans have ever seen.
I mean, attack ads have been replaced by Twitter.
Saying terrible things now gets you more votes.
And, uh, we watched a man sleepwalk
through an entire presidential campaign.
But in all this chaos, thankfully,
there is one pillar of consistency,
and that is the National Rifle Association,
America's largest firearms lobby
and proud retailer of gun-shaped mailboxes,
for when you really want to shoot the messenger.
Now, every election,
this organization reminds us how powerful they are.
And last Friday, they did it again by getting Donald Trump
to fly to their national convention in Louisville
and pledge his support
in exchange for their endorsement.
And that's really impressive.
Because Donald Trump doesn't care about the things
Republican leaders are supposed to care about.
I mean, he supported Planned Parenthood, you know?
He doesn't support free trade.
And he won't even wear those little Reagan nipple clamps
that they're all supposed to wear. Yeah.
Well, why do you think Ted Cruz always has that creepy smile?
Now you know. Now you know.
So, a lot of politicians support the NRA.
But what makes this surprising
is that Trump himself, on multiple occasions,
supported gun control measures
and even famously tweeted that President Barack Obama
spoke for him on the need for more gun control
after Sandy Hook.
But that was three years and a nomination ago,
and so at Friday's NRA event,
Trump was far more on target.
Thank you very much. This is, uh, amazing.
Hillary Clinton wants to abolish the Second Amendment.
Just remember that. We're not gonna let that happen,
I can tell you that right now. We're gonna preserve it.
We're gonna cherish it.
I've been watching what's going on,
and I've been looking at airplanes getting blown up
in the air and lots of bad things happening.
But if you look at Paris, 130 people killed,
and these guys came in, boom, boom.
"You, over here." Boom.
"Boom, boom"?
Well, I-I don't know if that's the most respectful way
to explain the Paris shootings.
"Boom, boom"?
Although, to be fair,
Trump explains every terrible historic event like that.
"Hindenburg, huge balloon, boom,
"flames, humanity, terrible.
"Lincoln assassination,
"boring play, nagging wife,
"out of nowhere, boom,
"he gets some peace and quiet.
"Julius Caesar, stab, stab, pizza, pizza.
"You can hear all those and more on my album,
Now That's What I Call Tragedy."
(cheering and applause)
Now...
now-now, you can argue that Trump isn't pandering,
that he might really love guns.
And I'll say maybe, just maybe that's possible.
But the way he talked on Friday makes me think
he's not totally on board.
My sons have been members of the NRA
for many, many years, and they're incredible.
They have so many rifles and so many guns,
sometimes even I get a little bit concerned.
I say, "That's a lot."
Oh, oh, what happened there?
Oh, what happened there? Yeah.
A little bit of a Truth Trump slipped out, huh? Yeah?
Yeah, it's a Trumpian slip, when you tell the truth
when you're trying to pander. That's what that is.
I love that. I love it.
It's... And it almost feels like, at times, Trump is trying
to feel out how crazy the group actually is.
It's like he's testing the room. "I mean, there's, uh...
"th-there is such a thing as too many guns, am I right?
"Am I right? No? No, of course not.
"Yeah. What was I saying? Of course not.
"I mean, as long as you're mentally stable.
"That's the rule. N-No? Okay, not that. Whatever.
"Anyway... But, I mean, that's just the guns, though,
"not missiles... Get the (bleep) out of here.
"Get the (bleep)... Missiles, too?
Wow, we are nuts." (clears throat)
Now, uh, you shouldn't be surprised
that the NRA got Trump to fall in line with their agenda,
because they always get what they want.
At the urging of the NRA, Congress passed a law
that specifically shields gun manufacturers from lawsuits.
REPORTER:
the National Rifle Association bullied just enough members
of Congress to block any real action.
REPORTER 2:
gun laws this country has ever seen.
You're allowed to carry a gun into a national park.
You can transport a gun on Amtrak.
And the NRA fought the handgun ban in the nation's capital.
Wow. That is a (bleep) ton of accomplishments.
Even the Illuminati's like, "Damn, you guys run (bleep).
Can we join you?"
And here's one of the craziest laws
that the NRA has gotten passed,
because they talk so much about good guys and bad guys.
When it comes to actually catching bad guys,
the NRA still takes the side of the gun over the victim.
MAN:
where feds try to help local police solve a crime,
figure out the exact type of gun
and trace where it was bought.
That means paperwork, and here, they are forced by Congress
to do things the old-fashioned way,
because members of Congress, backed by the NRA,
passed laws forbidding the agency from using computers.
-Are you (bleep) kidding me? -(laughter)
In the name of gun rights, the NRA found a way
to stop law enforcement from using computers.
Now they have to rely solely on paperwork.
That's like telling a teenager he can only jerk off
-to the Mona Lisa, that's all. That's... -(laughter)
"You can jerk off, but only to the Mona Lisa."
And the kid will be like, "What? Are you crazy?!
"I mean, I'll get it done, but it's just not very efficient.
-Oh! Oh!" -(applause)
"I don't even know if she's smiling. Ugh!"
And a lot of people think
the NRA has always been an extreme gun rights group,
but that's not true,
because that's actually not how it started.
BARRETT:
was a very tame, not particularly
political organization.
BENNETT:
They helped people
teach their children and their friends and family
how to use and store and keep firearms safely.
The NRA supported
the Gun Control Act of 1968, for example.
Oh, wow.
So the NRA was a firearms safety organization
that also supported gun control.
What a dramatic change in goals.
It's like learning that the Ku Klux Klan
was once an organization devoted
to the care and maintenance of bedsheets.
(laughter)
And then one day, someone was like,
"Aah, there's holes in these sheets!
Now we have to find something else to do with them."
-(laughter) -So, going back.
During the 1960s and '70s,
there was a surge in riots and assassinations,
and because of that,
more gun laws and more gun control laws were passed.
And because of that,
a few people within the NRA decided to act.
CASSIDY:
"We've got other things to worry about
than teaching guys how to shoot or how to hunt."
And that was the transformative period.
NARRATOR:
at the NRA convention in Cincinnati.
As they got down to business, there was a showdown--
hunters and sportsmen, versus gun rights activists.
A group of hard-liners committed
to a no-compromises approach to the second amendment,
manipulated the rules of order,
and literally took over the NRA overnight.
Damn. You know, a lot of people would think
the last place you would expect a coup is within the NRA,
-'cause, I mean, everyone has a gun. -(laughter)
But you see, because of that,
they choose to solve all of their disputes
using a complicated system known as "rock, paper, scissors."
-(laughter) -That's what they do.
Yeah, and then one guy kept his gun, and he was like,
-"I win, I win. We're changing the rules." -(laughter)
So, after 1977, the NRA had a new mission--
to radically redefine gun rights in America.
And, to help sell that mission,
it brought in a professional lobbyist named Wayne LaPierre.
He's the guy who turned the NRA into a political powerhouse.
He's been the executive vice president and the main face
of the group for 25 years, and it's because of his leadership
that the NRA has prevented any serious safety legislation
in an era when annual active shooter incidents
have reached peak levels.
And when you hear Wayne LaPierre speak,
you'll understand why he's been so successful.
Because there's somebody else who's been just as successful
using the same technique.
Something in our country has gone wrong.
We don't have a country anymore.
The Obama-Clinton administration slashed America's military.
Our military, as you know, it's being decapitated.
Failed border policy.
Mexico is just killing us at the border.
Drug cartels, carjackers.
They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime.
Knockout gamers and rapers and haters and campus killers.
And gang members who prey on civilians.
We will take back our country,
and we will help restore America to its rightful place.
We are going to make America great again.
-Ah! -(laughter)
I love the smell of demagoguery in the morning.
(laughter)
And when you think about it,
Donald Trump and the NRA are a match that was meant to be.
Although, they both
and even pro gun control,
they rose to their current heights of political power
by stoking apocalyptic fears with deranged rhetoric.
Plus, one way or another,
the NRA and Trump both make everybody think,
"You know what? Maybe I