Wayne Lapierre Biography
Wayne Lapierre born Wayne Robert LaPierre, Jr. is an American author, government activist, guns right activist, and lobbyist since receiving his master’s degree in government.
As the executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, Robert advocated armed guards for schools in response to the school shootings at Sandy Hook and Stoneman Douglas. He has been on the board of directors of the American Association of Political Consultants, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the American Conservative Union.
Wayne Lapierre Age
Wayne Robert LaPierre, Jr. was born on November 8, 1949, in Schenectady, New York, U.S. He is 68 years old as of 2018.
Wayne Lapierre Family
He is the eldest child of Hazel (Gordon) and Wayne Robert LaPierre, Sr. His father was an accountant for the local General Electric plant. His family moved to Roanoke, Virginia, when Robert was five years old and was raised in the Roman Catholic church.
Wayne Lapierre Wife
Lapierre is married to Susan Lapierre.
NRA Wayne Lapierre
He has served as executive vice president and chief executive officer of the National Rifle Association (NRA) SINCE 1991. It is the largest gun rights and small arms industry advocacy organization in the United States. He joined the NRA in 1977 after working as a legislative aide to Democratic Virginia delegate and gun rights advocate Vic Thomas.
NRA contributions totaled $103 million in 2014 and his compensation was $985,885. NRA contributions totaled $95 million in 2015. In that year, He received a $3.7 million “employee funded deferred compensation plan”, which was required by federal law, according to the NRA raising his total annual compensation to $5,110,985.
Wayne Lapierre Gun Control
In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 which did result in the deaths of more than two dozen children and adults, he famously suggested that a “national database of lunatics” would do more to solve the country’s gun violence problem than banning the assault-style weapons so often used in such crimes. He supports;
- Increase of funds for a stricter and more efficient mental health system, and the reform of civil commitment laws to facilitate the institutionalization of the mentally ill when necessary.
- The creation of a computerized universal mental health registry of those adjudicated to be legally incompetent is to help limit gun sales to the mentally ill.
- Increase in the enforcement of federal laws against and confinement of violent gang members or felons with guns.
- Project Exile and similar programs that mandate severe sentences for all gun crimes, especially illegally possessing it. He stated, “By prosecuting them, they prevent the drug dealer, the gang member, and the felon from committing the next crime.
- He also supports the bans on fully automatic firearms
Wayne Lapierre Military Service
There is no public record or published mention of LaPierre ever having served in the military. Various queries to the NRA public affairs office concerning Mr. LaPierre’s military service went unanswered.
Wayne Lapierre Books
Wayne Lapierre Salary
Most recently, LaPierre received an annual salary of roughly $1 million from the NRA. In some previous years, he has earned far more. In 2015, he received $5,051,249 and $1,422,339 in 2016.