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Monday, Feb 25, 2013 6:50 PM UTC

Wayne LaPierre: Still paranoid

The NRA's CEO continues his streak of fearmongering about gun confiscation VIDEO

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Topics: Video, Wayne LaPierre, NRA, Second Amendment, Barack Obama, Gun Control,

Wayne LaPierre: Still paranoid (Credit: AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Shortly after cautioning the world about looting Brooklynites, the NRA’s chief executive Wayne LaPierre issued another ominous warning about the Obama administration’s push to implement universal background checks. “Don’t you be fooled – there is nothing universal and nothing reasonable about it,” LaPierre told the 2013 Western Hunting and Conservation Expo in Utah.

“This so-called universal background check… is aimed at one thing,” LaPierre said. “It’s aimed at registering your guns. And when another tragic opportunity presents itself, that registry will be used to confiscate your guns.

“This is not universal background checks, this is universal registration of all of your firearms,” he added.

When noting that it would be very easy for a government list of gun owners to be leaked or published (like the New York Journal News did in January), LaPierre also offered up the somewhat logically inconsistent theory that the list could then be used by criminals to target gun owners. “So picture this: Your name, your address on a map giving directions to your home that could include a list of all the specific firearms you own. That’s a pretty handy list if you’re a seasoned criminal or a drug dealer or a gang member,” he said.

Watch the full speech:

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com. More Jillian Rayfield.

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