Already in turmoil over legal issues, the boss of the powerful US pro-gun lobby NRA, Wayne LaPierre, has been embarrassed since a video was released that shows him awkwardly shooting an elephant in Botswana, wearing a new blow to its reputation.
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The footage (from 6.35 seconds in the video below), shot as part of a National Rifle Association-sponsored documentary, is from 2013 and was unearthed by media outlets
The Trace
and
The New Yorker
.
The series was never aired, with the lobby worried about a possible "
public relations fiasco,
" according to the
New Yorker
.
“
Victory!
"
We see Wayne LaPierre, executive vice-president of the NRA, a fervent supporter of firearms, gone elephant hunting in Botswana. He shoots a nearby beast but only injures it. Brought even closer to the elephant by a guide, LaPierre shoots almost at close range but still misses his target. After further attempts, someone else will finish off the animal. Other footage shows Wayne LaPierre's wife, Susan, killing another elephant and then cutting off its tail, shouting "
Victory!"
".
And this is how "
Wayne LaPierre manages to alienate both hunters and gun owners because not only is it inhuman, but he is also a very bad shooter,
" responded Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, an organization that fights against the proliferation of weapons in the United States. “
It is despicable to see LaPierre's brutal and awkward slaughter of this magnificent creature. No animal should suffer like this,
”said Tanya Sanerib, of the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement. "
The elephants of the savannah have just been declared an endangered species by international experts,and these clever beasts should in no way be used as a paper target by an incompetent shooter
She said again.
The NRA is not at its first setbacks.
In early August, she was attacked by the New York State prosecutor, who is demanding its dissolution.
Mr. LaPierre and three other senior officials are accused of having used the contributions of their members as "
their own piggy bank
", to the point of having rendered the organization almost insolvent.
The NRA counterattacked by filing for bankruptcy in federal court in Dallas.