Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.When Wayne La Pierre, the chief executive of the National Rifle Association (NRA), gave a press conference in Washington to address the tragedy in Newtown, he blamed mass shootings not on the availability of assault weapons in the US, but on violence in popular culture.
But the NRA’s National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, Virginia, has its own exhibition entitled “Hollywood Guns”. Speaking at his organisation’s press conference on 23 December, Mr LaPierre condemned “blood-soaked films… like American Psycho... and Natural Born Killers”. He said Hollywood has “the nerve to call it entertainment.… Isn’t fantasising about killing people as a way to get your kicks really the filthiest form of pornography”?
But a gun-control advocate, Tom Diaz, who is a senior policy analyst at the Violence Policy Centre, said in his blog this week that the NRA and the gun industry exploit the popularity of violent films to sell more firearms. “It would be hard to find a more hypocritical statement.”
Among the items on display in the exhibition – for which Mr LaPierre is credited as “executive producer” – are the .44 Magnum from Dirty Harry, a Beretta used by Bruce Willis in Die Hard and the Remington shotgun used by Javier Bardem’s hitman in No Country for Old Men.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments