Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) had stern words for the National Rifle Association on Tuesday, responding to the gun group’s new president attacking student survivors of the shooting in Parkland, Florida, for allegedly engaging in “civil terrorism.”
“The NRA is kind of just shy of a terrorist organization,” Schultz told HuffPost. “They have done everything they can to perpetuate the culture of violence that we have in our country with the spread of assault weapons across the nation.”
In an interview with The Washington Times last week, newly elected NRA president Oliver North accused students of Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School of using “intimidation and harassment and lawbreaking” in the anti-gun efforts they launched following the Valentine’s Day massacre that left 17 people dead at their campus.
“They call them activists. That’s what they’re calling themselves. They’re not activists — this is civil terrorism,” North said.
The retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel previously served on the NRA’s board of directors. He is best known for his involvement in the Iran-Contra firearms scandal in the 1980s, in which he was found to have played a key role in the clandestine sale of weapons to Iran, which was under an arms embargo at the time. Funds from those transactions were then funneled to bolster terrorist efforts against Nicaragua’s socialist government.
North was convicted of three felonies related to the scheme, including charges of obstructing a congressional inquiry and destroying evidence. The convictions were later vacated amid concerns that tainted testimony had been used in the case.
Still, Wasserman Schultz said she considered it ironic for someone with North’s past legal troubles to accuse young people of criminal behavior simply for “standing up to make sure that we can keep people safe.”