Should the NRA Offer Its Support to Lil Wayne?
MTV reports that rapper Lil’ Wayne pleaded guilty to a 2007 weapons possession charge resulting from a New York City traffic stop.
NYC cops pulled over Wayne’s bus in Columbus Circle and discovered a .40-caliber semi-automatic weapon hidden in a Louis Vuitton bag. Prosecutors tied the gun to Weezy through DNA testing.
Wayne’s detractors will focus on his songs about his love of the sizzurp and the sizzurp-related drug charges he’s facing from a 2008 MLK-day traffic stop in Arizona.
Supporters will point to T.I., an Atlanta rapper who got busted after buying guns from undercover FBI agents. Now serving time after also pleading guilty, T.I. was looking to up his personal protection firepower after his best friend was killed after an Ohio concert and police failed to make an arrest or identify a suspect.
Here’s the situation spelled out for the NRA: Lil’ Wayne is an American citizen with no prior convictions, dinged on an “attempted weapons possession” charge that will result in jail time and negatively impact his ability to travel outside the U.S. for work once he’s released.
Moreover, that arrest came after a questionable traffic stop in New York City, a city that’s aggressively trying to interfere with gun ownership both in and outside of its jurisdiction.
Wayne’s not the most attractive poster boy for gun rights in America, but it’s the hard cases where you really prove the power of your convictions. Are you in or out?
Under the Radar is commentary. We don’t report the news; we offer our take on what happened.
25 Comments
The NRA will defend any of its members who is wrongly prosecuted for a weapons charge.
Is this Wayne person a member of the NRA? I don’t think so! The NRA is not responsible to defend anyone on the planet from any weapons charge!! If you want their protection, JOIN!!
Was this person breaking a law? If so, he doesn’t deserve representation by the NRA! The NRA does not defend everyone who commits a crime concerning a weapon. To demand such is inane and assinine!
Anyone with any intelligence knows that the NRA defends the legal rights of its members. It does not defend anyone’s right to break the law, or defend anyone from the valid legal consequences of their actions simply becaused they used a gun. Such logic would demand that the NRA defend every armed robber and firearm-using murderer!
Thats NOT what the NRA is about!
If James Barber is so worried about a drug user who is hiding weapons, I suggest Barber hire an attorney for Wayne out of his own pocket instead of trying to con a fine organization into spending a fortune defending a druggie from the consequences of his confessed own actions!
What does the National Rifle Association have to do with this? NRA is America’s foremost anti-gun crime organization. NRA promotes programs, such as Project Exile, which encourage vigorous investigation & prosecution of gun related crimes & illegal use of firearms.
It would not be beyond comprehension for the NRA to be involved in the apprehension and prosecution of this fire arms criminal.
If he believes he’s being wrongly prosecuted, he should contact the NRA and ask them himself.
If he broke the law, there’s not a whole lot the NRA can do for him. What is it exactly that you would like the NRA to do? They could express sympathy, or voice again their disagreement with New York gun laws, but if the facts of the case show that he violated the law, that will have no effect.
As a life time member of the NRA I would be upset if they defended someone who clearly broke the law.
It is clearly against the law to carry a concealed weapon in New York.
I believe it was a sports player who recently was convicted of the same crime and was sentenced to time in prison.
Through The Book At Him!
the gun was on his tour bus, thats hardly unreasonable! I can’t stand Lil Wayne’s music, or anything about his vibe; but his real Rights were taken away from him and nobody gives a rip.… who does NY think they are that they can usurp the 2nd Amendment?! He didn’t break the law with the gun; New York broke the law! the Constitution is the Law of the Land, and those legislators should be thrown in prison for equal time.…
Whoever asked the question “If the NRA should defend this guy” must be either totally ignorant of what the NRA stands for, or he/she is deliberately trying defame the NRA with this asinine question. I totally believe the latter. If this guy is a thug/criminal he should be prosecuted.
New York has probably the most stringent/repressive gun laws that take the rights of “law abiding citizens”. These repressive laws take away the right of self defense from the good guys. If anyone who cares about their 2nd Amendment rights and the constitution had better go to their website. The media is pretty much left wing and will most always try to vilify the NRA and any other Pro-Second Amendment organization. When the 2nd Amendment is trampled so will all the others. Stand up and defend your civil right to be a LAWFUL gun owner and the right to defend yourself,family and country.
What in the Hell does A have to do with B here? Straw man argument, yes? This article wasted something like 45 seconds of my life. (Not including the time it took to write this.)
I have a question. Why can this super rich rapper not afford a gun license?
If the Person is a good member of the NRA???. But a 40 Caliber semi-automatic weapon “Hidden” . Sense when do you go hunting with a 40 Cal Semi-automatic. NRA is a Hunters Organization??? To hunt Game.“Animals” not men. And if it is for self protection then apparently he is doing business that is not rapping are singing.So no I don’t think that the NRA should support him are sponsor him!!!.
Lil’ Wayne and the typical NRA member are two totally different types of people — and I’m not just talking political views, either. Unfortunately, that’s why the NRA isn’t going to give two shits about him.
The NRA is not a “Hunter’s Organization”. It was originally established to promote training and marksmanship in the safe use of firearms. It has evolved to include the defense of the Constitutional 2nd Amendment Right to individual firearms ownership. A reminder, the 2nd amendment has nothing to do with hunting, but with protection of one’s own self, family, property, community, and country.
The question is:
Is a tour bus considered a ‘home’. When traveling alone or with family in a motor-home, using it as a residence whether on vacation or not it is considered your home and enjoys the same protections.
If traveling in a TOUR bus with persons not your family as a means of transportation and not as your home (likely staying in hotels) doesn’t qualify as being in your home, he probably has no defense, assuming the state and local laws prevent it. If it does, then the NRA should take an interest as it affects us all.
I think if Lil Wayne bought the gun leagally then the NRA should step in. However Lil Wayne should have learned all about the NY gun laws. The only reason the NRA should get involved is to prove NY is to strict but again only if the Gun was purchased LEGALLY. If it was all done illegally NO. Also the NRA is not just for hunters also for competition shooters and homedefense. The NRA is about not losing our Second Amendment rights they are not privliges they are our rights all of the constitutional rights are. Also the NRA should look into Hawaii’s strict gun laws if you get a DUI you cannot own a firearm. I do not see how a DUI and a Felony are the same in anyway. The laws in this country are getting out of hand.
NRA Lifetime Member and Disabled Veteran.
Wayne confessed to breaking the law! That settles the matter. The NRA supports vigorous and severe penalties for those who break the law with firearms. NO EXCEPTIONS!
Even if a firearms law is unfair, the NRA will NEVER condone breaking it! The NRA has NEVER advocated the arming of criminals, even in places with stringent and unfair laws!!!
Not everyone is allowed BY LAW to have a firearm in their possession in all situations. I would think that a drug addict with a drug case pending would absolutely fall into the catagory of someone not allowed to possess, conceal or transport a handgun!
The NRA defends the rights of LAW ABIDING citizens. Don’t bother us asking for help for scumbags and drug addicts!!
The law was broken by a seditious New York Legislators who knowingly broke the law of the Land in enacting ‘laws’ that violate the Supreme Law of the Land, ie the Constitution! Don’t you remember after the Civil War that Southern Racists made laws that attempted to violate the rights of Black Americans? This is the same thing but worse; its the 2nd Amendment, its right there at the top; there is no excuse; even if you are too lazy to read the whole Bill of Rights, this is right there at the top!!! The DA and the violating Legislators should be thrown in prison for equal time…
Regardless of whether Wayne confessed to breaking the law, the question should be “Does he have the right to carry a weapon”. To that answer a person with the intelligence can look to the U.S. Constitution which states in the 2nd amendment: “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” “Period” It doesn’t say whether or not he has been convicted of a felony! I personnally would rather for him and other felons to have guns and carry them, then for the government to take away our rights. This government is slowly encroaching upon our god-given, and Constitutional rights, but most of the citizens are asleep, or do not care, or do not know the difference. It is truely pathetic how Americans have squandered the rights that our forefathers fought so hard to obtain.
“None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free” (Johann W. Goethe, 1749–1832).
To me and any other true American patriot it should be irrelivant whether lil Wayne had a gun, as the U.S. Constitution states he has that right!
My book “Misery Injustice“
(www.miseryinjustice.com) tells of several miscarriages of justice which was committed by judicial officials here in Missouri.
Lil Wayne was only exercising his RIGHT to own and carry a firearm.
Ray Wolfe
He had an unlicensed gun in New York. He was transporting it illegaly. Everyone, in the WORLD knows that New York has the Sullivan (a crook) law. If the gun is the fruit of an illegal search then the court will declare it the poisoned fruit of Police action. I am a Benefactor member of the NRA and I plan on fighting my own battles. Screw Lil Wayne.
This may not be the most exemplary case for pistol possession, but it appears to me that the above-named singer got stopped on a bogus charge so the cops could go throuth the bus. The pistol wasn’t “hidden;” it was just stored. Like it or not, his rights are just as good as yours and mine. So let’s defend him.
Yes, If it is a legally purchased and owned private weapon. The NRA stands for all gun owners.
Scum like this wants protection? You can not protect against DEATH of NATURAL CAUSES…NATURAL to their LIFESTYLE.
Who cares, rapper scum because he does not possess any skills other than make trash rhyme, hold his crotch.
They hold the gun side up because that is the way it came out of the box.
Give me a break!!!
Homie take your medicine, DEAL WITH IT.
What I can’t figure out is — what does this, and most of the other articles, have to do with the Military on Military.com website?
Just looked him up on Wikipedia. numerous arrests for drug possession and use. He’s not eligible to own a gun. He needs a good lawyer.
Why is this wasting time/taking up space here? Lil Wayne broke the law, even tho it’s probably not a constitutional law. Also obviously not one of Mayor Bloomberg’s close political buddies or he would have have a permit in 30 minutes!
Why even invoke the NRA in connection with this guy???
Tom #20 — what does this have to do with the military, uh, let me think … oh, yeah, something about “support and defend the Constitution from all enemies foreign and DOMESTIC”. Spent 26 years defending your right to miss that small point.
I may not like the guy and what he stands for, but no prior convictions, if the gun was legally purchased, it may be a point about its storage in a bus, but the 2nd Amendment trumps state and local laws, or at least it should. For that reason this should be of interest to the NRA.