| CNN:
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Now we give you the other side from the Executive Vice-President of the National Rifle Association, Wayne LaPierre. Wayne, thanks for being with us.
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| Wayne:
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Hi, Kyra. Good to be with you.
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| CNN:
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Well, if the ban on assault weapons expires, what kind
of weapons would be legal?
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| Wayne:
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Kyra, let me say this to start: I'm glad you ran the
story because apparently the only difference between "The New York
Times" and CNN is that when a reporter for "The New York Times" fakes
a story, he's fired, and at CNN he's not.
Your bureau chief, John Zarrella, deliberately faked the story
yesterday and intending to show that the performance characteristics
of banned firearms on the list are somehow different from the
performance characteristics of firearms not on the banned list. He was
-- he was implying that these were machine guns or fully automatic
guns. That's not true.
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| CNN:
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Mr. LaPierre, I have to stop you there. No one fakes
stories at CNN and John Zarrella definitely did not fake a story at
CNN. You're very off base. I'm going to let you say your opinion, and
let's have a conversation, but don't accuse our reporter of faking any
stories, sir.
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| Wayne:
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Let me say it again. In front of the whole country,
your reporter faked that story yesterday. It deliberately misread...
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| CNN:
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All right, we're going...
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| Wayne:
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There's no way it could be true and I challenge CNN to
defend it.
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| CNN:
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Well, we're not going to continue this interview
because our reporter did not fake...
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| Wayne:
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Because you don't want the truth! The truth you don't
want out there!
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| CNN:
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OK, that is not true. We did not fake a story.
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| Wayne:
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You ought to register your -- you ought to fill out a
lobby form and register.
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| CNN:
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Why don't we ask another question? What are the uses
for an assault weapon? Tell me what the uses are for this.
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| Wayne:
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Why can't you accept the truth? There is no
difference, Kyra, in the performance characteristics of the guns on
the banned list and the guns not on the banned list. They don't shoot
any faster, they're not more powerful, they're not machine guns, they
don't make any bigger holes, all which your reporter, John Zarrella,
implied in that story.
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| CNN:
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Let's talk about the ammunition. Folks had problem
with the ammunition. We've heard a lot in the last 24 hours from
viewers who made the point that it's not the weapons who do the
damage, it's the ammo. OK? Can legally be bought, ammunition. Now does
this do -- do just as much damage than an illegal weapon?
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| Wayne:
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Kyra, they all fire the same ammunition. Why can't you
accept the truth? There is no difference in the guns on the banned
list and the guns not on the banned list.
Your reporter's story was deliberately misleading the viewers.
Bill Clinton deliberately misrepresented the House and the facts to
the House of Representatives in the Congress and I don't believe this
House of Representatives is going to fall and have the wool pulled
over their eyes the way what happened did in '94.
The truth matters. The public needs to hear the truth and the
truth is every police officer on the street knows it. There's not a
dime worth of difference between the guns on the banned list and the
guns off the banned list in terms of their performance characteristics
and I challenge CNN again to defend that story to its viewers because
it's not true.
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| CNN:
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What do you say...
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| Wayne:
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All day yesterday you misled the viewers.
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| CNN:
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What do you say to the members of the law enforcement
community that we had on the air who say assault weapons don't belong
on the streets?
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| Wayne:
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Kyra, I got calls all day yesterday from law
enforcement officers going crazy over that story you ran saying it's
not true. They were dismayed that there was a law enforcement officer
on there lending himself to it.
The story misrepresented the facts. What we need to do to stop
crime -- every time you catch a criminal, 100 percent of the time,
prosecute him. Put him in prison.
We have all kinds of gun laws. Catch a violent felon with a gun,
put him in jail. Catch a violent drug dealer with a gun, put them in
jail 100 percent of the time. That's what rank-and-file cops know
stops crime. But again, I challenge CNN in the headquarters to take an
objective look at that story and defend it because it's simply not
true.
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| CNN:
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All right. Executive vice president...
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| Wayne:
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"The New York Times" reporter was fired, John Zarrella
ought to be fired.
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| CNN:
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Executive vice president of the National Rifle
Association, Wayne LaPierre, that's why we are interviewing you today
and that's why we're addressing this to show both sides of that story.
And we all stick by John Zarrella and how credible of a reporter
he is.
Thank you for your time, sir.
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