On June 13, 2001, I was in Washington, D.C. to give a keynote luncheon address at the annual meeting of the Brady Campaign. Since I was going to be there, I had someone order a sign just like the one I carried at the State Capitol ten days after Columbine. While I was there, I just had to go to the headquarters of the NRA, because I was fed up and frustrated.
It was May 11 of 1999, three weeks after Columbine, that I wrote a letter to NRA President Charlton Heston. I wrote because I was so bothered by what was happening in America with gun violence. I asked Mr. Heston questions about the Columbine tragedy and about his organization’s stands on gun control. Since he was noted for his Biblical movie roles, I asked him if he thought Jesus could care less about the “right” to own a gun or carry a concealed weapon.
After a few months, I never received a response to that letter, despite a few requests, and despite the fact that on three occasions NRA employees told me on the phone that I would be receiving a response.
In March 2000 I actually I actually had the opportunity to meet the NRA’s chief executive, Wayne LaPierre, on neutral ground. Jim Brady, myself and LaPierre attended two events in Denver in which we voiced mutual support for a program that targets criminals possessing guns. LaPierre looked uncomfortable as we stood together after we were introduced backstage, and he said little. I handed him an envelope that contained my letter to Heston and a personal note to LaPierre that politely requested a response to my original letter. He put it in the pocket of his suit jacket. He never responded to the request.
In the Fall of 2000 I called NRA headquarters and again complained about getting no response to my letter. A few weeks later I got a call from a woman named Suzie who said she was a contractor asked to provide me a response. But again, a response never came.
I never even received a simple note of acknowledgement. I went to the NRA national offices in Fairfax, Virginia on June 13, 2001. I carried the sign with Daniel’s picture on it. On one side were the words, “My son Daniel died at Columbine. He would expect me to be here today.” On the other it read, “Why won’t Heston respond to me?” After arriving, I went into the NRA lobby and gave an employee a statement explaining my complaint and requesting a response from someone, saying that I would be outside waiting.
I was joined by a handful of people–four reporters and three people from the Brady Campaign. But I marched alone, because I wanted it that way. As I marched, one heckler in a car drove up and screamed, “Your son should have had a gun, you stupid m*f*.”
First I marched legally along the public sidewalk. After 45 minutes, I discovered the NRA public affairs office had talked to a reporter (but not me), so in disgust I moved onto NRA property—the parking lot. I sat in the driveway and also marched around the main entrance area.
It bothered me that the NRA sent a man out to photograph me, but they wouldn’t send someone to talk to me. But there wasn’t much for them to photograph: I was peaceful and respectful during my protest.
Fairfax County police were then called in by the NRA. They were very pleasant, trying to find a resolution and telling me I could be arrested for trespassing. I indicated I simply wanted a response after waiting two years. I told them I had certainly had worse things happen to me than being arrested.
At about 4:30 the NRA said they wanted me off their property. When I refused to do so, I was arrested, handcuffed and put into a patrol car. I was arrested on misdemeanor trespass charges, spent about an hour in a holding cell with about 18 other men, then was released on $250 bail. I had to return August 22 for a hearing.
I flew back for the hearing. When the case was called up, the district attorney informed my attorney that the arresting police officer had resigned and that summonses had not been issued, and there were no witnesses in the courtroom. The judge dismissed the case. That was it.
Arrested a Second Time
I returned to NRA headquarters on April 5, 2005, this time wearing Daniel’s Vans shoes. I was in Washington, D.C. to participate in a press conference at the Capitol sponsored by U.S. Senators supporting renewal of the assault weapons ban.
After speaking at the press conference, I mentioned to the media that I would be going to NRA headquarters to march in protest. When I did so, I was probably tipping off the NRA, because at that time they had a radio network, so they likely had someone at the event with press credentials.
When I arrived at the NRA HQ, they seemed to be waiting for me. As I approached the building, myself and a TV news team noticed a number of people milling around the outside of the building, watching us. When I approached the front door, I held a copy of my 1999 letter to Heston, along with a note requesting a response to the letter. Standing at the front door was a young security guard who said not a word when I greeted him.
When I tried to open the front door, I discovered it was locked. Apparently they were so afraid of me that they decided to lock the doors of their national headquarters building! Wow, what power I had! Fittingly, a moment later, as we stood there awkwardly at an impasse, a deliveryman came to the front door. He expressed dismay that the front door was locked. He asked what was going on, but the guard just stood there, looking confounded.
Rather than paralyze the helpless guard any longer, I picked up my sign and began to march. But before I walked away I placed my letter in the crack between the two front doors. It made for a great photo opportunity, with my letter suspended in the crack between the two doors that were locked to keep the dangerous Columbine dad from entering the hallways of probably the most powerful (and armed) lobby in Washington, D.C.
Again they called the Fairfax County police and again I was arrested for trespassing after I refused to leave without getting a response from the NRA. I was sent to police headquarters for booking, but this time the magistrate released me on personal recognizance and told me I had to return a few months later to face charges.
On August 22, 2005 I returned for a hearing on the charges. This time I had a different legal team, and NRA attorneys were there. I was offered a plea bargain, but I refused it. Knowing the NRA was there in the courtroom, I was determined to go ahead with a hearing, willing to risk a harsher sentence. The NRA wouldn’t acknowledge me, so I felt it was time to force them to at least face me in court and try to get some response from them.
My attorney challenged the trespassing charge on the grounds that on three different occasions I was told by the NRA that I would get a response to my letter, so I was on their property with a good faith belief I was seeking a response, and that if there was something willful and criminal about being on the property, other people who were there with me on the property would have been arrested that day also. They weren’t. It was only me.
In the end, the judge didn’t accept our arguments. He just went with the basic facts of the case—I was picketing, I was trespassing, I was asked to leave and I refused.
The prosecutor pointed out that representatives of the NRA in the courtroom wanted to make it known that they were concerned that my trespass could have resulted in violence if I had stayed on the property. I was appalled! They feared violence? Violence by whom? Their employees? Gun nuts?
The judge “continued” the case until August 22 of the following year, with the charges to be dismissed if I obeyed the law and didn’t trespass again. I stayed out of trouble and the charges were dismissed a year later.
Trying Again. And Again
I was well aware that after Charlton Heston left the NRA presidency my letter was out of date. So, I slightly reworked my letter, addressing it to two subsequent presidents of the NRA, Kayne Robinson and Sandra Froman, during their terms as president. I asked the same basic questions of them that I had asked Heston, adding that I was disappointed the NRA had lied on numerous occasions about responding to me.
I never received an acknowledgement from them either, so I developed a new strategy. In April 2006, I sent a letter to my two U.S. Senators, Democrat Ken Salazar and Republican Wayne Allard, as well as to my House Representative, Republican Tom Tancredo.
I told them about my quest to get a response from the NRA, and attached the recent letter I had sent to NRA President Froman. I expressed frustration at waiting seven years for a response. I didn’t ask them to criticize the NRA. I simply asked them to write to the NRA on behalf of me, their constituent, requesting that they respond to me.
Much to my surprise, all three responded to me that they had sent a request to the NRA, and they cc’d me. But despite this pressure, I never received a response from Froman or the NRA. Not only did the NRA again thumb its nose at me, they also ignored the written requests of two U.S. Senators and a House member. Can you imagine any other lobbying group being so brash and unresponsive? But that’s how a powerful organization behaves when it feels untouchable with no need to be responsive.
Only Silence
Gun activists have written to me that the NRA should not be expected to respond to someone who has openly criticized and protested against them. I beg to differ. If an organization believes in what it stands for, it ought to be willing to stand up for it in the face of opposition. Most national organizations have a cadre of public relations staff who try to deflect criticism, who try to quell the protests of opponents, who do their best to “kill their opponents with kindness,” even when they know they’re not likely to win them over. But not the NRA.
How responsible is the NRA if it simply refuses to respond to those who criticize it? If the NRA feels its opposition to gun control laws is justified and without consequences, it ought to respond to the tough questions put to it. What’s there to fear? Sure, it’s difficult to respond to grieving victims. But that goes with the territory if you’re going to promote unfettered access to weapons and see such consequences. By ignoring those victims the organizations seems not to have an ounce of compassion.
I’ve received many emails from gun activists insisting the NRA has no obligation to respond to me. I have never said the NRA was obligated to respond to me. But why not at least acknowledge my letter in some way? Why did they tell me they’d respond and then not do so? What kind of organization so readily dismisses and misleads the victim of a horrific crime?
The refusal of the NRA to respond to me is very symbolic of the NRA’s refusal to respond to the many questions that Americans have about gun laws, loopholes and this epidemic of gun violence. When they diss me, America, they’re also dissing you.
I felt that I had to resort to civil disobedience in order to make a point: that the NRA is unwilling to respond to simple questions from a grieving father about the gun laws it supports. They are unwilling to face those who’ve suffered as a result of the public policies the NRA has promoted. How long will we have to wait to get answers? I continue to wait. America waits.
Daniel Mauser Memorial Website 