From a Litigator’s Perspective — a Devastating Argument against NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre’s Call for Police in All Schools — from MSNBC’s often Brilliant Political Liberal, Lawrence O’Donnell

© 2012 Peter Free

 

22 December 2012

 

 

As a former litigator, I admire closing arguments that sum a case brilliantly — and I don’t care which side makes them

 

In regard to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting horror, I doubt that anyone will surpass Mr. O’Donnell in factually countering NRA chief Wayne LaPierre’s call for putting police in each school.

 

As closing arguments go, Mr. O’Donnell’s is rationally and emotionally brilliant.  It uses factual analysis to defuse the merit of Wayne LaPierre’s arguably impractical economic thinking.  And it cleverly questions the credibility, mindset, and hypocrisy of a man who would quibble over gun-related terminology after 20 children are butchered.

 

 

People who want to learn how to weave logic and motivating emotion in court settings should watch the O’Donnell statement

 

Even if you despise Mr. O’Donnell and what he stands for.

 

The NRA’s biggest challenge is going to come (if it comes) from people who are motivated by passion and facts to the same degree that Mr. O’Donnell is.

 

 

Citation — to the video of Lawrence O’Donnell’s statement — a lesson for wannabe lawyers

 

Lawrence O’Donnell, The NRA Breaks Its Silence, The Last Word — MSNBC (21 December 2012) (18:34 minute video clip)

 

 

A sample

 

Beginning at 7 minutes 35 seconds into the video:

 

He [Wayne LaPierre] believes that if he can show one reporter using language about firearms that isn’t strictly technically accurate, then he can discount . . . everything that the American news media might say about guns.

 

Is there really something to quibble about in how powerful a bullet is when it is heading toward a six-year-old at the speed of 3200 feet per second?

 

What kind of desperate, cornered rat would dare to mention that the Sandy Hook shooter could have used a more powerful bullet?

 

Could have what? Done more damage? Made the bodies of six-year-olds even more difficult to identify?

 

© 2012 Lawrence O’Donnell, The NRA Breaks Its Silence, The Last Word — MSNBC (21 December 2012) (at approximately 07:35 minutes into the 18:34 video clip)

 

 

The moral? — Persuasion is all about weaving shared experience and emotion into cogent argument

 

If the post-Sandy Hook American public manages to pay attention for more than a few months, O’Donnell’s technically admirable flow of advocacy may catch currency.