In this photo, taken May 4, 2018, former US Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North acknowledges attendees as he gives the Invocation at the National Rifle Association-Institute for Legislative Action Leadership Forum in Dallas. The NRA announced on Monday, May 8, 2018, that North would become President of the National Rifle Association of America within a few weeks, a process the NRA Board of Directors initiated this morning. (Photo by SUE OGROCKI / AP)
ATLANTA 鈥� Retired Lt. Col. Oliver North鈥檚 appointment as the next president of the National Rifle Association gives some star power to the gun lobby but also inspires disdain by gun-control advocates who call it a tone-deaf move that shows an unwillingness to find solutions to gun violence.
North, long a popular speaker before the NRA and other conservative groups, is being appointed at a time when the nation is roiled in debate about gun laws following several high-profile mass shootings that have tested the public鈥檚 support for the Second Amendment.
North, 74, the Marine at the center of the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980s and a darling of the right, will be the biggest celebrity to lead the five-million-member gun lobby since Hollywood leading man Charlton Heston, who famously declared in 2000 that his guns would have to be taken 鈥渇rom my cold, dead hands.鈥�
鈥淥liver North is a legendary warrior for American freedom, a gifted communicator and skilled leader,鈥� NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre said.
Momentum for gun control has been building since the mass shooting in Las Vegas last fall that killed 58 people and the Feb. 14 rampage at a Parkland, Florida, high school that left 17 dead.
North was picked Monday by the NRA鈥檚 board of directors, which elects a president every two years. He鈥檚 expected to assume office within the next several weeks. North succeeds Pete Brownell, who did not seek a second term.
LaPierre remains as vice president and chief executive, running the powerful group鈥檚 day-to-day operations. North will lead the board, and NRA observers say they anticipate he will take on a more public role in the style of Heston, a fiery presence who used his acting background to energize members.
North was a military aide to the National Security Council during the Reagan administration in the 1980s when he emerged into the spotlight for his role in arranging the secret sale of weapons to Iran and the diversion of the proceeds to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
He was convicted in 1989 of obstructing Congress during its investigation, destroying government documents and accepting an illegal gratuity. Those convictions were overturned in 1991.
With his crisp military bearing and teary-eyed testimony before Congress, North came to be regarded as an earnest American patriot by many on the right, and he went on to run for office, write several books and serve as a commentator on Fox 黑料社.
In a statement, North said he was honored to be selected and 鈥渆ager to hit the ground running.鈥�
North鈥檚 appointment was hailed by gun-rights supporters who consider him a warrior who will vigorously battle efforts to restrict access to firearms. Gun-control advocates called his appointment symptomatic of an NRA tone-deaf and unwilling to seek solutions to gun violence.
鈥淭he election of Oliver North is the clearest sign yet that the NRA is floundering in the face of plummeting popularity, scrutiny into its Russia ties, and state lawmakers who are defying the gun lobby left and right,鈥� said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. 鈥淭he NRA doesn鈥檛 need a new leader_it needs an entirely new direction.鈥�
Said Avery Gardiner, co-president of the Brady Campaign: 鈥淔or an organization so concerned with law and order, picking a new leader who admitted that he lied to Congress is a truly remarkable decision.鈥� The gun lobby, Gardiner said, 鈥渨ill be led by a man whose own concealed carry permit was revoked because he was 鈥榥ot of good character鈥�.鈥�
Robert J. Spitzer, chairman of political science at the State University of New York at Cortland and an expert on guns and the Second Amendment, called North the closest thing the NRA has to a celebrity.
鈥淎nd maybe they figure they need a more prominent person at the helm, as opposed to the string of relative unknowns who have served in recent years,鈥� Spitzer said.
Heston, who died in 2008, served from 1998 to 2003. In 2000, he sought to rally NRA supporters against Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore, warning that Gore was going to 鈥渟lander you as gun-toting, knuckle-dragging, bloodthirsty maniacs.鈥�
Hoisting a flintlock rifle, Heston declared: 鈥淔rom my cold, dead hands!鈥�
It was a time similar to today, an election following a high-profile mass shooting 鈥� the one at Columbine high school in 1999.