LaPierre graduated from Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, VA in 1967. He received his BA in Education from Siena College in Loudonville, NY and his MA in government from Boston College. He has been a government activist and lobbyist ever since finishing his MA, including positions on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Political Consultants, the American Conservative Union, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Since 1991, he has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Rifle Association, the largest American gun rights organization. LaPierre joined the NRA in 1977 after working as a legislative aide to a Democratic Virginia Delegate Vic Thomas.

LaPierre has authored several books on weaponry topics, ranging from shooting practices to terrorism to gun safety to crime. He also makes appearances promoting the NRA at gun shows and political events. Citing Democratic candidate John Kerry's history of authoring and supporting gun control legislation, LaPierre actively campaigned against the senator in the 2004 Presidential elections. In that campaign, the NRA supported Republican President George W. Bush after determining that he was the candidate closest to their position on gun rights and gun policies.

Television

LaPierre also hosts Crime Strike, a syndicated weekly television program airing across the United States that advocates gun use in self-defense and highlights situations where people have taken a stand against criminal suspects.

Online

In October 2006, LaPierre instituted a weekly podcasts on the NRAnews.com website called "What They Didn't Tell You Today." Every weekday, LaPierre gives a short broadcast about gun rights.

Books

• Guns, Crime, and Freedom (1994)
• Shooting Straight: Telling the Truth About Guns in America (2002)
• Guns, Freedom, and Terrorism (2003)
• The Global War on Your Guns (2006)
• The Essential Second Amendment Guide (2007)

In 1995, former President George H. W. Bush resigned his lifelong membership in the NRA after LaPierre called federal firearms agents, who were involved in the Ruby Ridge, Idaho and Waco, Texas assaults, "jackbooted thugs."

In 2000, LaPierre said President Bill Clinton tolerated a certain amount of violence and killing to strengthen the case for gun control and to score points for his party. Charlton Heston, the then-president of the National Rifle Association, called LaPierre's language "extreme rhetoric." Clinton White House spokesman Joe Lockhart called it "really sick rhetoric, and it should be repudiated by anyone who hears it."

In 2004, LaPierre debated Rebecca Peters, head of the International Action Network on Small Arms, at King's College London.