I personally haven’t seen any LaPierre defenders, but I am sure they exist.
I imagine they are older people who have this sort of reference for institutions and leaders and just make up excuses because, by-god, you can’t admit you were wrong about something or else the other side wins!
People have grumbled about the NRA for DECADES and how they do things. Their fundraising to lobbying ratio has long been in question. And for a long time people were like “Yeah, they suck at this or that, but it’s the best defense we got.” But in the last ~20 years there have been several other larger rights groups and a lot more local groups at the state level which are actually DOING things, and more and more people have just let their membership lapse.
