NRA's LaPierre: wonk with million-dollar megaphone FILE: Dec. 21, 2012: National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre pauses as he makes a statement during a news conference in Washington.AP Wayne LaPierre would just as soon read a book as fire a gun. That's right, the National Rifle Association's fire-breathing defender of gun rights is more academic than marksman. Joseph Tartaro of the pro-gun Second Amendment Foundation calls LaPierre a "police wonk" who's "more professorial than you would think." Former NRA spokesman John Aquilino says LaPierre is best described as "an absent-minded professor." A professor, that is, with a million-dollar megaphone and a well-honed ability to dish apocalyptic warnings about a tyrannical government angling to grab people's firearms. For decades, LaPierre has been serving up heated us-vs.-them rhetoric to rally the NRA faithful. Usually it works. Sometimes it backfires