NRA’s LaPierre: Feinstein wants to turn gun control debate into ‘Christmas tree on the Hill’

National Rifle Association (NRA) Chief Executive Officer Wayne LaPierre in a Sunday interview repeatedly criticized Sen. Dianne Feinstein for pushing gun control legislation, saying the California Democrat wants to turn the debate “into a Christmas tree on the Hill.”

During an interview with CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” host John Dickerson asked LaPierre what Republicans supporting the NRA should want in the wake of the recent mass shooting in Las Vegas.

{mosads}“I think you want to tell ATF to do its job. It’s an interpretive issue. And they need to get the job done,” LaPierre said, referring to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. 

“But not let Dianne Feinstein, which is what she wants to do, turn this all into some Christmas tree on the Hill where she brings all her anti-gun circus, she’s been trying to do for years, into this.”

LaPierre reiterated the NRA’s call for the ATF to re-evaluate bump stock devices, which increase the rate of gunfire on semi-automatic weapons and were found in the hotel room of the suspected Las Vegas shooter

He again slammed Feinstein, who has long been an advocate for gun control legislation, saying the senator is pushing for a “utopian world without guns.”

“There’s not a gang member in Chicago who’s going ‘hey I’m going to get you, but first I have to go through Dianne Feinstein’s background checks.’ It’s nonsense,” he said in the interview.