Imagine the thought process that went into the decision to elevate one of the most notorious criminal actors in modern Republicanism to a top spot in the National Rifle Association.
Oliver North, for you youthful types, was a central figure in the Iran-Contra scandal, a Reagan administration scheme to smuggle arms to Iran in violation of American law, funneling the secret proceeds to Nicaraguan rebels—also in violation of American law. He was convicted for destroying evidence and obstructing the resulting congressional inquiry, convictions which were overturned after courts ruled that Congress had given him immunity from those prosecutions. For these acts of treason, he was and is widely feted by conservative Reagan loyalists who believe that presidents and their White House staff members should be able to violate whichever of the nation’s laws they feel inclined to.
So yes, that's precisely the figurehead the National Rifle Association needs: a man who betrayed his country, waving a gun around and demanding everyone else do the same. He’s a man who represents the new conservative celebration of lawlessness in service to Republican political power. What better spokesman for the National Rifle Association, a group devoted to the notion that their members may someday be obliged to not merely disobey the American government, but murder those that represent it?
North will no doubt be soon joined by the pardoned Joe Arpaio, and half the Bundy Ranch gang, and each of the Russian hackers under indictment for 2016 propaganda efforts. It doesn't matter if you break the law, so long as it's in service to the conservative ideas of the moment. Perhaps Rep. Devin Nunes can join them as well, after he has done his level best to leak whatever aspects of the Russia investigation he can pry out of Justice Department leaders. They can have a big ol' gun-waving traitor party, the lot of them.