NRA's Ted Nugent: The Real Racist Is President Obama, Not Me

TIMOTHY JOHNSON/Media Matters For America

National Rifle Association board member Ted Nugent claimed that he is "the antithesis of a racist" and that instead President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder "are clearly guilty of racism" because "they make public judgments based on the color of someone's skin instead of the content of their character."

In his regular column for conservative website Rare, Nugent attacked the "hateful media" for leveling charges of racism against him afterhe made a series of racially charged comments in wake of the acquittal of George Zimmerman. According to Nugent, the people he meets across the country are "aghast at the vulgar dishonesty of a media that has plummeted into the soulless abyss of hurling the hateful accusation of 'racism' at [him] and anybody they disagree with."

The real racists, according to Nugent, are Obama and Holder, who he suggests judged Zimmerman -- who was acquitted of murdering Florida teenager Trayvon Martin -- on the basis of his race and not his character:

We are most offended that the president of the United States and the U.S. attorney general are clearly guilty of racism when they intentionally bring race to the fore when they make public judgments based on the color of someone's skin instead of the content of their character in total defiance of the findings of the FBI, Department of Justice, entire state's investigative resources and a jury verdict.

In his column, Nugent also grouped "racist scam masters" Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and "other black panthers" before writing that "the foodstamp scam is being allowed to enslave so many able-bodied Americans."

Since the acquittal of Zimmerman on July 13, Nugent has made a number of offensive generalizations about the African-American community, leading to calls for his removal from the NRA board of directors.

During a July 16 appearance on conspiracy theory radio program The Alex Jones Show, Nugent claimed that African-Americans could fix "the black problem" if they just put their "heart and soul into being honest, law-abiding, [and] delivering excellence at every move in your life," also adding his belief that "racism against blacks was gone" by "the late [19]60s."

On July 23, Nugent joined entertainer Nick Cannon's podcast to claim that he was an "anti-racist" just moments before suggesting that African-Americans should be profiled the same way members of a community might profile a breed of dog that was attacking children. Nugent doubled down on these comments in a July 24 opinion piece for conspiracy website WND, claiming that the black community has a "mindless tendency to violence" and that an inability to "read or speak clearly is the root of unemployment for blacks."

Nugent also leveled a number of attacks on Martin and his family, labeling the deceased teenager a "dope smoking, racist gangsta wannabe," an "enraged black man-child," and a "Skittles hoodie boy."

His recent comments follow a long history of inflammatory rhetoric on race and other topics:

NRA Fundraises On False Claims About U.N. Arms Trade Treaty

By Hayes Brown/Think Progress

The National Rifle Association is stoking the misguided fears of its members that the United Nations is coming to steal their guns through an international arms treaty in an attempt to raise funds needed to help block the treaty in the Senate.

In an email sent out on Wednesday to its supporters, the NRA ominously warned about the coming collusion between the United Nations and President Obama in the name of “trampling our Second Amendment freedoms.” The vehicle for this complete destruction of the Constitution? The recently passed United Nations Arms Trade Treaty(ATT), which opens for signature on June 3. Despite the fact that only North Korea, Syria, and Iran voted against the treaty, the right-wing in the United States has long opposed what it sees as a chance for the government to legally steal Americans’ handguns.

The NRA email went to great lengths to solidify this fear in the minds of its supporters, repeatedly referring to the ATT as the “global gun ban treaty,” or variations thereof. “We need to send a clear message to every Senator that they have only two choices: Side with us and stop the U.N. gun ban treaty … or start looking for a new job at election time,” the message tells its readers. Despite the dark tidings, the ATT actually doesn’t affect the Second Amendment, something that even Texas’ extremely conservative attorney general begrudgingly admitted.

Instead, the treaty seeks to limit the sale of arms — including attack helicopters, tanks, and other larger arms, as well as small arms and ammunition for these weapons — to regimes that use them to violate human rights. To achieve this, the treaty requires states set up a system for tracking exports of arms to other countries and reporting those statistics to the United Nations annually. The U.S. government already tracks the sale of weapons overseas, meaning very little will change in practice for American citizens.

Undaunted by facts and unable to kill the treaty before it passed at the United Nations, despite its best efforts, the NRA now is attempting to shut down its passage in the Senate. As with all treaties, a two-thirds majority is required to ratify the ATT. “Your signed petition is the best tool we have against this attack on our gun rights and our national sovereignty,” the message declares, urging people to sign on to help “line the halls of the Senate with boxes and boxes of these petitions.”

The NRA is asking for “emergency contributions” from petition-signers. “This year, we’ve been forced to spend more than we’ve ever spent … because the attacks we’re facing have been bigger than anything we’ve ever faced before,” the email pleads, seeming to use the time-tested tactic of exploiting fear to raise money.

Unfortunately, the NRA’s messaging already seems to have permeated Washington, with prominent conservatives such as John Yoo and John Bolton penning op-eds unfairly condemning the treaty’s provisions. Senate Republicans are already lining up to condemn the treaty based on the same false pretenses as the NRA. Some members of the GOP are even warning that the treaty will lead to a Rwanda-like genocide. In spite of this opposition, the Obama administration has already made clear that it does intend to sign the treaty once it opens for signature.

NRA Features Conservative Media Figures Known For Violent Rhetoric, Baseless Conspiracies At Annual Meeting

TIMOTHY JOHNSON/Media Matters For America

The National Rifle Association's annual meeting on May 3-5 will feature a number of conservative media figures -- including Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Ted Nugent -- who often use violent rhetoric and promote gun-related conspiracy theories.

Glenn Beck: Premiere Radio Networks Host And Former Fox News Host

Beck Will Keynote The NRA's "Stand And Fight Rally." The rally is being billed as "NRA's most important gathering of the year."

[2013 NRA Annual Meetings And Exhibits, accessed 4/29/13; NRA Digital Network, accessed 4/30/13]

Beck Asks, "Why Would You Get A Gun?" And Then Points To Picture Of Obama. From the June 13, 2011, edition of Fox News' Glenn Beck:

[Fox News, Glenn Beck, 6/13/11]

Would-Be Assassin Of Liberals Inspired By Beck Conspiracies. On July 18, 2010, Byron Williams engaged in a shootout with police while traveling towards San Francisco to carry out a plan to murder employees of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Tides Foundation. Williams admitted to reporter John Hamilton that he learned about conspiracy theories from Beck, who had attacked the relatively unknown Tides Foundation, a progressive organization, 29 times on his show in the year-and-a-half leading up to Byron's arrest:

"I would have never started watching Fox News if it wasn't for the fact that Beck was on there. And it was the things that he did, it was the things he exposed that blew my mind. I said, well, nobody does this."

Throughout the interview -- and in a letter I would receive later -- Byron tells me I need to watch Beck's programs from June. He says that's where I can learn about the Soros-Obama-Petrobras conspiracy he heatedly described in our earlier conversation.

"You need to go back to June -- June of this year, 2010 -- and look at all his programs from June. And you'll see he's been breaking open some of the most hideous corruption," Byron says. "A year ago, I was watching him, and it was OK, he was all right, you know? ... But now he's getting it." [Media Matters, 10/11/10]

Pittsburg Anti-Government Cop Killer Reportedly "Loved Glenn Beck." On April 4, 2009, Richard Poplawski fatally shot three police officers who responded to a domestic violence report at his residence. During an interview conducted by former Media Matters writer Will Bunch, one of Poplawski's friends said that the now-convicted murderer "loved Glenn Beck":

"Rich, like myself, loved Glenn Beck," Poplawski's best friend Eddie Perkovic told me during a long interview in his narrow rowhouse on the steep hill running down to the Allegheny. (Perkovic had a lot of time -- he was wearing an ankle bracelet for house arrest because of an unrelated case.) Perkovic and his mom -- who also had a close relationship with the accused cop-killer, still awaiting trial -- told me that for months Poplawski had been obsessed with an idea -- frequently discussed by Beck, including in ads for his sponsor Food Insurance -- of the need to stockpile food and even toilet paper for a societal breakdown. Poplawski was also convinced that paper money would become worthless -- another claim given credence by the Fox News Channel host, particularly in close connection with his frequent shilling for the now-under-investigation gold-coin peddler Goldline International.

And there was another idea that not only worried Poplawski but which Perkovic and his mom still swore by in January 2010 -- despite widespread debunkings in the mainstream media -- that the government had established a gulag of what Perkovic called "Guantanamo camps" here in the United States, for the purpose of arresting and detaining law-abiding Americans. This was the idea that Beck famously declared on FNC [Fox News Channel] on March 3, 2009, or one month and one day before the shootings, that "I can't debunk." Poplawski downloaded to the Web a video of Beck glibly discussing the possibility of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, abusing its powers with a U.S. Congressman, Ron Paul of Texas. [Media Matters, 10/11/10]

Beck: "To The Day I Die, I Am Going To Be A Progressive Hunter." During the January 20, 2010, edition of his radio show, Beck compared himself to "the Israeli Nazi hunters" in his claim that "to the day I die, I am going to be a progressive hunter":

BECK: You are going to learn so much on Friday. We are taking a huge risk on Friday by trying to teach America history that has been completely erased in the history books. And I'm telling you 15 minutes into this documentary, if you haven't had at least I think probably four times - I know the pieces to this documentary - and probably four times I went, "Oh my gosh, why didn't I know that?"

I mean it is staggering the history, the true history of the socialist progressive communist and Nazi movement. It is staggering. When you piece it all together, and I'm telling you after this special this Friday we are then going to the progressive handbook and will show you what these progressives do. I said to my wife last night, I am going to be like the Israeli Nazi hunters, I'm telling you, I'm going to find these big progressives and to the day I die, I am going to be a progressive hunter. I am going to find these people that have done this to our country and expose them. I don't care if they're in nursing homes. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Glenn Beck Program, 1/20/10]

Beck Threatens To Shoot Government Workers For Forcing His Children To Receive The Flu Vaccine. Pushing the false claim that the flu vaccine has been linked to autism, Beck said during the October 15, 2010, edition of his radio show  that government workers who would attempt to take his children for his refusal to participate in a forced vaccination program would "meet Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson," referring to the gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson:

BECK: But here's why it has to be drawn. Because, vaccinations. You don't give your kid vaccination -- how many people do you know that ten years ago people said, "Oh, vaccinations, please stop with the vaccination thing." How many people do you know who are really smart, who have really done their homework, who have children with autism, and say, "Don't do the vaccinations thing"? A lot.

STU BURGUIERE, CO-HOST: There's a lot of people who believe that.

PAT GRAY, CO-HOST: I've got very close friends who, and they swear by it. Vaccination thing. Swear by it.

BECK: My children? We're not getting the flu vaccine. No. The state comes and says my kids have to have the flu -- go to hell. Go to hell. Get off my porch. You want to take my kids because of that? Meet Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson. Get off my land. Period. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Glenn Beck Program, 10/15/10]

Beck: "You Will Have To Shoot Me In The Forehead Before You Take Away My Gun." Beck alluded to the Revolutionary War during a July 30, 2009, rant that employed violent imagery:

BECK: America is waking up. You know the American Revolution took place with 12 percent of population? Twelve. Are you telling me there is not 30 percent of this population that you will have to shoot me in the forehead before I let somebody into my house to tell me how to raise my children; you will have to shoot me in the forehead before you take away my gun; you will have to shoot me in the forehead before I acquiesce and be silent. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Glenn Beck Program, 7/30/09]

Beck's Warning To Democrats About "Radicals" In Their Party: "You're Going To Have To Shoot Them In The Head." Beck gave the following advice to Democrats during the June 9, 2010, edition of his Fox News program:

BECK: Just because you in Washington and you who are so out of touch with life in the media, just because you don't believe in something doesn't mean nobody else does. We do. You know why you're confused by this show? It's because I believe in something. You don't.

Tea parties believe in small government. We believe in returning to the principles of our Founding Fathers. We respect them. We revere them. Shoot me in the head before I stop talking about the Founders. Shoot me in the head if you try to change our government.

I will stand against you and so will millions of others. We believe in something. You in the media and most in Washington don't. The radicals that you and Washington have co-opted and brought in wearing sheep's clothing -- change the pose. You will get the ends.

You've been using them? They believe in communism. They believe and have called for a revolution. You're going to have to shoot them in the head. But warning, they may shoot you. 

They are dangerous because they believe. Karl Marx is their George Washington. You will never change their mind. And if they feel you have lied to them -- they're revolutionaries. Nancy Pelosi, those are the people you should be worried about. [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 6/9/10]

Ted Nugent: NRA Board Member And WND Columnist 

Nugent Will Host A Military-Themed Event Titled "Freedom Is Not Free - Repaying Our Debt To Heros [Sic]." From a description of the event on the NRA's annual meeting website:

There is a soldier in a flag draped box who died for America, the US Constitution and Freedom. We the people, who still believe in the American Dream, owe it to those who gave all to utilize our precious freedoms as provided by the ultimate sacrifices of the US Military warriors and their families. [2013 NRA Annual Meetings And Exhibits, accessed 4/29/13]

Nugent At 2012 NRA Meeting: "If Barack Obama Becomes The President In November, Again, I Will Either Be Dead Or In Jail By This Time Next Year." During a speech at the 2012 NRA annual meeting, Nugent also implored the audience to "ride into that battlefield and chop [Democrats] heads off in November." From Nugent's remarks:

NUGENT: If Barack Obama becomes the president in November, again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year. Why are you laughing? Do you think that's funny? That's not funny at all. I'm serious as a heart attack.

So, being at the NRA event, God bless you, good indicator, but if you can't go home and get everybody in your lives to clean house in this vile, evil, America-hating administration, I don't even know what you're made out of. 

[...] 

But what I feel in this room, is I feel this: I'm not taking this crap anymore. I've about had it. Leave my damned paycheck alone. Unless you can be accountable, you get nothing. And if you take that adamant, we-the-people defiance -- remember, we're Americans because we defied the king. We didn't negotiate and compromise with the king. We defied the emperors. We are patriots. We are Braveheart. We need to ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in November. Any questions? [PolitiFact, 4/19/12]

Nugent's "Metaphor" About Obama Reelection: "When I Kick The Door Down To The Enemy's Camp, Would You Help Me Shoot Somebody?" During an April 8 appearance on NRA News, Nugent suggested that conservatives had not given him enough help in preventing the reelection of Obama:

NUGENT: The left dominates the public discourse. And here we are, with the Chicago gangster, ACORN rip-off scam-artist-in-chief because we, who know better, were silent. I suppose we were being tolerant and moderate. And the Nugent guy, well he's a radical. And again, it's not about me. I don't want a pat on the back. I don't need one. I don't seek one. It's inconsequential.

But when I kick the door down to the enemy's camp, would you help me shoot somebody? Just help me clear the room. And again, that's a metaphor ladies and gentleman, I'm not recommending shooting anybody. It's a metaphor of how to counterpunch the enemy if someone is willing to be on the front line. [NRA News, Cam & Company, 4/8/13]

Nugent: "Piece Of Shit" Obama Should "Suck On My Machine Gun." From an August 22, 2007, concert where an assault-rifle-wielding Nugent also referred to then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as "a worthless bitch":

NUGENT: I was in Chicago last week. I was in Chicago and said, "Hey, Obama you might want to suck on one of these you punk." Obama, he's a piece of shit, and I told him to suck on my machine gun. Let's hear it for him. And then I was in New York. I said, "Hey, Hillary, you might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless bitch." Since I'm in California, how about [Senator] Barbara Boxer [D-CA], she might want to suck on my machine gun. And [Senator] Dianne Feinstein [D-CA], ride one of these you worthless whore. Any questions? [Ted Nugent via LiveLeak.com, accessed 4/29/13]

Nugent On Suspected Undocumented Immigrants: "I'd Like To Shoot Them Dead." From an October 13, 2008, appearance on Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:

ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: You want to kill on sight anybody who illegally comes into the country. Just shoot them, right?

NUGENT: If they're armed, and they're attacking our country, yes.

COLMES: Well, they wouldn't be attacking. You don't know if someone coming over the border -- would you just shoot anybody coming over the border who you suspect of being illegal?

NUGENT: In an unauthorized entry, armed, like they are right now, invading our country, I'd like to shoot them dead.

COLMES: Just shoot them dead. All right. [Hannity & Colmes via Nexis, 10/13/08]

Nugent: "If You Want Another Concord Bridge, I've Got Some Buddies." In an interview at a January 2013 gun industry trade show, Nugent told assembled reporters that the Obama administration "is attempting to re-implement the tyranny of King George" and that "if you want another Concord Bridge, I got some buddies": 

NUGENT: I'm part of a very great experiment in self-government where we the people determine our own pursuit of happiness and our own individual freedom and liberty not to be confused with the Barack Obama gang who believes in we the sheeple and actually is attempting to re-implement the tyranny of King George that we escaped from in 1776. And if you want another Concord Bridge, I got some buddies. [Media Matters, 1/22/13]

Nugent After Tucson Mass Shooting: "Conservatives Should Turn Up The Rhetoric." In the wake of a January 8, 2011, mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona where 19 people were shot including then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), Nugent rejected widespread calls to tone down political rhetoric in a Washington Times column:

Conservatives on the radio, on television and in print need to turn up the heat on Democrats with wit, passion, ideas and facts. Conservatives should not fall for the liberal ruse of toning down the rhetoric by waving a white flag and promising to play nice.

[...]

In order to defeat liberals on the political-ideology battlefield, conservatives must be clear in purpose and then get after it by targeting (yes, I said targeting) and attacking Democratic nostrums that have weakened America. Expose, isolate and eliminate liberals and their fuzzy-headed policies. Use Saul Alinsky techniques against them.

[...]

Conservatives have liberals outnumbered and surrounded. Don't play nice with liberal snakes. Don't let them escape. Instead, do America a favor and crush liberalism. [The Washington Times, 1/13/11]

Nugent: Gun Owners "Will Be The Rosa Parks And We Will Sit Down On The Front Seat Of The Bus." During an interview with WND, Nugent compared the prospect of opposing an Obama gun confiscation plot to the actions of civil rights icon Rosa Parks:

"If it comes to the actual implementation of an actual confiscatory directive from our president, then I do believe that the heroes of the law enforcement will defy this order," he said. "I do believe that there are enough soulless sheep within our government who would act on such an illegal order, but I believe the powers that be at the local, state and regional law enforcement would halt such an illegal, anti-American order.'

Nugent continued: "You are talking to a guy who talks to more gun owners in more heated and concerned conversations than anyone who lives. These are top notch heroes of law enforcement and military who understand this experiment in self-government and we will not let [gun confiscation] happen; we will do it peaceful.

"But there will come a time when the gun owners of America, the law-abiding gun owners of America, will be the Rosa Parks and we will sit down on the front seat of the bus, case closed." [WND, 1/9/13]

Nugent: The Heroic Response To The Boston Marathon Bombings "Represents" The NRA. During an April 16 appearance on NRA News, Nugent said the heroism of first responders who rushed to the scene of the April 15 bombings of the Boston Marathon "represents what the NRA is":

NUGENT: Those uniformed heroes of the military charged in with the uniformed heroes of law enforcement, the first responders, the EMTs, and quite relative to my opening statement today, citizens, just people, American citizens knowing that two bombs had gone off, limbs had been blown off of peoples' bodies, massive amounts of blood and terror and trauma. And where did civilians and heroes of professional organizations and law enforcement and military, where did they run? Straight into the danger. That's the America that I pray every day that represents what the NRA is. [NRA News, Cam & Company, 4/16/13]

Sean Hannity: Fox News Host

Hannity Is The Keynote Speaker At The 7th Annual NRA Women's Leadership Forum Luncheon.According to the event's website, "The 7th Annual NRA Women's Leadership Forum Luncheon is a coalition of philanthropic women united with the mission of infusing new enthusiasm, new excitement, new leaders and new opportunities into the fight for Second Amendment freedoms." [2013 NRA Annual Meetings And Exhibits, accessed 4/29/13]

Hannity Hosted Special At NRA's Shooting Range To Downplay Dangers Of Assault Weapons. The special featured the red-herring that the small bullet hole left by rounds typically fired by assault weapons is indicative of the gun's power: 

[Media Matters, 1/19/13]

For more on how conservative media figures misled about the capabilities of assault weapons, click here.

Hannity Claimed That The Obama Administration Was Exploiting Newtown Families Who Support Stronger Gun Laws.  During the April 11 edition of Hannity on Fox News, Hannity accused the Obama administration of "naked exploitation of dead children and grieving families": 

[Fox News, Hannity, 4/11/13]

Hannity Refused To Repudiate "Friend" Nugent's Call For Obama To "Suck" On His "Machine Gun." On the August 24, 2007, edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, Hannity defended Nugent's infamous anti-Obama diatribe saying the rocker was "a friend" of his:

NUGENT [video clip]: I was in Chicago. I said, "Hey, Obama, you might want to suck on one of these, you punk!"

Obama, he's a piece of [bleep]. And I told him to suck on my machine gun. Let's hear it for it.

And I was in New York. I said, "Hey, Hillary, you might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless [bleep]!"

HANNITY: That was friend and frequent guest on the program Ted Nugent expressing his feelings towards Democratic presidential contenders Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Joining us now, Democratic strategist Bob Beckel and Republican strategist Karen Hanretty.

You know, Bob, we may actually agree here. Here is Ted Nugent. He's saying, you know, the "Wang Dang" song, "Cat Scratch Fever," wears a loincloth on stage, fires, you know, an arrow at targets on stage. I see you liberals more upset about that, but I don't hear anybody criticizing Barack Obama for accusing our troops of killing civilians, air-raiding villages, et cetera, et cetera. What's more shocking to you? What's more offensive to you? Is it Barack Obama's statement about our troops or Ted Nugent?

BOB BECKEL: You know, only you could figure out a way to ask a question like that. First of all, Nugent, this is a boy who's missing a couple dogs from under his front porch. This guy has been pimping for Republicans for years now. They want him to run for Senate against Obama. I can't believe -- when the Dixie Chicks said something about George Bush, which was mild compared to this jerk, and the religious right, the Dobsons and the Robertsons, rose up in fury. You rose up in fury.

[crosstalk]

HANNITY: You know, typical Bob Beckel. But you can't answer the question. I didn't ask you that.

BECKEL: I want to see -

[crosstalk]

BECKEL: Are you prepared now, Sean -- are you prepared to disavow this lowlife or not?

HANNITY: No, I like Ted Nugent. He's a friend of mine. [emphasis added] [Fox News, Hannity & Colmes, 8/24/07, via Media Matters] 

John Bolton: NRA Advisor And Fox News Contributor

Bolton Will Speak At The NRA-ILA Leadership Forum. [2013 NRA Annual Meetings And Exhibits, accessed 4/29/13]

Bolton Pushed The NRA Myth That The U.N. Arms Trade Treaty Would Supersede Domestic Gun Laws. During a March 19 appearance on Cam & Company Bolton suggested that enactment of the Arms Trade Treaty, which aims to crack down on the supply of arms to human rights abusers, would result in the United States "changing our domestic gun control laws":

[The Sportsman Channel, Cam & Company, 3/19/13]

For more information on the Arms Trade Treaty, which seeks to regulate international -- but not domestic -- transfers of arms, click here.

In NRA Fundraising Video, Bolton Called Obama A "Post-American" President For Supporting Arms Trade Treaty. From a July 2012 NRA fundraising video:

[Media Matters, 7/11/12]

Oliver North: NRA Board Member And Fox News Host

North Will Participate In A Book Signing Event At The NRA Annual Meeting. [2013 NRA Annual Meetings And Exhibits, accessed 4/29/13]

North: "The National Rifle Association Is One Of The Greatest Protectors Of Civil Liberties That Has Ever Existed On The Planet Earth." During the January 15 edition of the NRA's news program Cam & Company, North attacked the response of Obama to the Newtown massacre and characterized the NRA as "one of the greatest protectors of civil liberties that has ever existed on the planet Earth":

NORTH: And what you now see is a sea change in the political climate in Washington, D.C., at the White House where they now expect that they can do things they otherwise would have been unable to do. That which he cannot accomplish legislatively is now going to be done by executive action. That is contrary to my understanding of what the Constitution's all about. I think it's contrary and foreign to most of our thinking. When we raise that right hand and take that oath, we don't pledge fealty to a political party, to an individual, unlike many other countries around the world. What we've done is we have now decided that one man can decide what is or isn't legal under certain circumstances. I think civil libertarians -- and by the way the National Rifle Association is one of the greatest protectors of civil liberties that has ever existed on the planet Earth. [The Sportsman Channel, Cam & Company,1/15/13]

North Was A Central Figure In The Iran-Contra Scandal That Helped Fund The Human Rights Abusing Contra Rebels In Nicaragua. During the 1980s, North, then employed by the National Security Council, headed an illegal effort to sell weapons to Iran and use the residual profits to fund a Contra attempt to seize power in Nicaragua. [PBS, accessed 4/30/13]

Katie Pavlich: Fox News Contributor

Pavlich Will Participate In A Book Signing Event At The NRA Annual Meeting. [2013 NRA Annual Meetings And Exhibits, accessed 4/29/13]

Pavlich: "The Organization That Really Stands Up For Women's Rights Is The NRA." From a March 15 panel at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference:

[Media Matters, 3/15/13]

Pavlich Pushed The Conspiracy Theory That The Obama Administration Intended To Create Violence In Mexico To Promote Gun Reform Agenda. During an April 16, 2012, appearance on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, Pavlich promoted her book about Operation Fast and Furious -- a failed gun trafficking sting overseen by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives -- by suggesting that a "political agenda" existed behind the operation "to blame American gun shops for cartel violence in America in order to push an anti-Second Amendment [agenda]." O'Reilly dismissed Pavlich's theory as a "conspiracy thing." [Media Matters, 4/23/12]

After Her Poll Numbers Plummet, NRA Runs Ads Thanking Senator For Killing Background Checks Bill

By Igor Volsky/Think Progress

Earlier this month, Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) voted against a bipartisan measure to expand background checks for gun purchases conducted at gun shows and online and saw her approval ratings plummet by 15 points. But now the National Rifle Association, who spent millions lobbying against the popular measure is coming to her defense.

The organization is running radio ads thanking Ayotte for focusing on “meaningful bipartisan solutions” and opposing “misguided gun control laws that would not have prevented Sandy Hook.” The ad does not specifically mention background checks, but notes that Ayotte supports improving the mental health system as “the only way to protect our children” because she is a mother:

Washington is full of politicians out of touch with the problems of our lives. While we worry about keeping our kids safe, too many of them worry about keeping their own power. But Senator Kelly Ayotte is focused on meaningful bipartisan solutions to our nation’s problems. That’s because Kelly Ayotte is not just a senator, she’s also a mom who cares about protecting our kids. She knows that they only way to protect our children from tragedies like Sandy Hook is to fix our broken mental health system. That’s why Kelly Ayotte brought Republicans and Democrats together on a bipartisan solution and it’s why Kelly had the courage to oppose misguided gun control laws that would not have prevented Sandy Hook. Kelly Ayotte is focused on prosecuting law breakers and fixing our broken mental health system. Call her at 202-224-3121 and thank her for focusing on protecting our kids and our New Hampshire values. Paid for by the New Hampshire men and women of the National Rifle Association.

Listen:

Gun safety advocates confronted Ayotte for opposing background checks the day after the vote and asked her to explain her position. The first-term senator didn’t address the need to keep criminals or mentally ill people from obtaining firearms and instead explained that she wanted to protect gun shop owners from the burden of running additional background checks for sales conducted at gun shows or online.

New polling data from Public Policy Polling finds that the five senators from Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, and Ohio who voted against background checks have “seen their approval numbersdecline, and voters say they’re less likely to support them the next time they’re up for reelection.”

How The NRA Has Made It Harder To Connect Criminals To Their Weapons

By Annie-Rose Strasser/Think Progress

The struggle to figure out how Boston Marathon bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev obtained their weapons began almost immediately after the manhunt ended, but very little has yet been discovered, thanks in part to policies pushed by the NRA that obfuscate how a criminal gets his or her weapons.

While law enforcement has argued that it would be helpful to be able to trace weapons to their source, the National Rifle Association has led the charge against any laws that might make this possible. Here’s a look at how the NRA’s pet policies are working against the public good:

Guns are hard to trace. There is no easy way for federal officials to trace a gun used in a crime. Shops are required to keep personal records, and can be asked to hand these over for criminal investigations, but federal officials can’t keep those records anywhere. That means every time the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) seeks to establish the origins of a crime gun, it must go through a series of complicated and time-consuming steps. This likely has slowed down any reporting over where the Tsarnaev brothers purchased their weapons, and if they did so legally. But even if the information about how the brothers obtained their guns were easily traceable, the NRA also pushed through the Tiahrt Amendments, which significantly block the ability of the ATF to obtain or disseminate the information it can obtain. The amendments make it much easier for gun shop owners who might be irresponsibly selling firearms to keep their identities hidden.

Gunpowder is hard to trace. Police might not have had to resort to combing through hours or video to find the bombers if the NRA hadn’t stopped a law that would have created traceable gunpowder. The National Memo pointed out that the NRA played a huge role in stopping gunpowder “taggants,” traceable elements that exist in plastic explosives, poisons, and much of the food sold in the US.

Stolen weapons are hard to trace. Gun dealers aren’t required to take any kind of inventory of their stores, meaning that lost or stolen guns slip off the radar. The President tried to rectify that problem in his latest budget, but Congress has not.

Police couldn’t detect a pattern of suspicious purchases. Another of the Tiahrt amendments stipulates that any background check data used to issue a gun to someone is destroyed within 24 hours, down significantly from the previous target of six months (and before that, 90 days). But, caving to pressure from the NRA, Congress has forced the FBI to stick to a 24-hour retention period– hardly enough time to detect a pattern of purchasing like the stockpiling of ammunition. Add to that the fact that there is no background check on gunpowder — though Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) has introduced legislation that would require just that — and it becomes nearly impossible to trace the brothers’ actions.

Reports from Massachusetts show that police think the Tsarnaevs illegally obtained their weapons. That state is one of a few that issues licenses on hand guns, and no licenses were issued in the brothers’ names. Indeed, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was too young to legally purchase a firearm in Massachusetts. But it’s very possible that the brothers crossed state lines and made a private purchase of a firearm. The world might never know.

Putting Armed Guards In Schools Leads To Racial Discrimination, More Student Arrests

By Zack Beauchamp/Think Progress

The National Rifle Association (NRA)’s main response in the wake of the deadly shooting in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, other than staunch opposition to even the most minor gun law reforms, has been a proposal to increase the number of armed guards in schools. However, a deeply reported piece in today’s New York Times suggests that more guns in schools would do little to improve school safety while simultaneously increasing police harassment of students along racial lines.

The article, by Erik Eckholm, surveyed the rise of “school resource officers” (policemen or non-police armed guards) in American school districts since the late 1990s. Eckholm found little to suggest that officers had made schools safer; he quotes University of Maryland school crime expert Denise C. Gottfredson as saying “There is no evidence that placing officers in the schools improves safety.” She concludes, moreover, that “it increases the number of minor behavior problems that are referred to the police, pushing kids into the criminal system.”

Eckholm assembles ample evidence to support this conclusion:

Nationwide, hundreds of thousands of students are arrested or given criminal citations at schools each year. A large share are sent to court for relatively minor offenses, with black and Hispanic students and those with disabilities disproportionately affected, according to recent reports from civil rights groups, including the Advancement Project, in Washington, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, in New York.

Such criminal charges may be most prevalent in Texas, where police officers based in schools write more than 100,000 misdemeanor tickets each yearaid Deborah Fowler, the deputy director of Texas Appleseed, a legal advocacy center in Austin. The students seldom get legal aid, she noted, and they may face hundreds of dollars in fines, community service and, in some cases, a lasting record that could affect applications for jobs or the military….Black students in the school district in Bryan, [Texas,] [activists] noted, receive criminal misdemeanor citations at four times the rate of white students.

Strict policies surrounding juvenile crime and delinquency have created what some call a “school-to-prison pipeline,” wherein punishment of students, particularly those of black and Hispanic origin, pushes them out of schools via suspension/expulsion or legal action, making a life of crime more attractive. Criminal sanction is a particularly brutal funnel, as the “collateral consequences” of a youth criminal record can render young people unemployable for years, severely limiting their opportunities to make money legally.

Studies of school resource officers find that their presence increases the rate of students arrested for “disorderly conduct” by five times, even after controlling for relative poverty levels.

In January, a school resource officer left his firearm in a bathroom.

In Blow To NRA, Senators Reach Bipartisan Agreement Expanding Background Checks

By Igor Volsky/Think Progress

A bipartisan duo of senators with A ratings from the National Rifle Associated havereached a deal to expand background checks to private gun purchases that occur in commercial settings.

Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Pat Toomey (R-PA) will announce the details of the plan during a press conference Wednesday morning. Currently, only federally licensed gun dealers are required to conduct background screenings.

Under the Manchin-Toomey agreement, background checks will occur for sales conducted at gun shows, online, and through public advertisements with full record keeping, which advocates see as essential for enforcement and tracing crime guns. Friend-to-friend and family sales will be exempt from the requirement.

And while the plan stops short of the far more expansive background check provision offered by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) — that measure would have extended background checks to all gun sales outside of close family transfers — the new agreement builds momentum for reform and may come as a blow to the 14 conservatives who have pledged to block debate of any new gun regulations.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) filed cloture on Tuesday and the first procedural vote on the motion to commit is scheduled for Thursday. Today, groups representing gun safety advocates and victims and survivors of gun violence announced that they will read the names of the 3,300 people who has been killed by guns since the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut until the Senate agrees to debate and vote on the package.

While Congressional Republicans have yet to weigh in on the agreement, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) — who is seen as a likely 2016 presidential nominee — told MSNBC’s Morning Joe that he will strongly consider the compromise and may be open to expanding background checks to gun shows.

As Senate Prepares To Take Up Background Checks, NRA Warns Of Outright Gun Confiscation

By Josh Israel/Think Progress:

As the U.S. Senate prepares to consider a package of gun violence prevention proposals next week, the National Rifle Association has moved into full campaign mode, fighting against reforms backed by 91 percent of the American public. The group’s lobbying arm sent members an “Emergency Action Alert” Wednesday, attempting to scare gun owners into thinking closing background check loopholes would turn them into criminals.

The message warns:

Next week, your Senators are scheduled to vote on a so-called “universal background check” bill being pushed by lifelong anti-gun zealot, Senator Chuck Schumer. Schumer’s bill would MAKE YOU A CRIMINAL if you simply transfer a firearm to an aunt, uncle, cousin or lifelong friend without the federal government’s approval.

The NRA’s slippery-slope fear-mongering continues: “This isn’t about making Americans safer…it’s about leading law-abiding gun owners down the road to gun registration – and ultimately, GUN CONFISCATION – just like we watched happen in England and Australia.” The email then asks readers to call their Senators — and send the NRA money.

The group supported universal background checks as recently as 1999 — and 74 percent of its membership supports the idea now. Even former Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR), head of the NRA’s school security task force, has endorsed the idea of expanding background checks.

Universal background checks would not require the federal government’s “approval” for anything — it would demand that all gun sellers act responsibly and ensure that their firearms don’t fall into the wrong hands. The legislation before the Senate exempts transfers to immediate family members, but would require other private transfers to undergo a speedy background check to ensure they are not in the NICS database.

Federal law prohibits the creation of a national gun registry and the Supreme Court has made clear that “gun confiscation” would be unconstitutional.