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.

Right-Wing Media Push New Benghazi Myths Ahead Of Hearings

JUSTIN BERRIER, HANNAH GROCH-BEGLEY, ERIC HANANOKI, ANDREW LAWRENCE, & ELLIE SANDMEYER/ Media Matters For America:

Right-wing media are using a congressional hearing to push new myths about the Obama administration's response to the September 11, 2012 attacks on a U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya. In fact, these myths are discredited by previous congressional reports and testimony, which show that the politicized nature of the hearings come from right-wing media and Congressional Republicans, that the military could not have rescued personnel from the second attack, that the administration was in constant communication at all levels during the attacks, and that the intelligence community believed there was a link to an anti-Islam video at the time of the attacks.

MYTH: Latest Benghazi Hearing Is Apolitical

Fox News' Brian Kilmeade Attacks The Claim That Benghazi Hearings Are "Politically Driven." On Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade claimed that because self-identified whistleblowers are testifying at congressional hearings on Benghazi at a time that elections are not being held, the hearings can't be politically driven, saying "politics is out, and whistleblowers are in":

KILMEADE: [A]nyone who says this is politically driven, or it's against the president, that's out the window. Because if there's a non-political season in this world in American politics, it's now. The mid-terms aren't close --

STEVE DOOCY [co-host]: Sure.

KILMEADE: And the president is not running. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 5/7/13, via Media Matters]

FACT: Right-Wing Media And Congressional Republicans Have Politicized The Hearings

Fox News' John Bolton: "I Hope [Benghazi] Is A Cover Up ... If It Was Merely A Political Cover-Up Then There Can Be A Political Cost To Pay." On Your World, Fox News contributor John Bolton said he hoped the hearings found that despite all evidence to the contrary, the Obama administration had engaged in a "political cover up" by altering CIA talking points to suggest that the attacks came in response to an anti-Islam video:

BOLTON: I'd have to say for the good of the country, I hope it is a cover up rather than the alternative, which is the Obama administration was so blind to the reality of the threat of Islamic terrorism, the continued threat from Al Qaeda... If that's the problem there's no cure for it. If it was merely a political cover-up then there can be a political cost to pay. [Fox News,Your World with Neil Cavuto, 5/6/13, via Media Matters]

Lawyers Representing The "Whistleblowers" In Hearings Are Long-Time GOP Activists With History Of Pushing Discredited Claims. The lawyers claiming to represent some of the witnesses at the Benghazi hearing, Victoria Toensing and Joseph diGenova, are long-time Republicans known for pushing false claims in the media and for having conflicts of interest in their professional work. They have both served as advisors to Republican candidates and donated thousands of dollars to GOP candidates and causes, and have been criticized for a conflict of interest for serving in a dual role in separate Justice Department investigations and for dropping "the air of impartiality, non-partisanship, and professionalism required" by their roles as leaders of a congressional investigation. [Media Matters, 4/30/13; 5/6/13]

Congressional Democrats Criticized House GOP Report For "Unnecessarily Politicizing Our National Security." A congressional report on Benghazi that was authored by five Republican committee chairmen was criticized by the ranking Democrats on those committees in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, in which they said the report is "unnecessarily politicizing our national security":

We are writing to strongly object to your decision to issue a partisan Republican staff report on Benghazi and dispense with House procedures for vetting official committee reports to correct inaccuracies and mischaracterizations.  By abandoning regular order and excluding Democratic Members entirely from this process, you are unnecessarily politicizing our national security and casting aside the system used by the House for generations to avoid making obvious mistakes, errors, and omissions. [House Oversight Committee, 5/6/13, viaMedia Matters]

Oversight Committee Ranking Member Accused Republicans Of Withholding Information From Democrats. On May 6, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, issued a statement in which he accused Republican committee members of issuing "a partisan report with reckless and false accusations" and claimed interview information was withheld from committee Democrats:

CUMMINGS: I also believe Members of Congress have an obligation to actually investigate claims before coming to conclusions and making public accusations.  Unfortunately, House Republicans have taken the opposite approach.  They issued a partisan report with reckless and false accusations against the former Secretary of State, they have completely concealed Mr. Thompson from Democratic Committee Members, and they have failed to make even basic inquiries to the Intelligence Community, the Defense Department, or the State Department to vet specific allegations.  Instead, they have leaked snippets of interview transcripts to national media outlets in a selective and distorted manner to drum up publicity for their hearing.  This is investigation by press release and does a disservice to our common goal of ensuring that our diplomatic corps serving overseas has the best protection possible to do its critical work. [House Oversight Committee, 5/6/13]

State Dept. Spokesman: Congressional Republicans Have Not Shared Witness Transcripts With Us, Told Us How This Hearing Was Formed. In a May 2013 State Department Press Briefing, Acting Deputy Spokesperson Patrick Ventrell pointed out that the hearings had been convened without any interaction with the State Department: 

VENTRELL: I mean, it's a little bit hard for us to - given that we don't have a lot of information about how the hearing was scheduled and the various sort of formation of the majority's decision to have this hearing, it's a little bit hard to comment on the witnesses. Let me do - let me say one thing here, though, at the very top. We have always encouraged any State Department employee who wants to share their personal story, whether it be to the ARB or the Congress to tell the truth, period, full stop, end of story. That's long been our position. We've made that clear from the start. In terms of these particular individuals, the committee didn't come to us asking witnesses. We found out through the media and through the announcement the same way you all did. In terms of these potential transcripts out there, we haven't seen the transcripts. [State.gov, 5/6/13]

MYTH: Obama Admin Stopped Rescue Team That Could Have Prevented Second Attack

Fox's Bret Baier: The Second Team Of Special Forces From Tripoli "Would Have Been There In Time For the Second Attack." On the May 6 edition of Special Report, Fox anchor Bret Baier misrepresented what former Deputy Chief of Mission in Libya Gregory Hicks reportedly told congressional investigators, claiming that a team of special forces troops would have arrived in time for an attack on the CIA annex had they not been told not to go:

BAIER: Charles, in this testimony that -- we have already seen some of this interview with Greg Hicks, the number two guy, again, on the ground, he specifically says that special forces in Tripoli were told to stand down and not get on a C-130 that was going to go from Tripoli to Benghazi that would have been there in time for the second attack, the second wave. They were told to not get on that plane. [Fox News, Special Report, 5/6/13, viaMedia Matters, emphasis added]

FACT: Special Forces Team In Tripoli Was Not Scheduled To Leave Until After The Second Attack Began

Wash. Post's Ignatius: Mortar Assault Began At 5:15 A.M. In his description of the "detailed CIA timeline" of the events that occurred during the attack in Benghazi, Washington Post foreign affairs columnist David Ignatius noted that that the second attack of the night began at 5:15:

5:15 a.m.: A new Libyan assault begins, this time with mortars. Two rounds miss and the next three hit the roof. The rooftop defenders never "laser the mortars," as has been reported. They don't know they're in place until the indirect fire begins, nor are they observed by the drone overhead. The defenders have focused their laser sites earlier on several Libyan attackers, as warnings not to fire. At 5:26 the attack is over. Woods and Doherty are dead and two others are wounded. [The Washington Post, 11/1/12]

Gregory Hicks: Tripoli Special Forces Were Scheduled To Take Off Between 6:00 And 6:30 A.M. According to transcripts of what Gregory Hicks -- one of the witnesses speaking at the hearing -- told congressional investigators in April, the Tripoli special forces were scheduled to take off after 6:00 a.m. local time, approximately 45 minutes after the attack at the CIA annex that killed two people:

Q: And was there a second team that was organized? Could you tell us about the second team?

A: Right. The second team -- the Defense Attache worked assiduously all night long to try to get the Libyan military to respond in some way. Early in the morning -- sorry, after we were formally notified by the Prime Minister, who called me, that Chris had passed, the Libyan military agreed to fly their C-130 to Benghazi and carry additional personnel to Benghazi as reinforcements. Because we at that time -- at that time, the third attack, the mortar attack at 5:15, had not yet occurred, if I remember correctly.

Q: So what time did the second rescue team ??

A: Well, again, they flew -- I think that flight took off sometime between 6:00 and 6:30 a.m. [CBS News, 5/6/13]

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT): Troops From Tripoli "Would Have Arrived After The Attack." Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Republican member of the House Oversight Committee who has actively pursued investigations into the Benghazi attacks, told The Washington Post the second force "would have arrived after the attack on the CIA base":

Chaffetz said the troops who were not allowed to travel to Benghazi would have arrived after the attack on the CIA base but may have provided first aid to wounded personnel. He noted that the order to keep them from traveling was given before the second attack. [The Washington Post, 5/6/13]

Accountability Review Board Chief Tom Pickering: "Within Those Time Frames, Nothing Could Have Been Done." On Your World, Fox News contributor James Rosen played a clip of former U.N. Ambassador Tom Pickering explaining to radio host Alan Colmes that "nothing could have been done" to save the lives of those killed in the initial attack and subsequent attacks in Benghazi:

PICKERING: Our Board felt that nothing could have been done to relieve the initial attack. Subsequent attacks took place beginning about midnight but died out within an hour and I think within those time frames, nothing could have been done. [Fox News, Your World, 5/7/13]

MYTH: A Special Forces Team Training In Croatia Could Have Rescued Embassy Workers

Special Report Hyped Anonymous Source's Claim That Force Training In Croatia Could Have Rescued Workers. Fox News' Special Report aired an interview between Fox correspondent Adam Housley and an anonymous source who claimed that special operations forces training in Croatia at the time could have prevented further loss of life in Benghazi: 

HOUSLEY: The C-110 is a commanders and extremists force. In Layman's terms, a 40 man special operations force capable of rapid response and deployment, specifically, trained for incidents like the attack in Benghazi. That night, they were training in Croatia just three and a half hours away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had the ability to load out, get on birds, and fly there at a minimum stage. C-110 had the ability to be there, in my opinion, in four to six hours from their European theater to react.

HOUSLEY: They would have been there before the second attack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They would have been there before the second attack. They would have been there at a minimum to provide a quick reaction force that could facilitate their exfill out of the problem situation. Nobody knew how it was going to develop. And you hear a whole bunch of people and a whole bunch of advisors say hey, we wouldn't have sent them there because, you know, the security was unknown situation. [Fox News, Special Report with Bret Baier, 4/29/13 via Media Matters]

FACT: Croatian Force Could Not Have Arrived Until After The Attack Was Over

Accountability Review Board: "There Simply Was Not Enough Time" For "Military Assets To Have Made A Difference." The Accountability Review Board, an independent group tasked with investigating the attacks, found that the "interagency response was timely and appropriate" but that there was not enough time for "armed U.S. military assets to have made a difference":

The interagency response was timely and appropriate, but there simply  was not enough time given the speed of the attacks for armed U.S. military assets to have made a difference. Senior-level interagency discussions were underway soon after Washington received initial word of the attacks and continued through the night. The Board found no evidence of any undue delays in decision making or denial of support from Washington or from the military combatant commanders. Quite the contrary: the safe evacuation of all U.S. government personnel from Benghazi twelve hours after the initial attack and subsequently to Ramstein Air Force Base was the result of exceptional U.S. government coordination and military response and helped save the lives of two severely wounded Americans. [Accountability Review Board, accessed 5/7/13]

Fox Military Analyst Keane: CIA Base Was Evacuated Before Special Operations Force Could Reach Them. On Fox & Friends, Fox News military analyst retired Gen. Jack Keane responded to guest host Eric Bolling's claim that the Obama administration "did not call on the only response team that may have been able to intervene during the attack" by pointing out that "the CIA base was evacuated prior to their arrival at Sigonella, so they were never employed":

KEANE: Here's what did happen. The national security apparatus, at the request of General Hamm, who's the commander of AFRICOM -- and he's had responsibility from a security aspect to respond to this crisis -- our national mission response force, our most classified force on the highest state of readiness, was alerted and moved from the United States to Sigonella [Naval Air Station in Italy], and they bring with them their own aircraft, their own helicopters and C-17s. Another classified special operations force was moved out of Central Europe to Sigonella as well. The fact of the matter was the CIA base was evacuated prior to their arrival at Sigonella, so they were never employed. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 11/2/12 viaMedia Matters] 

MYTH: Clinton Never Spoke To Obama On Night Of The Attacks

Ingraham: "We Know That The Secretary Of State Had Not A Single Conversation With The Commander In Chief." During an interview with Republican Congressman Peter King on her radio show, Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham claimed "[w]e know that the Secretary of State had not a single conversation with the Commander in Chief. Not one during this attack":

INGRAHAM: We know that the Secretary of State had not a single conversation with the Commander in Chief. Not one during this attack. Not one conversation? That just seems bizarre to me. I mean that's just one point, but that's a pretty darn good question. Why?

KING: Absolutely, it's an excellent question, and to me it's one that, it's unfortunate that it even has to be asked. I mean you'd think they would have been on the phone continually.

INGRAHAM: My God. [Courtside Entertainment Group, The Laura Ingraham Show, 5/7/13]

FACT: Clinton Testified She And Obama Communicated The Evening Of The Attacks

Clinton: "I Spoke With President Obama Later In The Evening To ... Bring Him Up To Date, To Hear His Perspective." Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's January 23 testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the Benghazi attacks made it clear that she was continuously communicating with administration officials and the intelligence community during the evening of the attacks, including at least one conversation with the president:

CLINTON: Regarding what I was doing on September 11th, I was at the State Department all day and late into the night. At the -- during most of the day, prior to getting notice of the attack on our compound at Benghazi, we were very focused on our embassy in Cairo. That was under assault by a group of protesters.

We were assessing the security of our embassy, which is, as those of you have been there, certainly well-defensed. But there were crowds that were intent upon trying to scale the wall and, we were in close communication with our team in Cairo.

I was notified of the attack shortly after 4:00 p.m. Over the following hours, we were in continuous meetings and conversations, both within the department, with our team in Tripoli, with the inner agency, and internationally. I instructed our senior department officials and our diplomatic security personnel to consider every option, to just break down the doors of the Libyan officials to get as much security support as we possibly could, to coordinate with them.

I spoke to the national security adviser, Tom Donilon, several times. I briefed him on developments. I sought all possible support from the White House, which they quickly provided. Tom was my first call.

I spoke with our charger in Tripoli, to get situation updates.

I spoke with former CIA director Petraeus to confer and coordinate, given the presence of his facility, which, of course, was not well known, but was something that we knew and wanted to make sure we were closely lashed up together.

I talked with the then-Libyan national congress president, to press him on greater support, not only in Benghazi, but also in Tripoli.

I participated in a secure video conference of senior officials from the intelligence community, the White House, and DOD. We were going over every possible option, reviewing all that was available to us. Any actions we could take.

We were reaching out to everyone we could find, to try to get an update about ambassador Chris Stevens, also, our information specialist, Sean Smith.

So it was a constant, ongoing discussion and sets of meetings. I spoke with President Obama later in the evening, to, you know, bring him up to date, to hear his perspective. Obviously, we kept talking with everyone during the night. Early in the morning, on the 12th, I spoke with General Dempsey, again, with Tom Donilon. [CNN.com,1/23/13, emphasis added]

MYTH: CIA Never Linked Benghazi Attack To Anti-Islam Video

Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes: "There Is No Mention Of Any 'Video' In Any Of The Many Drafts" Of CIA Talking Points. In a post on the Weekly Standard, Stephen Hayes claimed that the CIA talking points about the Benghazi attack made no reference to an anti-Islam YouTube video which was mentioned as a possible cause for the attacks by members of the Obama administration:

More troubling was the YouTube video. [Ambassador Susan] Rice would spend much time on the Sunday talk shows pointing to this video as the trigger of the chaos in Benghazi. "What sparked the violence was a very hateful video on the Internet. It was a reaction to a video that had nothing to do with the United States." There is no mention of any "video" in any of the many drafts of the talking points. [The Weekly Standard, 5/13/13]

Fox's Chris Wallace: Reaction To The Anti-Islam Video "Had Never Been In Any Of The Talking Points." On the May 5 edition of Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace cited Hayes' Weekly Standard article to claim "U.N. Ambassador Rice came on this show and four other Sunday shows, never mentioned the al Qaeda extremists, which had been scrubbed from the -- from the talking points, but did mention a reaction to the anti-Islam video which had never been in any of the talking points." [Fox Broadcasting Co., Fox News Sunday, 5/5/13 via Media Matters]

FACT: Intelligence Community Believed Link Existed At The Time

CIA Talking Points Linked Attack To Protests In Cairo. The first bullet point from what The Weekly Standarddescribed as "Version 1" of the CIA talking points says that "based on currently available information," the attacks were "spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo." The final version of the document made the same link:

The currently available information suggests that the demonstrations in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault against the U.S. diplomatic post and subsequently its annex. There are indications that extremists participated in the violent demonstrations. [The Weekly Standard, 5/13/13 viaMedia Matters]

Cairo Protests Cited By CIA Talking Points Were Sparked By The Anti-Islam Video. The "protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo" mentioned in both versions of the CIA talking points were part of a global reaction to the anti-Islam video. A September 14 New York Times article reported "Anti-American rage that began this week over a video insult to Islam spread to nearly 20 countries across the Middle East and beyond on Friday, with violent and sometimes deadly protests." The article went on to note that protesters "had penetrated the perimeters of the American Embassies in the Tunisian and Sudanese capitals, and said that 65 embassies or consulates around the world had issued emergency messages about threats of violence." [The New York Times, 9/14/12]

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]