Posted on 09/01/2006 2:16:47 PM PDT by neverdem
When is an anti-gunner a pro-gun advocate? The obvious answer is never, but that’s too simple a response. The actual answer is “any time a member of the media wants to portray the anti-gunner in a pro-gun light”. Take, for example, a new article in The New Republic entitled “Gun Crazy: The Revolt Against the NRA” by Michael Blanding. Blanding, a freelance writer from Boston, profiles the group calling itself American Hunters and Shooters Association. AHSA bills itself as a “moderate alternative to the NRA”, but in reality it’s an organization founded by leaders in the anti-gun movement who have strong ties to the Brady Campaign.
Blanding’s article calls John Rosenthal, the president of AHSA’s foundation, a “Boston real estate developer who served a stint on the board of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.” But the article also quotes Rosenthal as saying he left the Brady Campaign because of the organization’s “extreme anti-gun stance”. Blanding leaves out any mention of the fact that Rosenthal created, and still runs, the Massachusetts-based outfit known as Stop Handgun Violence. Despite the fact that Blanding is from Boston, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps Rosenthal didn’t volunteer that information and Blanding simply didn’t do his research. Then I found an article in Boston Magazine from February 2006 entitled “Straight Shooter”. It’s a glowing profile of John Rosenthal, complete with many mentions of his work with Stop Handgun Violence, and Michael Blanding wrote it.
In May of this year Blanding wrote another piece for Boston Magazine called “The Ways of the Gun”, in which he makes the case that Boston’s rising crime rate is the fault of other states with less restrictive gun laws. In that article Blanding describes Rosenthal as an “anti-gun activist”, but now he’s a pro-gun moderate alternative to the NRA. Why? Because Blanding didn’t write a TNR article about the need for more gun control, he wrote an article about liberals trying to woo gun-owners. To accurately portray Rosenthal as someone who helped pass Massachusetts’ Gun Control Act of 1998 does nothing to win the hearts and minds of gun owners.
Blanding commits the same sin of omission when describing AHSA’s Executive Director, Robert Ricker. Ricker is described as “a former NRA general counsel and lobbyist for the firearms industry”, which is incorrect. Ricker spent a brief period of time as one of the attorneys in the General Counsel’s office, but was never general counsel himself. Blanding fails to mention that Ricker switched sides, so to speak, back in the late 1990’s, and has since testified as an expert witness for those hoping to hold gun manufacturers and sellers responsible for the actions of criminals. Chris Cox, NRA-ILA’s Executive Director, wrote an article about AHSA (found here) in which he details testimony Ricker gave in a 2005 deposition. Ricker testified that his two biggest clients were the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence (part of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence) and the group Virginians for Public Safety. Ricker also testified that AHSA was another of his clients, and paid him $3,000 a month for his services. Again, Blanding apparently didn’t want to let his readers know Ricker’s entire background.
I realize that for Blanding, AHSA represents a new and exciting attempt to mislead gun owners (we’re talking about a writer who once penned a “Culture of Life Top Ten” wish list for the ultra-lefty Alternet, in which he expressed his desire that Congress would pass Massachusetts-style gun control laws). New or not, AHSA is trying to deceive gun owners into buying into an anti-gun movement and to give anti-gun politicians a bit of pro-gun cover. From the tens of thousands of dollars its leaders have donated to candidates like Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, and Nancy Pelosi to the fact that the press contact for this supposedly non-partisan organization is also the head of the Fairfax City (Virginia) Democratic Committee, American Hunters and Shooters Association isn’t out to protect your rights. They’re out to deceive you, and Michael Blanding appears happy to help.
My gosh. I forgot how many deaths each year are caused by law-abiding gun owners! We need to shut them down! And think of the savings in correctional costs we obtain when gangbangers kill each other. The key is to let them bleed in the street, or insist ambulances observe the speed limit answering another call to a Darwinian dispute.
Hmmm, the American Horse Show Association (AHSA) might take exception at the use of those letters. And they've been around for a very long time.
LOL! Leftists are so fracking stupid they think they are deceiving people. LOL! LOL!
I simply can't believe that our own media would lie to us!
How could they?
:: sobs ::
When will these gun banners learn that us NRA members and 2nd Amendment advocates aren't quite as stupid as they believe? Oh, that's right, they think that we are all knuckle-dragging cavemen being dupped by the all-powerful "gun industry," which really isn't all that big or powerful.
Wonder if they will ever realize that the NRA's real power comes from the well informed grass roots that form the foundation of the organization? Probably not -- would take too big of an adjustment in their thinking feeling process.
Socialists have killed more people than guns have.
See the interesting Wikipedia listing for this front-group:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Hunters_and_Shooters_Association
Wilkepedia is an interesting info source. I saw some bizarre things on their about Bush. I think it was asking people for info to put on their. Really weird.
Hate telling you this but Free Republic has a real simpleton on it's membership. He thinks if everyone quits the NRA, somehow they will join another pro-gun group. It doesn't work that way as many already know.
The last post he made about the NRA, he said Sarah Brady was preferred over the NRA.
Like I said, a real simpleton.
I wonder if he joined AHSA?
The American Horse Shows Association (AHSA) changed its name to "USA Equestrian" in 2001, and then two years later was disbanded. The governing body is now the United States Equestrian Federation.
At least the Chinese tank drivers hesitated, unlike the Soviet ones. :-(
Yeah, I wonder what happened to the driver of that tank...
"My gosh. I forgot how many deaths each year are caused by law-abiding gun owners! We need to shut them down! And think of the savings in correctional costs we obtain when gangbangers kill each other. The key is to let them bleed in the street, or insist ambulances observe the speed limit answering another call to a Darwinian dispute."
here here
Should also teach the gangbangers how to shoot. It would cut down on innocents being hit.
See my post on "Beware AHSA!" for more extensive details. I especially recommend the triggerfinger.org and John Lott's comments on how AHSA is a Democrat Trojan Horse:
http://triggerfinger.org/weblog/entry/6695.jsp be sure to check out his hotlinks to John Lott's website and his links about how they changed their domain registration to hide their true nature as a Democratic front http://johnrlott.tripod.com/2005/08/...n-of-fake.html. For triggerfinger you have to keep clicking on the hotlinks and read them through to get to all the details. I've put much of his original post below, when you go to his site many of the phrases will open up as hotlinks to source webpages.
"Should also teach the gangbangers how to shoot. It would cut down on innocents being hit."
My goodness! You've got something there. I'm sure there is federal money available, plus maybeyou could combine Midnight Basketball and, thus two birds with one crack stone, or is it rock?
rebranding. did wonders for "sanitation engineers."
Lott's link doesn't work.
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