Since they began publication, Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun agitators at The Trace have disguised themselves as a source of unbiased information on gun laws and “gun violence.” The hidden agenda has served them well, allowing them entry to Google News listings (unlike TTAG). Yes, well, as Little Richard sang, the girl can’t help it.
LaPierre set down the framework that gun-rights groups have used to stir anti-immigrant fears into their populist brew: In a scary world, Americans need to arm themselves. And as much as possible, anyone who’s not already an American should be kept out.
Uh, no. The NRA has never said that America should close its doors to immigrants or refugees. The Trace writers Mike Spies and Adam Weinstein know it, too. Which is why their article The NRA Has Been Moonlighting as an Anti-Immigration Group for Years is peppered with statements from the NRA and various board members that only look anti-immigrant to people predisposed to hate the NRA. Like this, from jefe Wayne LaPierre :
“I guess it’s okay to wand-rape someone’s daughter in public,” he went on. “But no profiling!…The first target in homeland security shouldn’t be the people of the homeland. It should be finding people who are not citizens of our homeland, who don’t belong in our homeland along with aliens on work visas, or green cards, or student passes. They are the ones that should get the extra wandings and random searches!”
The Trace would have you believe that Mr. LaPierre was saying that non-citizens don’t belong in our homeland. In fact, he was saying that non-citizens who don’t belong in our homeland should be subject to strict scrutiny. Not all non-citizens.
The rest of The Trace article is equally misleading. Or, if you prefer, truthful. Because the quotes provided are not anti-immigrant per se. In fact, they clarify, indeed promote the conservative viewpoint on immigration. For example . . .
Instead of securing the borders and protecting law-abiding American families, politicians in Washington did nothing, as if they wanted to play some sick game of hateful manipulation to polarize the country, prejudice the vote and poison the political system—just so they can protect their jobs.
The consequence of that corruption and contempt for the rule of law is this: While terrorized residents throw their deadbolts, draw their blinds and pray not to have their homes invaded or their kids kidnapped in Arizona, in Washington, D.C., the ruling elite bask in the safety of their 24-hour security and scream with outrage at Arizona’s law—all because they insist upon playing political games with our lives!”
The Trace can’t “nail” Wayne laPierre with quotes like the ones above. So they trot out quotes from NRA board members and commentators. But again, you have to squint pretty hard to see the NRA as promoting a closed-door policy on immigration. This statement, from former Georgia congressman and NRA board member Bob Barr is as close as it gets:
The Obama Administration authorized planeloads of ‘undocumented’ immigrant families from Mexico and Central America, to be placed into communities across the country, for no sound reason but simply as a humanitarian gesture. The cost of that ‘policy’ — in both dollars and security risks — is still being calculated.
And now, Obama and other Bleeding Hearts in our nation’s Capital want to do the same thing with thousands of immigrants from Syria and other countries torn by sectarian violence and suffering from lack of economic opportunity. What about the obligation to the American taxpayer, who, as always, will bear the cost for housing, feeding and maintaining these ‘refugees’?
Did Barr say “no more immigrants”? He did not. He simply pointed out that the influx of Syrian refugees (and others) come at a cost, which should be considered before opening the floodgates.
The Trace article ends with a excerpt from a YouTube commentary delivered NRA-ILA head Chris Cox. The Trace’s bolded intro would have us believe that these remarks prove that “the NRA wants a blanket ban on refugees and immigrants from entire countries.”
When it comes to national security, we take a backseat to no one. The unfortunate truth is that we’re going to be attacked again from within our borders. The question is, what are we going to do about it?
The Trace has descended deep into “alternative facts” territory. Strike that. Bloomberg’s anti-gun rights “news source” continues to dwell in the basement of falsehoods, half-truths and innuendo. In this case, the mask has slipped. Nothing more. Nothing less.
I’m an NRA member and I’m not anti immigrant. The legal ones tend to be hard workers and the illegal ones make great targets!
You should have stopped after your first sentence.
“I’m an NRA member and I’m…anti immigrant. [They] tend to be hard…targets!”
— Strych9, speaking for the NRA
You guys have no sense of humor.
I do. Thanks for the chuckle.
Ben Garrison? Is that you?
Look seeing how most legal immigrants vote 8-2 for Democrats its very clear its in our best interests to keep them out.
At least you recognized it as humor. I was going to say they taste great with Sriracha to make it clear it was a joke but… eh whatever.
Really, the demographics of immigrant voting depend heavily on where they’re from. Democrats have made a point to legalize people who will tend to think along the lines of .gov being in charge.
On the other hand if we import more people like pwrserge, who probably hasn’t voted for a Democrat in his life, we’ll get a different voting pattern and more entertaining comments here on TTAG.
strych nailed it
This is typical liberal Progressive BS. President Trump is not closing the borders for all immigrants to this country only the ones that have been known to be radical Islamic terrorist. It’s no different from Japan not letting Muslims live there or even vacation there without special scrutiny because they are known to be radicalized jihadist and nobody’s calling Japan racist. We have over 225 practicing religions in this country and that’s not including Cults like Scientology. And out of those 225 plus non-practicing religions the only one that is committing to hottest terrorist activity are Muslims. We finally have an Administration that’s willing to admit to the problem at hand and that problem is Muslim religion in this country. We need to keep as many of these fruit cakes out of our country as possible. President Obama would never do the right thing and keep our country safe he was a hypocrite and a bad one at that typical lawyer.
As a legal immigrant, I think the liberal position on immigration is retarded. Getting US citizenship shouldn’t be as easy as jumping a border and squatting out a kid. Implying otherwise is an insult to every hard working immigrant who followed the law, worked for years to get citizenship and then put up their hand and renounced their old allegiance.
It should be easier than what you had to go through. Our immigration policy encourages illegal immigration, unfortunately, to the detriment of all, especially you.
Times have changed immigrants have changed terrorism is a known fact we can’t just brush it away and hide it like President Obama did or tried to rather. We need to change our immigration policies so that we do not let dangerous radicalist into our country in the story. This country’s population is almost maxed out. How many people do you suppose a country of our size can actually feed employee and give Medical attention to before it goes completely belly-up and people start starving and handing out food tickets in the middle of a street. It’s very hard for a person to vacation in Europe you have to go through getting a passport which is an FBI background check with your fingerprints and photo and you have to detail your travel plans abroad when traveling in Europe. We should have the same regulations here our borders are a joke. And that’s how all these crazy lunatics and up in this country.
I don’t mind the old system. It was rational and fair. I got my green card because my parents did. They both teach at a medical school these days while primarily focused on research. Ironically, my mom took American citizenship a decade after I did, my father still hasn’t. (Being an Afghan veteran along with his brother, he was less than thrilled with my career choices.)
The bottom line is that comparing to some other countries, the US citizenship process if outright lightning quick. Go try to apply for Swiss citizenship. (Good luck.)
That’s what I’m talking about these other countries Switzerland is one of them Denmark is another they are very particular who they let in their country even to vacation. Our system is a joke and everybody knows it. I spent some time in Germany a couple years back and when I got off the plane in Frankfurt there was German police carrying HK91 full body armor and helmets in their Customs Department along with their version of the FBI checking passports luggage even had bomb smelling dogs. I was very impressed and told them that. Being X United States Army infantrymen I can tell when a checkpoint is secure and is weak and you definitely have a secure feeling and reality when you jump off a plane in a foreign country and realize all the stipulations and all the hoops and Loops you gotta jump through just to get off the plane into the airport area. On the way back to the States when we landed in Orlando International Airport I actually walked through customs wasn’t even stop until I had made it all the way to the luggage area and then some TSA fella said hey you got to go through customs I’m like there’s no signs there’s just people getting off the plane and going wherever they want he brought me back check my passport and then said okay you can do whatever you want no I was laughing at the lack of security in this country it is a complete joke these airports are not safe and our country whatsoever and it is that way because of the policies that our leaders have chose two use when coming into this country. It’s really very funny in a sick sense of the way to see how lacks security is in our airports especially the ones that are international airports that have people coming from all over the world and they’re getting off in these airports and they’re breezing through security and right out into our streets. I propose we Step Up all airports across the entire world and have a system setup so that we do not have these problems with illegals coming into this country and if they are caught entering this country they should be put right back on another plane sent right back from where the hell they’ve have come from and turned over to the authorities if they have a passport it should be seized.
Button, Why should it be any easier than what Sergei had to go through? I know dozens of legal immigrants who dotted every “i”, crossed every “t” and now, they’re proud Americans. They’ve worked hard for it, want to blend in, and offer some different parts of their culture which may complement our existing culture. Or at least bring some interesting food.
It is NOT supposed to be easy to become a US citizen, which is why the ones we actually want and need take no issue with making that effort. The lazy scum who just thought they could drift across the border and stay (no matter on foot, train, or airplane) need to be promptly rounded up and deported. What is a slap in the face to all those who have worked hard and earned their right to be here, is the allowing of law-breaking border jumpers to stay, let alone granting them a single right, or allowing them a damned dime in benefits. Also, a slap in the face to the American taxpayer who has to fund that nonsense.
“US citizenship shouldn’t be as easy as jumping a border and squatting out a kid”
For the parent, no. For the child, absolutely yes. Born on US soil? You are a citizen, as the framers intended. However, that comes with a massive price. That parent should be jailed, sentenced, and then deported after their sentence is served. The child, well there shouldn’t be a government safety net at all, so if a charity or family doesn’t voluntarily pick up the cost of raising that child, that child starves in the street. Welcome to America kid, freedom ain’t easy.
Leftists usually have trouble understanding complex ideas. That is why they don’t properly comprehend what the NRA President said. What they do understand is simple ideas like hate, intolerance, and killing babies. And don’t try to reason with them, cognitive dissonance is part of their DNA. For example, I would like to know why the left in America want American citizens to get a thorough background check in order to exercise their Second Amendment rights, BUT immigrants coming from the Jew-hating America-hating Christian-hating ISIS infected areas of the middle east do not need the same type of background check.
Yeah these Progressive liberal lefties seem to have forgotten Miami Beach Florida in the late 1970s and early early 1980s when Fidel Castro dumped hundreds of criminals out of Prisons and turn them into a refugee party on our Shores. Which later turned into the biggest cocaine Empire industry in the world. These dirtbags along with good Cuban people were dumped on our Shores for us to have to deal with all part of Fidel Castro’s plan to infect this country while cleaning out his of criminals and political prisoners. Turned Miami Beach into the biggest armpit of the United States there are until the late nineties. That’s why many hardworking Cubans in Miami are still so anti-castro. We need to make a stand on our borders and start scrutinizing these people that come into our country with greater observation and deeper digging into their backgrounds. If we do not do this we were open up a big can of worms for sleeper cells and all kinds of mess that go with it. They act like this is like some sort of attack on Muslims. We don’t mind Muslims we mind jihadist terrorist and it just so happens that all of them practice the Muslim religion.
Oh, no…The Trace lumped me in with The Deplorables yet again. That’s quite disconcerting. I truly could care less at this stage of our political climate. All it is is echo chamber bullshit.
Screw the trace that rag store magazine is as bad as the National Enquirer noticed I capitalize that and left the other lower case. That rag of a newspaper publication is nothing more than a progressive liberals leftist handbook to BS. The only thing good for that paper is starting fires in your fireplace. I wouldn’t even use it in my bird’s cage in fear he might read some of that liberal crap and start repeating it LOL.
Bawk Bawk… guns are bad bawk.
It reminds me to send them some cash.
Go ahead and file that Trace article under Fake News.
PR and image management is CRITICAL!
NEVER GIVE THE LIBERALS AN EASY SOUNDBITE even if it is something taken out of context. Sound bites and memes shape how most people vote. The average voter decides in less than a minute (from a pollster).
More proof that gun owners need to manage the image. There will never be enough time to explain in the media after the damage is done even if the media retracts it in the smallest print possible
And anyone really cares or otherwise believes anything the “Trace” conjures up? In my view, the Trace’s credibility is below that of the mainstream media.
I am a member of the NRA and I am NOT anti-immigrant.
We as a nation must do a better job of watching for those who want to do us harm. Things have changed and we must remain vigilant.
For once The Trace is right. The NRA endorsed the Gun Control Act which banned immigration for guns.
I had to re-read that one. Yep, that was when the NRA was filled with hunting douches that cared little about the Second Amendment.
We are at war, liberal/socialist/communist, whatever we might call them, their intent is to overthrow an elected government. Obama backs the overthrow, Hillary backs the overthrow, the news media is backing the overthrow, who is running them? What entity has dug in that deep? Who is the puppet master? Give or take a few, this election has shown half the voting public wants a socialist government. They might very well get it. If not now, then next time. Socialist rule is all about equality. Equally poor, equally uneducated, equally defenseless, universal slavery under an elite hierarchy. Not sure it is politics anymore, maybe more criminal than political. There was a time there was a fine line between government control and mafia control, that line might be disappearing.
Yeah this liberal Progressive socialist movement almost fascism started after the Vietnam War in this country. And as we all know history repeats itself about every 35 to 40 years. So this is been a bruin for a while if this was 1950 President Obama would have been impeached and imprisoned Hillary Clinton would have spent the next 25 years in federal prison as well. We really gotten so off of the traditional ways of the people of this country that it’s quite nauseating. I can’t believe after fighting with Russia during the Cold War and how Stalin treated his people and World War II we would want anything to do with socialism?? The people that are pushing for this or so effed up in their heads they can’t find their backside with both hands behind their back. That’s why you have criminals like Hillary Clinton that should be doing time in a federal prison sitting around getting $3,500 facials at a hair salon. How many people do you guys know that get paid $3,500 on a facial and a haircut?? And this was the dumb broad that was going to try to run this country on a budget?? This country really needs Donald Trump to straighten out this Progressive liberal socialist effort and expose it for what it is along with the media campaign that is so biased it should be labeled entertainment instead of news. We used to have Entertainment News magazines like the National Enquirer but we knew exactly what was in that a bunch of BS now it’s gone off the pages of the rag store magazines to Primetime it’s absolutely disgusting what the media does to the news to manipulate it they are a propaganda machine in the whole sense of the term. I’m 110% behind president Trump and his immigration policies the less people moving into this country taking our food and our jobs and bankrupting our economy with all this assistance that they need. When my family came to this country some 200 plus years ago we were potato farmers in Ireland and the Potato Famine had wiped out all chances of being able to support our family so we signed an indentured servant clause to give ten years of our life for transportation to the United States of America to start over. 10 years of legal slavery and you don’t hear me bitching about that. I shouldn’t have a t-shirt that says Scotch Irish lives matter LOL. We need to really get back to the Constitution and the traditions that we have all lived in this country and have been absolutely destroyed by the Liberals in their infinite Regine to disarm America and stripped from us our family values and Heritage. God bless Donald Trump my bad president Donald Trump.
I’ve held a lifetime membership in the NRA for many years. I paid for it in my early twenties when I could hardly afford to. I’ve written out plenty of checks to the NRA-ILA over the years. I’m an NRA instructor. So I am not “predisposed to hate the NRA.” However, today, I am very seriously considering quitting the organization, which it appears to me has become a tool for the rightwing fear-mongers.
Earlier today I visited the NRA webpage and was shocked to discover that I am “Trump’s strongest ally!” Remember those old NRA bumper stickers? “I’m the NRA, and I vote!” Well, I voted for Gary Johnson.
I saw also that the NRA now has a position on immigration, and is presented through fear mongering. And the NRA doesn’t just have something to say about American immigration policy! They also offer up their evaluation of immigration policy in Europe!
To make all of this even more grotesque, the commentator in the NRA’s rightwing political videos is the traitor, Oliver North, who acted against his oath to defend the Constitution, who illegally and covertly encouraging a war against Nicaraguan Sandinistas through the sale of weapons to Iran, and who did so directly against the mandates of the United States Congress.
To those of you who stain your panties whenever you hear about brown immigrants from south of our border, do you know which Central American country generally is not an origin for illegal immigrants? Nicaragua.
You see, in Nicaragua, despite Oliver North and other rightwing covert operators, the “socialists” won the unnecessary war imposed upon them, and although the resulting Sandinista government was far from great, the Sandinistas guaranteed free public education to all Nicaraguan children, aided the desperately poor, and redistributed parts of the immense resource monopoly which had been held from the time of the Spanish conquistadors.
I’ve always supported gun rights in America. I felt that an armed citizenry was the best defense against tyranny. But as I read some of the comments below, and as I see how the NRA unabashedly shifted its purview into rightwing politics, I worry now that the people who are most well armed may be the same citizens who would support a fear-mongering tyrant.
The NRA is supposed to defend the Second Amendment, and not involve itself in other political issues, but now the NRA appears to have taken an anti-immigrant stance that will, in a generation or two, destroy the Second Amendment. Our fastest growing immigrant population is from Latin America, and the NRA has chosen to take public policy positions which alienate them (and yes, the rhetoric against Mexicans in general alienates legal, voting immigrants too!). Instead of offending Latino immigrants, the NRA should be reaching out to them and promoting the shooting sports.
If these “immigrants” are so vital to our country, why weren’t they vital to theirs?
I’m an immigrant and an NRA member. Currently a Green Card holder (i.e Permanent Resident) and a productive tax payer, raising 2 great daughters and a true believer in the US and her Constitution! In a year or so I’m looking forward to pledging allegiance and becoming a US Citizen. Doesn’t mean that I don’t like the UK or never want to go back, but it means that I love the US and want to participate fully as a citizen.
I’m not sure if LaPierre really said Green Card holders should get ‘extra wandings’ but the hoops that I have had to jump through, and the ‘extreme vetting’ that I have had in order to get this far (as well as the thousands of dollars spent) should mean something. You’ll find that a lot of folks who have immigrated legally are dead set against unfettered open borders & illegal immigration.
Rant over! Happy February everyone!
About time. Immigrants have done nothing but harm the liberties our Founders left to their posterity. We should have closed the borders in 1800.
Amen brother
Mr. Mallory – Perhaps you don’t realize what immigrants have added to the American tapestry. When you have a bit of time on your hands, I suggest you scroll through this website: http://www.biography.com/people/groups/immigration-us-immigrant
And if you think we should never have let in Sophia Loren, Ann-Margret Olson, and Charlize Theron (among others), I shall assume that you are a flaming homosexual and that you and Dave are involved in a deep relationship.
Yeah that’s what we need more Hollywood actresses boy they benefit the world you know because they’re curing cancer and stuff LOL. You’re a jackass brother. We need more immigrants in this country from Mexico Puerto Rico and the Middle East and and don’t forget Syria. These people do absolutely nothing to benefit this country whatsoever they are constantly asking for handouts and what can your country do for us if they were so special why didn’t their country think that and keep them. They got rid of them because they are not worth anything what I call throwaway people. I love the way you brought up such an intellectual argument there claiming a couple has been actresses in movie stars as the reason why we should let immigrants just freely walk across our borders when law abiding immigrants have to go through all the checks and balances and background checks instead of just walking across the border illegally and squatting out a kid and then being able to stay in this country as a citizen because you happen to give birth to a child in this country. They should box up all of them and send them all back where the hell they came from and maybe just maybe you should follow with them since you’re such interested in these kind of people. Give me a break man our country is the armpit of the world because of all the other countries dumping their Refuge garbage people into it I guess you don’t remember when the Del Castro took a crap in America’s lap with all his boat people back in the late seventies early eighties. I live in Florida I know exactly what happened crime went off the charts and we developed one of the biggest cocaine trafficking problems the world has ever seen in the eighties because of all the Cubans that came here freaking boat people. Those are boats that need to be sink. I’m not politically correct I’m just correct.
There’s always such vast generalizations on this website. It’s funny. You folks should stop using terms like conservatives, liberals, righties, and lefties, in all your comments. Obama wasn’t all bad, Trump isn’t all good, or vice-versa. Debate the issue without disparaging vast groups or lumping all people who believe one thing into a group of people who believe similar things.
I didn’t vote for trump, I believe in stricter immigration policies, our country is not the armpit of the world, Charlize Theron is hot, non US citizens should not be allowed to buy a gun, etc., etc.
I’ve held a lifetime membership in the NRA for many years. I paid for it in my early twenties when I could hardly afford to. I’ve written out plenty of checks to the NRA-ILA over the years. I’m an NRA instructor. So I am not “predisposed to hate the NRA.” However, today, I am very seriously considering quitting the organization, which it appears to me has become a tool for the rightwing fear-mongers.
Earlier today I visited the NRA webpage and was shocked to discover that I am “Trump’s strongest ally!” Remember those old NRA bumper stickers? “I’m the NRA, and I vote!” Well, I voted for Gary Johnson.
I saw also that the NRA now has a position on immigration, presented through fear mongering. And the NRA doesn’t just have something to say about American immigration policy! They also offer up their evaluation of immigration policy in Europe!
To make all of this even more grotesque, the commentator in the NRA’s rightwing political videos is the traitor, Oliver North, who acted against his oath to defend the Constitution, who illegally and covertly encouraged a war against Nicaraguan Sandinistas through the sale of weapons to Iran, and who did so directly against the mandates of the United States Congress.
To those of you who stain your panties whenever you hear about brown immigrants from south of our border, do you know which Central American country generally is NOT an origin for illegal immigrants? Nicaragua.
You see, in Nicaragua, despite Oliver North and other rightwing covert operators, the “socialists” won the unnecessary war imposed upon them, and although the resulting Sandinista government was far from great, the Sandinistas guaranteed free public education to all Nicaraguan children, aided the desperately poor, and redistributed parts of the immense resource monopoly which had been held from the time of the Spanish conquistadors.
I’ve always supported gun rights in America. I felt that an armed citizenry was the best defense against tyranny. But as I read some of the comments below, and as I see how the NRA unabashedly shifted its purview into rightwing politics, I worry now that the people who are most well armed may be the same citizens who would support a fear-mongering tyrant.
The NRA is supposed to defend the Second Amendment, and not involve itself in other political issues, but now the NRA appears to have taken an anti-immigrant stance that will, in a generation or two, destroy the Second Amendment. Our fastest growing immigrant population is from Latin America, and the NRA has chosen to take public policy positions which alienate them (and yes, the rhetoric against Mexicans in general alienates legal, voting immigrants too!). Instead of offending Latino immigrants, the NRA should be reaching out to them and promoting the shooting sports.
Listen I’m a member of the NRA and I don’t like their constant sales tactics. However we do have a problem in this country with immigration particularly immigrants from Mexico and all these other City third world countries. It sounds like you don’t have a problem with the NRA it sounds like you have a problem with Donald Trump. That’s a little ridiculous seeing how you’re a gun owner. What was your contestant going to do for guns and the Second Amendment absolutely nothing. We have Donald Trump as our president and commander-in-chief get used to it and quit your bitchin. And that goes to everyone out there it’s absolutely ridiculous these people are coming out of the woodwork to hold these stupid rallies and protests just like the morons that run blacklivesmatter Mothers Against Drunk Driving Moms Demand Action and all these other miniscule morons. If you don’t like the NRA by all means quit we won’t miss you.
The NRA was not established to support presidents. It wasn’t founded to take positions on immigration matters. It is supposed to defend the Second Amendment and promote the shooting sports, and that is all. People from any political persuasion who care about gun rights should be able to join the NRA and not have to worry that the NRA is also messing around in other matters.
Good point. But nowa days they have 2 get involved because of the political corruption that’s going on. Aka the Clintons. Lol