I think what’s going on here is they have poorly done studies and if they keep putting them out again and again … they’ll just convince people over time that they’ll be afraid to have guns in the home.”110 The irony of Lott’s criticism is that he employs the very approach he is attacking—but in Lott’s case, his work is routinely found to be flawed by credible academics. How Minneapolis Freed Itself From the Stranglehold of Single-Family Homes, ‘Mother Is Not Going to Like This’: The 48 Hours That Almost Brought Down Trump, California's road to recovery runs through D.C. Republicans, Why New Jersey’s ventilator guidelines may favor younger, whiter patients, Rhode Island ends specific restrictions on New Yorkers — by making them national. While the NRA is certainly not seeking complete control over a political system, a comparison to the messaging tactics of autocrats is still instructive, as the group is seeking to retain and maintain political power in order to challenge a growing movement to strengthen gun laws. In part because of their danger and allure and in part because they're the center of a sporting culture with deep American roots, guns draw adherents together in ⦠For example, “Armed & Fabulous” focuses on glorifying women and guns, linking the featured women to a female iteration of the law-abiding patriot—a women who is self-reliant and able to defend herself and her family because she carries guns.91 The NRA also runs a women’s leadership forum to cultivate young women aspiring to become Second Amendment activists.92. Norton's COVID-19 response: We are here to help with your courses. The Center for American Progress is an independent nonpartisan He seized on moments of conflict and war in Hungarian history to evoke sentiments of “the glorious Hungarian nation,” crystalizing the identity of the Hungarian people and claiming that they are under direct assault from both the large numbers of migrants seeking asylum from conflicts in the Middle East and the European leaders in Brussels who would allow Hungary to be overrun by migrants.28 In Orbán’s own words: We shall not allow it [Brussels] to force upon us the bitter fruit of its cosmopolitan immigration policy. In the words of NRA President Oliver North, “The Second Amendment is the purest metaphor for freedom because if you are not free to defend yourself and your loved ones, then you are really not free at all.”52, This ostensible need to possess a firearm for self-preservation is connected to another existential crisis the NRA has constructed: The NRA has consistently undercut advocates for gun violence prevention and common-sense legislation in order to maintain power over the narrative. The National Rifle Association (NRA), an organization originally established in 1871 to train hunters and marksmen on gun use and safety, has transformed into one of the most effective political lobbies in modern American history. To achieve this goal, the NRA has turned its political opposition into an anti-American enemy poised to seize guns and suppress freedoms through its anti-gun agenda. The ironclad, absolute safeguard of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.”24. In this way, the NRA’s disinformation campaign mimics the rhetoric and approach of populist Hungary, as Orbán, too, often claims that accepting migrants would result in heightened levels of violence and crime.80 Perhaps most disturbingly, the NRA seems aware of these similarities, as multiple reports on NRATV have equated the U.S. situation with Hungary.81 Chuck Holton, a prominent correspondent for NRATV, will often discuss the issue of migration within the United States and compare it to the rise of people fleeing Syria and seeking refuge in Europe. He is an editor (with Andrew Poe) of The Lives of Guns (Oxford University Press). In a way gun control advocates rarely consider, but gun owners may find obvious, they're a meaningful social asset for their owners. Yet the group is not driven by a desire to protect fundamental freedoms. All of this tears at the heart of a nation because we aren’t just divided anymore, we are in an all-out fight, a brawl. However, most refrain from pushing for greater regulation of guns because they neither trust the government nor believe that it will protect them. A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube to launch typically solid projectiles, but can also project pressurized liquid (e.g. All-American Despair ... empty part of America from Ketchum to Casper, Toby Lingleâs hometown. This report dissects the NRA’s messaging approach and provides examples of the group’s rhetoric in order to depict how the organization is mimicking the tactics of autocrats and demagogues. After the American Civil War, the Gatling gun was used in international conflicts such as the Boshin War and the Anglo-Zulu War. By using hyperbolic language and extreme examples that are often disconnected from the realities of gun violence, it maintains that guns are needed for self-defense and that legislation only burdens law-abiding citizens. The NRA strongly supported the passage of the Dickey Amendment, which restricted the CDC from using any funding “to advocate or promote gun control.”113 The amendment effectively chilled gun violence research, creating a vacuum. George Soros founded Open Society Foundations, which is a contributor to the Center for American Progress. The group advocates for gun rights, resisting any encroachment on what it deems to be an inalienable right to unhindered, unregulated gun ownership. “Our Second Amendment is freedom’s most valuable, most cherished, most irreplaceable idea. You’re on your own. Liberals need gun owners as allies. By requiring private sales of firearms—including online sales and sales made at gun shows—to require a background check on all buyers to ensure that they are legally allowed to obtain a firearm before completing the sale, the legislation would prevent prohibited people from exploiting gaps in the existing system to obtain a firearm.116. This technique of controlling information around key policies has been successfully used by authoritarians and populists throughout the world. To perpetuate the fears embedded in the narrative, leaders of the political party—along with designated surrogates from different parts of society, including civil society, media, and academia—are used to emphasize the threats facing the chosen populace. Austin Sarat is Associate Provost and William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence & Political Science. Gun violence shatters communities across the United Statesâparticularly communities of colorâand ravages the nationâs youth. That government overreach to block us from exercising our constitutional right is a clear and present danger. … They want to disarm you. On his show, NRATV host Grant Stinchfield stated that this bill would make it harder for people to get firearms, arguing that it would “put law-abiding citizens in prison” and that “even though federal gun registries are illegal, this bill is the first step in creating one.”117 Stinchfield also made the following misleading statement to divert the debate around universal background checks: This background check bill is a vendetta against gun owners and Trump supporters, turning patriots into criminals, stripping us of the right to transfer our gun, possibly holding that gun hostage at a gun store if that gun isn’t registered for who knows how long. The organization’s transformation began in the 1960s following a wave of gun control laws; for example, the passage of the Gun Control Act in 1968 created a category of people prohibited from legal gun ownership, including those convicted of violent felonies and domestic abuse.10 With federal laws beginning to regulate gun ownership, factions within the NRA’s membership base felt threatened. 5th â The âFourth Reichâ â Nazis in charge â coming cosmic false flag. You guys love it. One of the most authoritative and interesting surveys of the attitudes of gun owners was conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2017. And the Liberals think that’s a good idea.”67 Stinchfield is likening those who seek common-sense gun legislation to violent actors who have publicly stated they seek to attack the United States. This is what real empowerment looks like.94. In recent years, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey has attempted to build a new Turkish identity that brings together his conservative religious base and the broader conservative nationalist constituency.25 By targeting both these factions, Erdoğan seeks to create a more unified, dominant right-wing alliance on which he can rely to advance his political agenda and overwhelm any opposition to his power. Instead, the gun rights group can claim that freedom and fundamental American rights are again under attack from an anti-American faction of the “violent Left,” thereby deflecting from real policy debate and shifting the focus to a narrative it has skillfully constructed. In 1997, after being selected to serve as the NRA’s First Vice President,19 the longtime gun rights supporter delivered a speech at the National Press Club, stating: I simply cannot stand by and watch a right guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States come apart under attack from those who either can’t understand it, don’t like the sound of it, or find themselves too philosophically squeamish to see why it remains the first among equals: Because it is the right we turn to when all else fails. Prominent NRATV host Grant Stinchfield has linked gun violence prevention advocacy to the Islamic State and the Iranian regime, stating: “You got ISIS wanting us disarmed, you got the ayatollah of Iran wanting us disarmed. And the media’s lies can’t protect you, either. For more information, see Katharine Seelye, “Close Votes in NRA Elections Quash Hope for Internal Unity,”, C-SPAN, “National Rifle Association Future,” September 11, 1997, available at, Chris Cox, “Speech at 2018 NRA Member’s Meeting,” May 5, 2018, available at, Freedom’s Safest Place, “Truly Free,” NRATV, available at, NRATV, “Freedom’s Safest Place,” available at, American Conservative Union, “CPAC 2015 – Wayne LaPierre, NRA,” YouTube, February 27, 2015, available at, Max Hoffman, Michael Werz, and John Halpin, “Turkey’s ‘New Nationalism’ Amid Shifting Politics,” (Washington: Center for American Progress, 2018), available at, miniszterelnok.hu, “Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Speech at the Annual General Meeting of the Association of Cities with County Rights,” February 8, 2018, available at, World Population Review, “Hungary Population 2019,” available at, Website of the Hungarian Government, “Speech by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on 15 March,” March 15, 2016, available at, Website of the Hungarian Government, “Speech by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on 15 March.”, Nicholas Cull and others, “Soviet Subversion, Disinformation and Propaganda: How the West Fought Against It” (London: London School of Economics, 2017), available at, Vera Zakem and others, “Mapping Russian Media Network: Media’s Role in Russia Foreign Policy and Decision-Making” (Arlington, VA: CNA, 2018), available at, Ivan Nechepurenko, “In Russia, a Top University Lacks Just One Thing: Students,”, Samantha Schmidt, “Trump chuckled as Duterte called journalists ‘spies.’ That’s no joke in the Philippines.”, Editorial Board, “Duterte’s autocratic regime cracks down on a vital voice in Manila.”, Freedom House, “Freedom of the Press 2017: Hungary,” available at, Helene Bienvenu, “Newspaper closes in Hungary, and Hungarians see government’s hand,”, Bátorfy Attila and Tremmel Márk, “Data visualization: the definitive timeline of anti-Soros conspiracy theories,” Atlatszo, Human Rights Watch, “Philippines’ ‘War on Drugs’,” available at, Hannah Reyes Morales and Emily Rauhala, “Witnesses to Duterte’s drug war,”, Human Rights Watch, “Philippines: Arrest of Duterte critic widens ‘drug war’,” February 24, 2017, available at, Freedom House, “Freedom in the World 2017: Turkey,” available at, Nate Schenkkan, “The remarkable scale of Turkey’s ‘global purge’,”, Amberin Zaman, “Families fret as Turkey’s Gulenist purge continues,” Al-Monitor, February 19, 2019, available at, Howard Eissenstat, “The hard truth about Turkey’s opposition,”. Heston’s words have become one of the NRA’s most prolific slogans to ground its lobbying efforts in protecting American freedoms, and the sentiment of his remarks is routinely parroted by NRA leadership. For their owners, guns are the material embodiments of good citizenship. It implies that the world is full of bad people and the only way to defend yourself is through owning a firearm. Orbán’s regime has forced the beleaguered Budapest office of the Open Society Foundations—which is funded by Soros and focuses on human rights and democracy advocacy—to relocate to Berlin due to the repressive environment in Hungary.48 Similarly, the embattled Central European University, also funded by Soros, is relocating to Vienna after Orbán’s relentless efforts to shutter the revered academic institution.49 Orbán’s continued attacks on Soros allow the populist leader to undermine a key opposition voice and continue to perpetuate the fear-based narrative that enabled him to secure power in the first place. The NRA depicts the conflict of ideas as an existential battle between the two groups in an NRA-constructed zero-sum game, in a manner similar to how Erdoğan brands political opponents in Turkey as existential threats, routinely labeling them as enemies and terrorists.56 At the 2019 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Oliver North made clear this absolute fight for gun ownership: “Our opponents call themselves gun control advocates. The subtext of this narrative is related to imbalanced gender dynamics that frame men as protectors of their vulnerable families, thereby implying that to be a masculine man, one must also be a gun owner; otherwise, one is forsaking his duty as a man to his family.85 It is worth noting, however, that the NRA’s narrative about the “good guy with a gun” stopping “the bad guy with a gun” is patently false.86 Armed civilians have rarely been successful in engaging with and stopping an active shooter. They ought to call themselves what they really are: the vanguard of the disarm America movement. The NRA has had astounding success at using its messaging to support advocacy for legislation that expands gun rights while endangering public safety. Roughly half of all gun owners say that all or most of their friends own guns. On Loesch’s program, Lott has also challenged studies that Loesch deems to be “anti-gun”; he claims they are “misleading and biased.”111 The NRA and its supporters frequently employ this technique: lambast academic studies for being part of the “Left’s anti-gun agenda”112 in an attempt to negate evidence that indicates that more guns make communities less safe. Moreover, it likens these individuals to other perceived dangers facing the American patriot, such as “criminals” and “illegal immigrants.”61 As a result, the NRA never has to engage in the actual debate over policy around gun violence prevention, nor does it have to provide evidence and facts to support its opposition. Many members of Congress not only support or oppose legislation tied to the NRA’s interests but also will repeat the organization’s talking points in hearings or on the floors of Congress.145, The implications of the NRA’s use of illicit messaging tactics is problematic for the health and strength of U.S. democracy, with questions arising following the 2016 election on the linkage between Russia and the NRA.146 For years, gun violence prevention advocates have raised concerns about the lack of information around who donates to the organization—which is notoriously tight-lipped about its funding streams.147 Some links between the gun rights organization and foreign entities were exposed through the indictment of Maria Butina in 2018, who pled guilty to conspiring to act as an unregistered agent of Russia.148 Butina established a relationship with members of NRA leadership, helping NRA leaders travel to Moscow, as well as meet with prominent Republican political figures.149 Given Russia’s desires to destabilize the United States, the connections between Butina, Russian officials, and NRA leadership are troubling. ET, Twitter, available at, Pete Madden and Matthew Mosk, “NRA says 2015 Moscow trip wasn’t ‘official.’ Emails, photos reveal gun group’s role,” ABC News, January 30, 2019, available at, Alexandra O’Neill and Daniel O’Neill, “The NRA, a tax-exempt loaded with private interest,” The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, available at, Rosalind Helderman, Tom Hamburger, and Michelle Ye Hee Lee, “Russian agent’s guilty plea intensifies spotlight on relationship with NRA,”, Peter Stone, “NRA in crisis: how the gun group became ensnared in the Russia inquiry,”, Freedom’s Safest Place, “The Violence Of Lies,” NRATV, available at, Maureen Sheeran, “NRA losing corporate ties amid calls for boycott in wake of Parkland shooting,” ABC News, February 27, 2018, available at, Guns Down, “New poll: Public now strongly backs candidates who advocate for real policies to reduce gun violence,” August 1, 2018, available at, Danny Hakim, “Incendiary NRA videos find new critics: NRA leaders,”. To do so, the NRA chooses to draw from the demagogue’s playbook and deploy a campaign based on fear and disinformation to retain power, regardless of the human cost. The two mass shootings this weekend have inflamed a gun-control debate that never seems to go away and never seems to get resolved. According to analysis conducted by the Violence Policy Center, the NRA enjoys strong financial ties with the firearms industry, receiving millions of dollars in contributions from industry conglomerates such as the Freedom Group, Bushmaster, and Smith & Wesson.12 Furthermore, as revealed by Mother Jones’ investigative reporting, the NRA’s “Golden Ring of Freedom” membership status, marking donors who contribute at least $1 million to the group, has numerous executives from firearms manufacturers.13 The NRA also creates programming and messaging that is sponsored by specific firearms manufacturers. Situation Update, Mar. It should stay in Hungary.”, Spencer Kimball and Scott Melzer, “‘NRA is saying the gun is a symbol of freedom’,” Deutsche Welle, January 11, 2013, available at, Speeches, “LtCol Oliver North: CPAC 2019,” NRATV, available at, Speeches, “2018 NRA Annual Meetings,” NRATV, available at, Cam & Co, “Red Flag Bills Expose the Lies the Disarmocrats Are Telling,” NRATV, available at, NRATV, “The Disarmament Primary,” available at, American Conservative Union, “CPAC 2019 – LtCol Ollie North,” YouTube, available at, Stinchfield, “Dan Bongino: The Violent Left Attacks Conservatives,” NRATV, available at, Emily Rauhala, “Duterte mocks woman senator investigating Philippine killings as ‘screwing her driver’ and nation,”, Stinchfield, “The Left Is Fighting Dirty, and It’s the Greatest Threat to Our Nation,” NRATV, available at, Stinchfield, “Gun Hearings in D.C. Meant Solely to Slam Gun Owners, Not Find Solutions,” NRATV, available at, NRA-ILA, “Second Amendment,” available at, Gina Jordan, “The Lobbyist Behind Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law,” National Public Radio, March 29, 2012, available at, Guns Down America, @ gunsdownamerica, February 11, 2019, 9:21a.m. The only major parades and fiestas taking place south of the border are held in the city of Puebla, where there's a military parade and a mock battle is staged to commemorate the Battle of Puebla, the event that gave rise to the holiday. Duterte’s unending “war on drugs” has resulted in the extrajudicial murder of thousands, with death estimates ranging from 12,000 to 20,000.38 His harsh approach has been largely condemned by civil society and government leaders around the world, including Philippine Senator Leila de Lima, who often used her position in the Senate to voice opposition to Duterte.39 In February 2017, Senator de Lima was arrested on charges of drug trafficking; however, human rights organizations have denounced her arrest and charges as transparent efforts by Duterte to use his political power to silence a prominent voice of dissent.40, In Turkey, the attempted coup in 2016 provided Erdoğan with an opportunity to intensify his crackdown on political and civil rights and cast all opposition to his rule as a betrayal of the nation—as defined by his own conception of Turkish identity.41 Erdoğan created a list of perpetrators and co-conspirators that extended far beyond those involved in the putsch itself, using the crisis to mark political enemies as traitors and enemies of the state.42 By targeting critical members of the media, academics, and civil society activists, as well as members of the military and government civil service deemed to be disloyal to his regime, Erdoğan purged the state and body politic of dissent.43 The state-sanctioned purges and widespread arrests have left him with total control of state institutions and the media in Turkey, virtually ending democratic politics in a nation once poised to join the European Union.44. The implications of the NRA’s use of these tactics within the United States are devastating. water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, projected water disruptors, and technically also flamethrowers), gas (e.g. Through its narrative, the NRA will also target women in an effort to encourage them to purchase firearms. That survey shows the vast majority of Americans who own guns are not members of the NRA and that most favor some form of gun control. However, instead of engaging in policy discussion, the NRA chose to pivot the debate using lies and tangents. ... People kill people.”. It then illustrates the ways in which nondemocratic leaders construct narratives to secure political power, and how these tactics compare to the messaging strategy deployed by the NRA. They need to turn that support into vocal activism. They found that, since 1997, in 14 jurisdictions that passed concealed carry laws, there was an increase in every category of crime studied by Lott, thereby undermining the core of Lott’s argument.104 David Hemenway at Harvard University went further than Ayres and Donohue, finding that the model used by Lott was academically unsound and deeply flawed, as miniscule changes to the inputs dramatically changed the results.105 In response to growing academic criticism, Lott chose to create a fake persona to defend his research, rather than produce credible studies.106 Further degrading his reputation as a reliable and ethical academic, Lott lied about producing a peer-reviewed article and has continued to manufacture or manipulate statistics to fit his—and the gun industry’s—desired narrative around guns.107. The sale, manufacture, distribution, purchase and production of guns, as well as the views of their owners, are, in part, responses to the perceived weakness of the government and the perceived need for constant vigilance and a concomitant interpersonal fear. For example, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) are constantly attacked by NRATV personalities. Seen in this light, as sociologist David Yamane puts it, “Guns are normal and normal people use guns.”. Unlike the demographics of asylum seekers entering Europe, the majority of migrants seeking asylum in the United States are women and children fleeing violence.83 Moreover, evidence shows that U.S. communities with immigrants do not see increases in crime.84. That’s why the Second Amendment is America’s first freedom.20. The gun rights group uses the image of women in two intertwined, problematic ways. In the immediate aftermath of mass killings, shooters frequently are branded social misfits. This is a national emergency.”76 Stinchfield did not fact-check her statements, nor did he counter with the overwhelming evidence showing that migration across the southern border does not increase crime in the United States. NRA surrogate and actor Charlton Heston often used his prominent platform to echo this message. Today, there are several automatic rotary machine guns that were influenced by the design of the Gatling gun. Ronald J. Daniels, “Central European University is a remarkable school. She holds a master’s degree from Georgetown’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and a bachelor’s degree with honors from Wellesley College. That is the greatest threat to our nation.60. In the Philippines, in an effort to control the narrative around his controversial “war on drugs” and quash criticism of his regime, Rodrigo Duterte attempts to control the narrative by undermining the media’s legitimacy, referring to the press as liars, spies, and distrustful members of society.33 His targeted attacks on press freedom are part of a strategy that seeks to erode people’s confidence in the media’s reliability, resulting in critical reporting being discredited or deemed unreliable. It is simply a distraction from the policy debate intended to stoke the fear of losing guns and freedom upon which the NRA’s narrative is based. Under the guise of protecting civil liberties, the group cultivated a political reputation advocating for the protection of gun rights across federal, state, and local laws. By Stanley McChrystal and David Eichenbaum, Gun owners bond over their shared fear of diffuse and unpredictable threats of contemporary life. (September 30, 1996), available at, David E. Stark and Nigam H. Shah, “Funding and Publication of Research on Gun Violence and Other Leading Causes of Death,” JAMA Network, January 3, 2017, available at, Danielle Kurtzleben, “Trump Embraces One of Russia’s Favorite Propaganda Tactics – Whataboutism,” National Public Radio, March 17, 2017, available at, Center for American Progress, “Frequently Asked Questions About Universal Background Checks” (Washington: 2018), available at, Stinchfield, “HR8 Is a Springboard for a Gun Registry,” NRATV, available at, Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, H.R. A specific group needs to be manipulated into believing itself to be a marginalized population, neglected by the existing power structures and facing demise or attack. Civil society is actively engaged in the quest to end gun violence and prevent more families from being torn apart by preventable tragedies. The demonization of “the Left” in this manner tarnishes the work of members of Congress, civil society advocates, members of the traditional media, and academics who seek to advance common-sense gun legislation. Stinchfield, “HR8 is a springboard for a gun registry.” Quote appears at 00:28. The bill would close existing loopholes in the background check process, which currently only requires licensed gun dealers to run a background check on buyers before selling them a firearm. Relentless, “John Lott: Background Checks Bill Would Turn Many Well-Intentioned Americans into Criminals,” NRATV, available at, Giffords, “HR 8, the bipartisan background checks act of 2019,” available at, We Stand, “People Think the Media Is an Absolute Joke,” NRATV, available at, NRATV, “Dana Loesch: ‘I Call BS!’,” available at, Relentless, “Dan Gainor: ‘Media Contagion’ Is Factor in Mass Shootings, Study Says,” NRATV, available at, We Stand, “Grant Stinchfield: Legacy Media Thrive on Mass Shootings,” NRATV, available at, Stinchfield, “Stacey Abrams Gives Her Rebuttal … to a Speech She Didn’t Listen To,” NRATV, available at, Stinchfield, “Stinchfield: If Nancy Will Cancel the SOTU, What Would She Do to the 2A?”, NRATV, available at, Stinchfield, “Dianne Feinstein Loves Herself Some Gun Control,” NRATV, available at, Cam & Co, “The Queen of Gun Control Re-Introduces New Flavor of ‘Assault Weapons’ Ban,” NRATV, available at, Cam & Co, “Feinstein’s Facts Just Don’t Add Up,” NRATV, available at. The Pew poll reported that 67 percent of gun owners said protection is a major reason they own a gun; 38 percent cited hunting, 30 percent listed sport shooting, and 13 percent listed gun collecting as major reasons. Speaker Pelosi’s leadership has been targeted repeatedly, particularly given her strong stance on not funding a border wall.