A pair of gun control lobbying groups, Brady and the Seattle-based Alliance for Gun Responsibility, want to hear from you, or at least some of you who have received email questionnaires in recent days, one asking about legislative priorities and the other about arming teachers.
Brady is the latest incarnation of the organization originally named in honor of the late James Brady, who was permanently disabled in the attempted assassination of then-President Ronald Reagan by an individual who violated existing gun control laws at the time. Now that Brady and his wife, Sarah, are both gone, the group is trying to regain momentum by asking “Which legislative priority is most important to you right now?”
• Expanding Background Checks
• Banning Assault Weapons
• Passing Safe Storage Laws
• Keeping Guns Out of Schools
• Ban High-Capacity Magazines
The group calls this their “June 20-19 Gun Violence issue questionnaire.”
The Alliance for Gun Responsibility—a billionaire-backed gun prohibition lobbying group—wants an opinion on arming teachers. The questions are interesting.
• First, are you concerned about the frequency of school shootings in the United States?
• Do you think having more guns in schools is the solution to our nation’s gun violence epidemic?
• What policies that gun safety advocates and organizations like the Alliance are working to pass do you think would make schools safer? (Select all that apply.)
-Universal background checks
-Extreme Risk Protection Orders
-Bans against ghost guns and crime guns
-Restrictions on high-capacity magazines
-Other:
• Do you think lawmakers in your state have taken enough steps to protect kids from gun violence at school?
• The best way to fight for gun safety in all our home states is to take action at the local level – and to build this movement from the ground up to make lifesaving change. Will you pledge to support organizations like the Alliance for Gun Responsibility in our effort to save lives from gun violence?
Incredibly, the Brady bunch sent another email to supporters that was disingenuous to say the least. It reminded recipients that last Friday was the two-year anniversary of the “quiet summer morning” when “four people were shot during Congressional baseball practice near Washington, D.C.”
It talked about an individual “armed with an assault rifle” who shot Congressman Steve Scalise and three others but conveniently overlooked a couple of key facts, pointed out at the time by The Hill.
The would-be killer in that attack was a radical supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders, now running for the Democrat presidential nomination in a field of candidates that has uniformly added gun control to their individual platforms.
The greater omission in Brady’s message was that Scalise is on record opposing gun control even now. He has supported national concealed carry reciprocity and easing restrictions on interstate gun sales, two proposals the Brady camp and other gun prohibition lobbying groups despise.
The 2020 election is less than 17 months away. State legislative sessions kick off in January. Anti-gunners are busy right now putting together their campaign agendas for next year.
What are gun owners doing to counter those efforts?
