It's hard to imagine an organization that is more to the right than the National Rifle Association, but they exist to constantly push the envelope to enrich the gun industry.
Gun Owners of America has re-interpreted the Second Amendment, not just for self-defense any more, in the most appalling way: to intimidate and threaten elected officials, or as Larry Pratt clarifies,
"for restraining tyrannical tendencies in government. Especially those in the liberal, tyrannical end of the spectrum."
The GOA is THE gun club for gun purists. Their founder and president, Larry Pratt, once considered too radical and too closely affiliated with White supremacist militia groups for Pat Buchanan, has passed his absolutist understanding of Second Amendment freedom on to his son, Erich Pratt. It is absolute in its stated objective: to lobby against background checks, waiting periods, and fines for straw purchases as well as measures designed to bolster gun safety.
Erich Pratt has been on a media blitz to help shore up opposition to Merrick Garland, the controversial Obama nominee for the vacant seat on the Supreme Court. His reasons are pretty terrifying, and he is not ashamed of his threats of violence.
When Alan Colmes asked him if he really does believe that politicians “should have a healthy fear of being shot,” Pratt replied: “Sure, that’s what the Second Amendment is all about.”
In Pratt’s view, the Second Amendment was created in order to instill in politicians “a healthy fear” in “the back of their minds” that they will be assassinated so “they’ll behave.” -
Judge Merrick Garland has been in the GOA's sites for quite some time, since he revealed his objection to their ammosexual utopia (for White people of course). Their website excoriates Garland for his support of sensible gun laws.
Garland voted to rehear (and overturn) the D.C. Circuit's pro-gun Heller decision. The result, had he won, would have been a Second Amendment which didn’t convey any individual rights to Americans -- merely the right of states to form a militia. And, yes, Garland voted to reconsider in order to reverse the pro-gun panel.
Sickeningly, they mention Garland's own family in this latest attempt to thwart due process in the Senate, as if they are fair game. It's the fault of the liberal media, after all.
And, yes, as the corrupt news reporters for the New York Times and The Washington Post scrambled to misrepresent Garland’s record on Heller -- even as MSNBC fell over itself to characterize Garland as “a humble man” and a “moderate,” while panning on his photogenic family -- we have all the evidence we need as to why Chuck Grassley cannot give Garland a platform to lie about his judicial philosophy...
GOA praises the briefs written by Justice Scalia, who always advocated for the 2nd Amendment's interpretation to exclude the pertinent 'to form a militia' component. Erich Pratt is dead set against Garland because he would add a modicum of sensibility to the recently uncertain makeup of the Court. The current 4-4 split terrifies Conservatives, especially White, militant Libertarian types. Heaven forbid, the court helps pass a law that saves an innocent victim of gun violence or tragic gun accidents.
Folks like Pratt realize that they are no longer the majority of the U.S. population and that angers and frightens them. The demographics of gun owners in these United States are vastly different than the actual populace.
The general profile of gun owners in America differs substantially from the general public. Roughly three-quarters (74%) of gun owners are men, and 82% are white. Taken together, 61% of adults who own guns are white men. Nationwide, white men make up only 32% of the U.S. adult population.
This 'no-compromise' gun lobby has endorsed Ted Cruz for President. Good thing too, because we didn't already have enough reason to despise this (possibly ineligible) candidate.
Cruz didn’t mention that he got GOA’s endorsement because he was the only candidate in the race to return the group’s candidate survey.
Although Cruz may be GOA’s only outspoken ally in the presidential race, he has been a good one for them. During the effort to defeat the background checks bill, the New York Times reported that Cruz was GOA’s “key ally in the Senate.” Cruz is the also the only candidate to have agreed to give a telephone briefing to GOA’s members; in his briefing, he praised GOA’s members as “fighters” and “patriots” and thanks them for helping him get elected to the Senate.
Listen below to his Larry Pratt's interview on Alan Colmes' radio program where he proudly advocates threatening to kill people.
