Two big issues have been in the news the past two weeks - racism and guns. Looking then at the leadership of the various pro-guns lobby groups, some inherent racism of these groups appears to stand out.
Please note, I am absolutely not accusing the followers of these groups, who are probably simple, ordinary citizens, of racism. But I do ask such individuals about how they feel about what appears to be some blatant racist leadership on an issue that they obviously think is important.
First, the National Rifle Association
From the NY Times
After Diane Cardwell of The Times wrote about a National Rifle Association magazine's broadside aimed at Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his gun proposals, a reader raised an issue about the image on the cover (at right), showing the Jewish mayor as an octopus.
According to the sites, the image has been used in anti-Semitic propaganda, from the Nazis to the modern Arab world.
The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs has an overview of anti-Jewish motifs and symbols, including a 2002 cartoon from Russia that "shows a Star of David with America throwing coins on it. The star then mutates into an octopus with rockets and planes in its tentacles."
An N.R.A. spokesman, Andrew Arulanandam, said the mayor was depicted as an octopus because "we believe he's trying to extend his reach beyond New York City." He said no one at the rifle association was aware of the use of the octopus in anti-Semitic propaganda and added that no such reference was intended.
Also this, from the Times
Tentacles!" shouts the headline on the cover of "America’s 1st Freedom," a magazine of the National Rifle Association, at right.
Under that is a cartoon illustration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg as a giant octopus, looking fierce and slightly insane, with serpentine arms swirling behind him. Inside are a main article, two sidebars and a column devoted to the idea that Mr. Bloomberg, as the cover puts it, is extending "his reach, and his illegal antigun tactics, across America."
The issue, dated this month, was sent to as many as 600,000 of the N.R.A.’s 4 million members at a time when Mr. Bloomberg has been intensifying his efforts and as mayors across the country continue to sign on to his campaign against illegal gun trafficking.
Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler responded:
I think it’s fair to say we have gotten their attention. It really shows how they talk out of both sides of their mouth, claiming to be against illegal guns while doing everything possible to undermine efforts to crack down on them.
David Twersky of the American Jewish Congress told the AP that he didn't believe the NRA acted knowingly, but added, "For them not to know this is really, really stupid,'' he said. ''You take a powerful Jewish figure and show him in a way that provokes traditional anti-Semitism, it's really unforgivable.
Here are a whole bunch of Google news links to various outlets on the story:
And here is the actual offensive magazine cover
Hi Res image:
And of course, Bloomberg's "crime" -
This is not, of course, the first time that the NRA was accused of racism.
Some profiles of members of their board of directors
Wayne Stump at one time served on the advisory board of English First, a radical anti-immigration group that has been accused of racism. Stump is also closely associated with Jack McLamb, whose American Citizens and Lawmen Association (ACLA) works to convince law enforcement officers to stop enforcing the law and align themselves with militias against the federal government. McLamb is also the editor of the conspiracy tract Operation Vampire Killer 2000.
In 1990 rock musician Ted Nugent told the Detroit Free Press magazine that "apartheid isn't that cut and dry. All men are not created equal." In the same interview Nugent expounded on his racial views, "I use the word n----r a lot because I hang around with a lot of n----rs, and they use the word n----r, and I tend to use words that communicate...." In a July 1994 interview, Nugent called Hillary Clinton a "toxic c--t," adding, "This bitch is nothing but a two-bit whore for Fidel Castro." And following the Oklahoma bombing, Nugent stated that he had "no problem" with militias and defended the Michigan Militia, adding, "I shoot with these people."
Jeff Cooper authors the monthly column "Cooper's Corner" for Guns & Ammo magazine and also writes the newsletter "Jeff Cooper's Commentaries." Cooper regularly refers to Japanese as "Nips," and has suggested calling black South Africans from the Gauteng province "Orang-gautengs." In 1994 he wrote, "Los Angeles and Ho Chi Min City have declared themselves sister cities. It makes sense they are both Third World metropolises formerly occupied by Americans." In commenting on the Senate debate over the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Cooper offered his views on sexual harassment, "[W]e find ourselves most harassed by people who get the accent on the wrong syllable. The word is harass, not harass."
And then there is this from Rolling Stone, an article from 1995.
The other prominent figure in this story is neo-nazi sympathizer Larry Pratt, of Gun Owners of America, another lobbying group that has helped to water down the sorts of gun control efforts that might have spared a few lives.
Just as a reminder of the moral character and right wing orientation of much of the leadership of the gun lobby, there are such inconvenient facts as these.
In the 1996 U.S. presidential election, Pratt served as a co-chairman of Pat Buchanan's campaign. In February 1996, the liberal Center for Public Integrity issued a report that claimed Pratt spoke at meetings organized by white supremacist and militia leaders. Pratt denied any tie to racism, calling the report a smear aimed at hurting Buchanan before the New Hampshire primary election. However, Pratt was forced to resign his position with the Buchanan campaign.
Political Research Associates' website lists several organizations that Pratt has founded: English First, Gun Owners of America, U.S. Border Control, and Committee to Protect the Family. In 2001, TIME Magazine reported Pratt to be president of English First, an organization within the English-only movement. The organization was founded in 1986, and works to pass English Only amendments at both state and federal levels. Pratt also helped found and served as secretary of the Council for Inter-American Security, which was founded in 1976. Pratt has served as a board member of the American Legislative Exchange Council, founded by Paul Weyrich.
Larry Pratt has also been listed as a member of the Council for National Policy (CNP).A January 13, 2001 article in The Guardian explored Pratt's relationship with then-Attorney General nominee John Ashcroft, stating they knew each other from the CNP. The January 11, 2001 edition of TIME Magazine included an article on Pratt and Ashcroft's relationship.
In October 1992 at Estes Park, Colorado, Pratt addressed a three-day meeting of neo-Nazis and Christian Identity adherents organized by Pete Peters in the wake of the Ruby Ridge incident. Pratt shared the stage with Richard Butler and Louis Beam.
Pratt addressed delegates at the 1996 national convention of the U.S. Taxpayers Party/Constitution Party.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Pratt used his Committee to Protect the Family organization to raise $150,000 for the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue which paid a $50,000 court-imposed fines. The Southern Poverty Law Center also reports that Pratt "was a contributing editor to a periodical of the anti-Semitic United Sovereigns of America, and that his GOA had donated money to a white supremacist attorney's group."
Pratt is the author of Armed People Victorious (1990), Safeguarding Liberty: The Constitution and Citizen Militias (1995) and On the Firing Line: Essays in the Defense of Liberty (2001).
So, in the figure of Larry Pratt, a prominent leader of the pro-gun lobby, racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, Christian identity, and other forms of bigotry come together to form one ugly whole.
So, the question I ask is this; is it coincidental that the leadership of the pro-gun side of the gun control debate is so blatantly bigoted, or is it not coincidental? If it is not, is there proof that it is not, such as evidence of another leadership faction that has a record of countering racism and bigotry? But if it is bigoted, is it because of some racist while male paranoia about self-defense against people who are not that is, in part, fueling this debate?
I am particularly curious to see how the pro-gun faction of DKos might reply.
UPDATE: putting this question in some historical context, gun ownership in the U.S. seems to have had a long history of embodying white supremacy, as codified in the Militia Act of 1792, an act which ratified the Second Amendment, and required all gun owners to be "enrolled"--that is, registered--for militia duty. Notice what it contains.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That each and every free able-bodied white male citizen of the respective States, resident therein, who is or shall be of age of eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years (except as is herein after excepted) shall severally and respectively be enrolled in the militia, by the Captain or Commanding Officer of the company, within whose bounds such citizen shall reside, and that within twelve months after the passing of this Act.