In a June 2012 email to POLITICO, Allbaugh wrote about President Barack Obama, “Our leader is more pomp than circumstance. Again, no leadership. Hell, I could do better than he is doing. All hat, no cattle.”
Sort NRA Leaders by Type
Select "Search by Issue" to pull up all of the controversial statements made by NRA leaders on a given issue. Select "Search by Ties" to pull up all the ties that NRA leaders have to a certain organization or activity.
NRA Leaders by Issues
NRA Leaders On
The following is a list of controversial statements and actions of NRA leaders regarding the issue of . NRA leaders are listed alphabetically by last name.
Joe Allbaugh (Board Member)
On October 24, 2011, Republican Rick Perry’s 2012 presidential campaign announced that Allbaugh, who served as campaign manger for George W. Bush successful 2000 presidential campaign, would serve as a “senior adviser” to Perry.
Between 1999 and 2010, Allbaugh donated over $39,000 to political candidates and PACs. The only politician to receive money from Allbaugh who is not a Republican was Joe Lieberman (I-CT).
In 2005, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Shaw Group—represented by Allbaugh’s lobbying firm—was awarded $200 million in no-bid federal government contracts to repair damage done by the hurricane. Allbaugh’s hand-selected replacement as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Michael Brown, was leading the agency at the time. When criticized for lobbying and consulting with an agency he used to head, Allbaugh responded, “I don't buy the 'revolving door' argument. This is America. We all have a right to make a living."
Allbaugh lobbied for tax perks for the River Birch Landfill company in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In 2010, the FBI raided River Birch’s offices as part of a criminal investigation into allegations of “pay-to-play” politics between River Birch and local government officials in Jefferson Parish.
In 2003, shortly after Allbaugh became FEMA director, FEMA awarded a large emergency water supply contract to Lipsey Mountain Water. The move was unusual because Lipsey had no production capacity and only 15 employees—they had to purchase their water directly from Nestle Waters North America, the former holder of the contract. The Lipsey family is also is also one of the nation’s largest gun wholesalers. Like Allbaugh International Group, Lipsey’s Inc. is an NRA corporate donor.
In May 2001, Allbaugh was called to testify before a Senate committee while serving as the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). “Many are concerned that federal disaster assistance may have evolved into both an oversized entitlement program and a disincentive to effective state and local risk management,” he told the committee. “Expectations of when the federal government should be involved and the degree of involvement may have ballooned beyond what is an appropriate level.” Four years later, FEMA received widespread criticism for their inadequate response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster. At that time, FEMA was headed by the man Allbaugh handpicked to be his replacement: Michael Brown.
In 2001, during Allbaugh’s FEMA director confirmation process, he indicated in a disclosure that he had never been a party to an administrative or civil proceeding. In fact, in 1990, Allbaugh participated in bankruptcy proceedings, listing liabilities of nearly $300,000.
Allbaugh was involved in “Funeralgate,” a controversy in Texas during the late 1990s. Eliza May, director of Texas Funeral Service Commission, was forced out of her job after she launched an investigation into the business practices of Service Corporation International (SCI), the nation’s largest end-of-life services provider. SCI founder Roger Waltrip was a personal friend of the Bush family and made large contributions to Bush’s political campaign and his father’s presidential library. SCI officials met with Allbaugh, then Texas Governor George W. Bush’s chief-of-staff, a number of times prior to May’s dismissal to complain about her investigation. May’s filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against SCI and the State of Texas, eventually settling for over $200,000.
Scott Bach (Board Member)
On December 11, 2013, in an interview with NRA News, Bach spoke about Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, stating, “It seems like it's a requirement if you're going to be a Jersey City mayor you have to by default be anti-gun. And here is the interesting thing about this guy, Cam. He's an ex-Marine. Well, what I should say is, he worked for Goldman Sachs in the financial industry and was close to 9-11 when it happened and he was motivated to join the Marines for a few years, which he did. His grandparents were Holocaust survivors according to Wikipedia. So you've got to wonder why he is not getting [the gun issue].” Bach took specific exception with Fulop’s plan to ask companies who wish to supply firearms for Jersey City law enforcement a specific set of questions about steps they are taking to reducing illegal gun trafficking by controlling their marketing and distribution networks. The Anti-Defamation League, an international non-governmental organization founded in 1913 "to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all," was “outraged” by Bach’s comments. In a December 16, 2023 statement, ADL wrote, “No matter how strong one's objections are to a policy, or how committed an organization is to its mission, invoking the Holocaust to score political points is offensive and has no place in civil discourse. It is especially disturbing that in the debate over gun control in America, Holocaust analogies and references to Nazi Germany flow so freely off the lips of critics of gun control. There is absolutely no comparison of the issue of gun control in the U.S. to the genocidal actions of the Nazi regime. Scott Bach's critique of Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop's gun control measures undermines and trivializes the historical truth of the Holocaust as a singular event in human history that led to the murder of six million Jews and millions of others. That he did so by invoking Mayor Fulop's family history makes it all the more offensive.”
In a July 3 interview with Adam Toxin, the interim communications manager of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFPO), Bach asked, “
In a July 3 interview with Adam Toxin, the interim communications manager of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFPO), Bach asked, “Are we trending towards more individual freedom, which, of course this country was founded on, or less?” Referring to a recent Supreme Court decision upholding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, he answered, “And what I see, and which is, um, echoed and amplified by the recent, um, health care decision is, my conclusion is it’s less … The Obamacare decision is, to me, it’s the final nail in the coffin … It is the ultimate attack on the Republic. The last vestige of freedom that’s left.” Toxin, referring to the King of Britain at the time of the Revolution, stated, “King George wasn’t anywhere near this tyrannical. The Stamp Act was nothing like Obamacare.” Bach replied, “I agree with that … This is a…case of public officials who have an agenda, who have exceeded their mandate, who have violated their trust and Constitution and the principles on which the country was founded … You know what? The system is not self-enforcing. It requires human beings with the will to preserve it and somewhere along the line, um, those with the will to destroy it have taken over the majority.” Turning to the topic of civilian militias, Bach stated, “Let me substitute the word ‘militia’ for ‘armed populace.’ You know, ironically, and JPFO members know this, Hitler was pro-gun control. Ironically, Mahatma Gandhi understood the need for a people to be armed … He understands the importance of being armed, not necessarily using arms, but having them as a check.” Finally, he made reference to the November 2012 elections and warned, “It is the most important elections, presidential and congressional, of our lives.”
In a January 4, 2024 interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, Bach commented on an anti-trafficking bill that sought to limit civilians' handgun purchases to one per month, saying "This legislation makes it a crime to exercise a constitutional right to obtain handguns any more often than Big Brother dictates. It's overkill in the extreme." The legislation was signed into law by then-Governor Jon Corzine on August 6, 2009.
Commenting on an anti-trafficking bill that sought to limit New Jersey residents' handgun purchases to one per month, Bach asked the New York Times, "Can you imagine a golfer having only one club?" The legislation was signed into law by then-Governor Jon Corzine on August 6, 2009.
In a June 30, 2023 editorial in the Star-Ledger, Bach wrote, “The Constitution exists to limit government power over individuals, not the other way around.” In truth, those who drafted and ratified our Constitution did believe that a stronger federal government was necessary in order to preserve the Union. As Alexander Hamilton asked the Constitution's critics in Federalist No. 30: "How is it possible that a government half supplied and always necessitous, can fulfill the purposes of its institution—can provide for the security of—advance the prosperity—or support the reputation of the commonwealth? How can it ever possess either energy or stability, dignity or credit, confidence at home or respectability abroad? How can its administration be any thing else than a succession of expedients temporising, impotent, disgraceful? How will it be able to avoid a frequent sacrifice of its engagements to immediate necessity? How can it undertake or execute any liberal or enlarged plans of public good?”
In June 2008, Bach testified before the New Jersey State Assembly Judiciary Committee on A2116, a bill that sought to ban private ownership of firearms of .50 caliber or greater, like the Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle, a weapon that can take out armored targets up to a mile away. Nonetheless, Bach claimed that the effect of the legislation would be to be prohibit New Jersey residents from possessing “popular rifles used by sportsmen,” “flintlocks and muskets,” and “family heirlooms.” Addressing the members of the committee directly, Bach then told them, “At this point, it's hard not to conclude that a sweeping gun ban is precisely what you intend.”
In an editorial regarding S2431, a state bill that sought to increase criminal penalties for unlawful possession of a handgun, Bach accused New Jersey legislators of “knowingly and intentionally opting to pass legislation that will send law abiding citizens to jail.”
In an October 10, 2023 editorial in the Star-Ledger, Bach addressed New Jersey state legislation that sought to ban private ownership of firearms of .50 caliber or greater, like the Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle, a weapon that can take out armored targets up to a mile away. Claiming that the legislation would ban “hundreds of common hunting and historical firearms, including the flintlocks and muskets that won the American Revolution and the Civil War,” Bach mocked the legislation as “a clear solution to the urban problem of drive-by musketeering, no doubt...”
Bach called the New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance (now known as the Animal Protection League of New Jersey) an “extremist group“ in a 2003 opinion piece due to its opposition to recreational bear hunting in New Jersey. Bach claimed that the bear hunts were necessary due to the danger to posed to humans. A spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, however, called aggressive bear attacks in the state “infrequent.” Bach also blamed animal rights activists for unsolved vandalism of State Fish & Wildlife vehicles.
In an unpublished editorial entitled “2002 Elections May Signal National Conservative Trend,” Bach discussed the findings of a panel at an event sponsored by the Center for the Study of Popular Culture. He quoted one panelist, the leader of a “tax reform organization,” who described “six demographic trends among likely [future] voters that indicate a general movement toward conservatism ... A growing investor class, a growing class of conservative youth, declining union membership, increased gun ownership and concealed carry permitting, increased home schooling, and a decrease in the number of government workers.” Making reference to his home state of New Jersey, Bach then concluded: “In parts of New Jersey, the 2002 elections held out signs of the start of conservative trending as well. The strong victory of [Republican] Congressman Scott Garrett over [Democrat] Anne Summers in the 5th Congressional District race—particularly in traditionally liberal Bergen County—shook up the liberal establishment throughout the state. If that trend continues, [Democratic New Jersey Senator Frank] Lautenberg and many others like him may indeed have something to fear come election days of the future.”
In 2003, the Southern Poverty Law Center identified the Center for the Study of Popular Culture (now the David Horowitz Freedom Center) as a "hard right" organization that has “helped spread bigoted ideas into American life.”
Bach embraced an insurrectionist interpretation of the Second Amendment in an undated, unpublished editorial, writing: “Collective firearms ownership by a population is an insurance policy against government oppression and extreme abuses of power. If you don't think that governments oppress and commit atrocities against their own people, think again. During the 20th century, while Americans were building cars, factories, and shopping malls, at least seven major genocides occurred throughout the world, in which more than 50 million people were exterminated by their own governments (Germany, USSR, Communist China, Cambodia, Uganda, Guatemala, and the Ottoman Empire). Each of these state-run atrocities was preceded by ‘common sense’ gun control, registration, and eventual confiscation by the government, all under the pretext of advancing public safety.”
In contrast, the author of the Second Amendment, James Madison, made it clear in his writings that advancing public safety is one of the highest priorities of government. He also made it clear that any armed opposition to the federal government would only be legitimate if conducted under the authority of state governments. In Federalist No. 46, Madison chastened fears of potential tyranny in the federal government, saying such a government would be opposed by "a militia amounting to near half a million of citizens with arms in their hands, officered by men chosen from among themselves, fighting for their common liberties, and united and conducted by [state] governments possessing their affections and confidence." Furthermore, the U.S. Constitution (in Article 1, Section 8) states that one of the purposes of the state Militia is to "suppress Insurrections," not to foment them.
In a June 2012 article for the News & Briefs of the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, Bach wrote, “There's a storm on the horizon, and it’s the most ominous one of our lives. Something has happened to our nation. It’s been happening little by little, and we haven’t even seen it coming. But now it’s here, and it’s big, and it seems to have unstoppable momentum. I’m speaking of the brutal and deliberate destruction of Freedom itself, in all its aspects … Freedom is our birthright. It comes from God, not from government. And what government does not give, it cannot take away, no matter how hard it might try.” He continued, “If the spirit of Freedom burns deep in your heart…know that we are part of a fellowship of millions of people dedicated to protecting Freedom from its enemies, and know that our time is coming. Freedom in America may be under the worst attack in its history, but Freedom is eternal and can never be destroyed. It is as poignant as it is ironic that ordinary folk like us are the ones who have been appointed to defend it at this critical time in history. And defend it we will.”
Buster Bachhuber (Board Member)
Opposing a piece of proposed legislation which would require guns to be licensed, Bachhuber said, "We need to remind ourselves that whether a gun bill reduces crime or not is not the object of the game. In the mind of Thomas Jefferson, the Second Amendment has nothing to do with hunting or so-called sporting purposes, but all about maintaining freedom in the face of tyranny. We tend to overlook such reasons and get caught up in just sporting purposes."
Carol Bambery (Board Member)
The website of the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Ownership (MCRGO), the organization which Bambery founded, features an article written by the radical gun rights group Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership in which the author speculates that proponents of gun control have thoughts like, “I'd rather be raped than have some redneck militia type try to rescue me.” The article goes on to claim that all people have homicidal influences, but proponents of gun control are unable to consciously admit that they have a desire to kill. Turning to the subject of race and religion, the article states: “Consider for a moment that the largest and most hysterical anti-gun groups include disproportionately large numbers of women, African- Americans and Jews. And virtually all of the organizations that claim to speak for these ‘oppressed people’ are stridently anti-gun. Not coincidentally, among Jews, Blacks and women there are many ‘professional victims’ who have little sense of identity outside of their victimhood…Thus the concept of ‘identity as victim’ is essential. How and why do members of some groups choose to identify themselves as victims and teach their children to do the same? While it's true that women, Jews, and African- Americans have historically been victimized, they now participate in American society on an equal basis. And other groups, most notably Asian-Americans, have been equally victimized, and yet have transcended the ‘eternal victim’ mentality. Why, for example, would a 6'10" NBA player who makes $10 million a year see himself as a ‘victim’? Why would a successful, respected, wealthy, Jewish physician regard himself as a ‘victim’? Conversely, why might a wheelchair bound woman who lives on government disability NOT regard herself as a victim? I would argue it's because the basketball player and the physician believe that their identities are dependent on being victims – not because they have actually been victimized, but because they're members of groups that claim victim status. Conversely, the disabled woman was probably raised to believe that she is responsible for her own success or failure.” The article also suggests that anti-gun individuals can be converted by a trip to the shooting range stating, “This is a good time to offer some reading material on the benefits of firearms ownership. But be careful not to provide so much information that it's overwhelming. And remember this is not the time to launch into anti-government rants, the New World Order, conspiracy theories, or any kind of political talk!”
Bob Barr (Board Member)
In a February 20, 2023 op-ed for Townhall, Barr wrote, “In South Carolina—the state that led the nullification fight against tyrannical federal tariffs back in 1832—state Senator Tom Davis is helping lead a modern ‘nullification’ movement. Davis tells The State newspaper, ‘[F]or the first time I can remember in recent history...[states are] actually stepping up [and] challenging the exercise of power by the federal government.’ The backlash against Big Government is an encouraging sign of a growing resistance to the mission creep of federal power.” Nullification refers to a theory that a state may unilaterally decide when a federal law is “unconstitutional” and refuse to abide by it. The theory of nullification has been repeatedly discredited throughout American history.
In a January 23, 2024 op-ed for Townhall, Barr wrote, “Today’s young youth are more narcissistic than ever … Of course, they are not completely to blame. Parents and adults share responsibility for creating this monster. For decades, parents were told by so-called parenting ‘experts’ that offspring would be best raised on the belief each is special and entitled to all life has to offer. Now, trophies are awarded to every child on the team or in the class so no child’s self-esteem is bruised by virtue of being ‘left out;’ letter grades from ‘A’ to ‘F’ give way to vague and slippery narratives. We encourage every teenager to pursue their passion in college—something to which they are ‘entitled’—regardless of the marketable value of the skills they gain after many tens of thousands of dollars spent on that education … It is this delusion of entitlement that served as the catalyst for the recent ‘Occupy’ movement.”
In a November 12, 2023 op-ed for the Marietta Daily Journal, Barr wrote, “Had Reagan faced President Barack Obama on Nov. 6, he almost certainly would have won. For virtually every element accounting for [Republican presidential candidate Mitt] Romney’s failure to connect with a majority of voters last week, Reagan’s genuineness, good humor, vision and optimism would have carried the day for the GOP. Fielding such a candidate to represent the Party in 2016 will greatly increase—not decrease—the chances that the 45th President of the United States will be a Republican. And fortunately for the GOP, there are a number of such potential candidates in its farm team—young Ronald Reagans ready to lead the country to a new Morning in America.”
In an October 28, 2023 op-ed for the Marietta Daily Journal, Barr endorsed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan in the November 2012 election, stating, “The inescapable and overriding importance of re-charting America’s course away from the Big Government Liberalism of the current administration has prompted me to support the GOP ticket of Gov. Mitt Romney and Rep. Paul Ryan. The stakes are simply too high to admit any degree of hesitancy in this regard. The decision I have reached, and in which I ask other libertarian-leaning and conservative-oriented voters to join, is not one based on a serendipitous view that Romney is the perfect candidate … He is not [the perfect candidate] … We cannot afford a search for perfection. We cannot afford to withhold votes from a candidate we perceive to be imperfect. What we do know beyond any doubt, is that the current course on which our nation already is well-embarked is not sustainable.”
In a July 9, 2023 op-ed for the Daily Caller, Barr wrote about a January 2012 report issued by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) entitled “Hot Spots of Terrorism and Other Crimes in the United States, 1970 to 2008.” Barr claimed that the report provides “an insidious analysis of Americans who happen to hold certain philosophical or political views,” stating, “Americans who ‘believe that one’s personal and/or national way of life is under attack’ or who are ‘nationalists, anti-global, [or] suspicious of centralized federal authority, [and] reverent of individual liberty,’ are painted in a negative light.” He complained, “And though the report is meant to document acts of terrorism inside the United States, there is only a passing mention of 9/11 and Islamic extremism … It is deeply disturbing that the executive branch of our federal government continues to demonize and delegitimize political beliefs, particularly those challenging the ‘conventional wisdom’ or the status quo. It is even more distressing that neither the U.S. House of Representatives nor the Senate has moved to put a stop to such efforts, which they could if their members possessed the understanding and the backbone to do so.” START asserts that the report qualifies individuals and groups as terrorists because they have actually carried out or attempted to carry out violent attacks in the United States, not based on their ideological orientation. The report breaks violent perpetrators into ideological categories, including extreme left-wing, extreme right-wing, religious, ethnonationalist/separatist, and single issue. START asserts that “descriptions of these categories in the report do not suggest that an individual or group with one or more of these characteristics is likely to be a terrorist.”
In a June 28, 2023 op-ed for the Daily Caller, Barr wrote about a Supreme Court decision issued that morning which upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Barr stated, “By upholding Obamacare, the Supreme Court—a court nominally ‘conservative’ and supposedly ‘non-activist’—has driven the final nail into the coffin of limited government … Tragically, this foundation of sand on which [Chief Justice John] Roberts and his majority colleagues based their decision now takes on enhanced power as a basis on which the government will be able to seize freedom from the people … [2012 Republican presidential candidate] Mitt Romney has commendably asserted that if elected, his first priority will be to repeal Obamacare. Unfortunately, unless he simply declares that he will not enforce the laws of the land—as President Obama likes to do—it will be neither that simple nor that quick. Obamacare is now the law of the land and it has the Supreme Court’s seal of approval to back it up.The damage truly has been done, and we will not soon—or perhaps ever—undo it. Thanks, Chief Justice Roberts.”
In a June 20, 2023 op-ed for the Marietta Daily Journal, Barr wrote, “I am a real fan of handguns manufactured by Glock. And, for many years I have known Paul Jannuzzo.” Paul Jannuzzo, former CEO of Glock, Inc., a firearms manufacturer, fled the country first to Mexico, and then Amsterdam amid allegations of embezzlement. He was arrested in Amsterdam and extradited to the United States. In March 2012, Jannuzzo was convicted for racketeering and theft. He was sentenced to seven years in prison and thirteen on probation. Barr also stated that he wrote a letter of support for Jannuzzo prior to his sentencing.
In a May 28, 2023 op-ed for the Daily Caller, Barr wrote about what he called the “demonization of George Zimmerman and the deification of Trayvon Martin.” Barr was referring to the February 26, 2023 shooting of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin by concealed handgun permit holder George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida. Barr stated, “Much like the Queen of Hearts in Lewis Carroll’s fable, Alice in Wonderland, many would just as soon sentence Zimmerman first and try him later, if at all.” Barr also criticized the Florida prosecutor, Angela Corey, who brought charges against Zimmerman, stating that she “based her decision on some of the flimsiest evidence and legal analysis I have ever seen.” The “latest absurd development,” wrote Barr, occurred at Malcom X Elementary School in the District of Columbia which hosted “Trayvon Martin Day.” He referred to the program as dealing with “some manufactured problem about an already highly politicized legal case in Florida … Perhaps the program honoring Trayvon Martin was accompanied by a chorus of ‘Kumbaya’ to help foster a ‘happy spirit.’”
In a November 2, 2023 op-ed for The Daily Caller, Barr defended GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain against allegations of sexual harassment, asking, “What exactly does ‘sexual harassment’ mean, anyway?” Barr also complained that, “During a 2004 bid for the U.S. Senate, then-Rep. Jack Ryan (R-IL) had his campaign completely derailed by salacious claims made by his ex-wife, actress Jeri Ryan.” Jeri Ryan has alleged in child custody proceedings that on multiple occasions her then-husband took her to “sex clubs” and attempted to make her perform sex acts on him in front of other people.
Barr authored an October 13, 2023 op-ed for The Daily Caller about the Occupy Wall Street protests that address the issue of economic inequality in the United States. Barr wrote, “President Barack Obama is not only beloved by the current generation of protesters, but his open and repeated efforts to make class warfare and class envy of the ‘rich’ the signature issues of his first term has provided the spark for the young people (and some middle-aged hippies) railing against ‘greed.’”
In a September 26, 2023 op-ed for The Daily Caller, Barr complained about public schools making accommodations for “lazy children [who] suffer from something known as ‘chronic fatigue syndrome.’” He also claimed that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome “is not a recognized medical malady.” In fact, the disease is widely recognized within the medical community. Barr also added, “The debate over the extent to which schools should be forced to care for mentally or physically disabled students is a legitimate debate. The question of forcing these public entities to waste their time and our money accommodating students who are either too lazy to attend classes or unwilling to compete academically, is neither a legitimate policy question nor a legitimate legal issue.”
Barr wrote about the financial troubles facing the United States Postal Service in a September 21, 2023 op-ed for The Daily Caller, stating, “The USPS is staring at a budget deficit of more than $9 billion and may not be able to make a $5.5 billion payment now due for the exceptionally generous health care benefits it is committed to pay its retirees, thanks largely to union pressure … Congress…should loosen the stranglehold Big Labor maintains on the USPS. Many of the agency’s problems are exacerbated by a highly unionized labor force that accounts for some 80% of its budget. Private delivery services, including UPS and FedEx, on the other hand, have labor costs that are substantially lower. The GAO has recommended that Congress eliminate ‘layoff protections’ in the collective bargaining agreements between the USPS and labor unions. The postal union, true to form, will hear no such blasphemy.”
In a September 12, 2023 op-ed for The Daily Caller entitled “Get Off Mike Vick’s Ass,” Barr defended Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick—who served nearly two years in federal prison for his involvement with a dog fighting ring—against continued criticism. He also said of Vick, who signed a $100 million contract with the Eagles in 2011, “It is not as if Vick is on Easy Street. In addition to being on the NFL commissioner’s watch list, Vick’s financial situation is not exactly assured, and he continues to pay heavily for his past legal transgressions. He reportedly still owes creditors $19 million.”
Barr expressed his belief that bullying is “a natural rite of passage” for schoolchildren and worried that anti-bullying initiatives in schools would encourage to students to “snitch on each other” in a September 2, 2023 op-ed for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He also complained about the impetus for anti-bullying measures by writing, “Much like ‘hate crimes’ laws long-favored by liberals, New Jersey’s Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights was passed as a reactionary measure nearly a year after a gay college student tragically committed suicide.”
In an August 26, 2023 op-ed for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Barr wrote that, “We can only hope Obama resists the urge to send in American ‘peace-keeping’ forces to help rebuild the country; Afghanistan and Iraq provide clear examples of why such a policy invariably becomes an expensive tar baby.” The phrase “tar baby” is considered by many to be a racial epithet, and earlier that month a Republican Congressman sent President Obama a letter of apology after using the phrase while discussing the president’s policies.
In an August 11, 2023 op-ed for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution entitled “’Random Violence’ a Sign of Things to Come,” Barr compared peaceful demonstrations in Wisconsin against an anti-labor law to the “violent protests in Greece and the United Kingdom over cuts to public benefits.” Barr went on to add: “The reactions by beneficiaries of Wisconsin voters’ largesse were typical of people who have become dependent on government in one manner or another, and who view such benefits as ‘entitlements’ to which they enjoy a fundamental and irrevocable right. When any person or institution then threatens those entitlements—whether a president, a prime minister, or federal or state legislators—the reactions become very personal and potentially violent.”
On February 2, 2011, Barr weighed into a controversy concerning for-profit schools accused of using deceptive marketing techniques in a Politico editorial. Barr opined that, “Judging by the level of vitriol being directed against for-profit schools, one would be justified in concluding critics suspect them of harboring terrorist cells and offering instruction in improvised explosive devices.” Barr failed to mention his employment with John Marshall Law School, a for-profit institution.
In January 2011, Barr began serving as an advisor to former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier. Barr was consulted by Duvalier as he attempted to recover $5.7 million in assets frozen by the Swiss government. The assets were frozen following charges that Duvalier had embezzled $300 million from the Haitian government during his 15-year rule. Duvalier was also accused of widespread human rights abuses, including torture and murder. Human Rights Watch claims that Duvalier’s Tonton Macoutes Militia was responsible for up to 30,000 civilian deaths. Barr dismissed these allegations against Duvalier, saying, “I deal with allegations all the time. They are the cheapest commodity on the market.” Previously, Barr had visited Haiti to help Duvalier’s brother-in-law fight drug smuggling charges.
In July 2008, Barr called former Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC)—who famously and fiercely opposed the creation of a national Martin Luther King Jr. Day—“one of the finest, most courageous and deeply principled men to ever serve in the United States Congress.”
Barr’s immigration platform during his 2008 presidential run included support for eliminating the guarantee of birthright citizenship. While the Fourteenth Amendment currently confers citizenship upon any individual born in the United States, Barr proposed that children of illegal immigrants, even if they are born in the United States, should not automatically qualify for citizenship.
Barr authored a March 7, 2023 op-ed for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution lauding proposed legislation to prevent employers from prohibiting guns on company property as “extremely modest.” Both the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and the Newnan-Peachtree City Area Employer Committee criticized the legislation as “dangerous.”
In 2007, Barr was paid $70,000 by the Marijuana Policy Project to lobby on their behalf in support of the legalization of medical marijuana in the District of Columbia. Previously, as a Member of Congress, Barr successfully authored an amendment that prohibited the local DC government from acting to legalize medical marijuana.
Barr accidentally discharged a pistol that was handed to him by a supporter at a campaign event in 2002. The bullet struck a glass door—no one was injured in the incident. One of Barr’s sons later attacked a man dressed as Yosemite Sam who showed up at a campaign event to mock the then-Congressman over the incident.
In 2001, three airport security guards filed a complaint against Barr, alleging that he used racial slurs against them during a dispute over access to a private parking lot. Barr reportedly asked the supervising guard, “When are you going to open the gate you stupid black idiot?”
In August 1999, Barr paid a $28,000 fine to settle charges by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that he accepted nearly $100,000 in illegal contributions during the 1994 and 1996 elections.
On July 29, 1999, Barr voted in favor of an amendment to the yearly District of Columbia appropriations bill that would have banned adoption by gay parents in the District. The amendment failed 215-213.
In June 1999, Barr attempted to attach an amendment to a defense spending authorization bill to ban the practice of the Wiccan religion. Barr described his opposition to active duty soldiers being allowed to practice the Wiccan religion as follows: “I think it brings disrepute to the military and ought not to be allowed as something on par with the Judeo-Christian beliefs on which our country was founded.”
In March 1999, Barr opposed expanding the federal definition of a hate crime to include crimes motivated by the victim’s sexual orientation, calling proposed legislation “a backdoor way to obtain protected status for sexual orientation and sexual deviancy.”
In January 1999, Barr’s second wife, Gail, swore in an affidavit that she was convinced that Barr had an affair with a woman who would become his third wife while he was still married to her. Barr did not deny the affair when asked about it repeatedly during divorce proceedings. The affidavit was released to the public while Barr served as a manager during impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton. Impeachment managers were Congressmen on the House Judiciary Committee who functioned as prosecutors during the proceedings. Clinton was impeached after he was accused of lying about an extra-marital affair.
Barr gave the keynote speech at a white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) national convention in 1998. The event featured fellow speakers Jared Taylor, publisher of the racist American Renaissance magazine (“when blacks are left entirely to their own devices…civilization disappears”) and Brent Nelson, author of the anti-immigrant book America Balkanized. CCC has claimed that blacks are genetically inferior to whites and has also advocated homophobic, anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic ideas. The organization frequently publishes racial commentary on current events, and once blamed journalist Daniel Pearl for his own murder due to his choice to enter into an interracial marriage. When confronted with the overtly racist nature of the organization, Barr claimed he had “no idea” what CCC advocated. According to CCC chief executive Gordon Lee Baum, however, Barr “knew what we were all about before he spoke to us. We don't invite people and let them walk into the dark on us.”
In 1996, Barr was the author and sponsor of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as between one man and one woman. Under DOMA, states are not obligated to recognize the validity of same-sex marriages performed in other states. Furthermore, the bill prohibited the federal government from providing benefits received by married couples to individuals in same-sex partnerships. During floor debate, Barr said the bill was needed because “the flames of hedonism, the flames of narcissism, the flames of self-centered morality are licking at the very foundations of our society, the family unit.”
In 1996, Bob Barr voted in favor of legislation that would allow states to ban children of illegal immigrants from attending public schools.
Barr, who has been married three times, was sued by one of his ex-wives for not paying child support during the 1990s.
Ronnie Barrett (Board Member)
In a March 1, 2023 radio interview on “Cam & Company,” Barrett spoke about New York’s enactment of new gun violence prevention laws, stating, “In all of history when this kind of stuff has happened before, it's bad news. You know, and I hate to be one of these doomsday guys, but in past things like this result in the death of millions. You know, and World War II hasn't been 700 years ago, it's only been 70 years ago. And if people don't think that these things don't happen to modern, progressive, Christian nations like Germany was, they're wrong, brother, I mean we're sitting here just nearly repeating the same past of that, the disarming of the citizenry not based on any facts but based on cynical emotions that are put in and rushed through in the middle of the night before anybody has a chance to study the true facts, before their citizenry even knows what's going on. I mean holy smokes, what kind of state government was that? I can't believe that's one of the members of the Union here, one of the members of our Republic. It's just unimaginable.”
In a March 1, 2023 radio interview on “Cam & Company,” Barrett spoke about New York’s enactment of new gun violence prevention laws, stating, “In all of history when this kind of stuff has happened before, it's bad news. You know, and I hate to be one of these doomsday guys, but in past things like this result in the death of millions. You know, and World War II hasn't been 700 years ago, it's only been 70 years ago. And if people don't think that these things don't happen to modern, progressive, Christian nations like Germany was, they're wrong, brother, I mean we're sitting here just nearly repeating the same past of that, the disarming of the citizenry not based on any facts but based on cynical emotions that are put in and rushed through in the middle of the night before anybody has a chance to study the true facts, before their citizenry even knows what's going on. I mean holy smokes, what kind of state government was that? I can't believe that's one of the members of the Union here, one of the members of our Republic. It's just unimaginable.”
In a February 5, 2023 radio interview on “Cam & Company,” Barrett stated, “Yeah, I hope gun owners now see that how big of a target is on their back. Gun owners is a huge obstacle to the socialism that's trying to be introduced into our country now. You can't have socialism, and you can't round up hordes of armed free people and put them in cattle cars. It's just a very difficult process to do. So before you can have good socialism, you have to break the will of the independent thinking person, the self-reliant person, and when you look at that self reliant people usually have a firearm. They usually have a flashlight. They usually pay their bills. They're not dependent on the government. You have to get rid of those people before you can make them, everybody lockstep dependent on the government, so that's why the big target. That's why they're after rifles. It has nothing to do with crime. This represents independent self reliant thinking people, and they are the enemy.”
In a July 26, 2023 appearance on NRA news, Barrett commented on a July 17, 2023 speech in which President Barack Obama stated, “There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me—because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t – look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something – there are a whole bunch of hard working people out there. If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business–you didn’t build that.” Barrett replied to these remarks, stating, “What Obama had said here with the ‘you didn’t do this’—this is not new stuff. You know, the world has heard socialist people try to sell this game for decades. You know, it’s the same thing that was said in Europe in the 30s. I went back and listened to his whole talk on that and the whole thing is that ‘you’re not going to be able to do it by yourself and you’re only going to be able to do it if we share and your problems of you not having any money is really this rich man over here and we’re going to take from that rich man and give it to you.’ And of course that identifying a problem thing, we’ve seen that in history, too. You always have to identify some sort of group that is the problem for you and you can go back and like I said look in Europe in the 30s and how their groups were identified … The original government that our Founding Fathers set up loves [entrepreneurship] because that’s what they wanted you to be. What they wanted you to be [is] self-sufficient, hardworking, get out there, you keep what you’ve earned. But that flies in the face of socialism. So entrepreneurship and things like that is gotta be the enemy of the socialists, of the Obama folks and things like that. You can’t have those guys walking around. The Obama people, or the socialist people, they have to have people solely dependent on the government and sucking on its tit … It blew me away to hear the people applauding what [Obama] was saying. I thought, ‘did you never pay attention to history? Don’t you know we have heard this before?’ And it always ends up in collapse or millions of people dead.”
In a July 26, 2023 appearance on NRA news, Barrett commented on a July 17, 2023 speech in which President Barack Obama stated, “There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me—because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t – look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something – there are a whole bunch of hard working people out there. If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business–you didn’t build that.” Barrett replied to these remarks, stating, “What Obama had said here with the ‘you didn’t do this’—this is not new stuff. You know, the world has heard socialist people try to sell this game for decades. You know, it’s the same thing that was said in Europe in the 30s. I went back and listened to his whole talk on that and the whole thing is that ‘you’re not going to be able to do it by yourself and you’re only going to be able to do it if we share and your problems of you not having any money is really this rich man over here and we’re going to take from that rich man and give it to you.’ And of course that identifying a problem thing, we’ve seen that in history, too. You always have to identify some sort of group that is the problem for you and you can go back and like I said look in Europe in the 30s and how their groups were identified … The original government that our Founding Fathers set up loves [entrepreneurship] because that’s what they wanted you to be. What they wanted you to be [is] self-sufficient, hardworking, get out there, you keep what you’ve earned. But that flies in the face of socialism. So entrepreneurship and things like that is gotta be the enemy of the socialists, of the Obama folks and things like that. You can’t have those guys walking around. The Obama people, or the socialist people, they have to have people solely dependent on the government and sucking on its tit … It blew me away to hear the people applauding what [Obama] was saying. I thought, ‘did you never pay attention to history? Don’t you know we have heard this before?’ And it always ends up in collapse or millions of people dead.”
In a June 14, 2023 radio appearance on “NRA News,” Barrett commented on the illegal trafficking of firearms from the U.S. to Mexico by saying, “This all just smoke and mirrors. That’s what every kind of gun regulation stuff is. It’s smoke and mirrors that we have to do something now to be able to save and then just fill in the blank. Well, right now we have the Mexico thing … It’s just fuel to the fire to the would-be Socialists that would have more regulations on us … You just can’t have good Socialism with an armed population.” Barrett also claimed that the Second Amendment gives civilians the right to own military-grade firepower, including fully automatic weapons, saying, “They moved and took away our legal manufacturer for machine guns [for civilians] because there was a popular television show called ‘Miami Vice’ that was on that everybody was running around shooting everybody up with machine guns and there hadn’t been committed a [crime] committed with a legal machine gun, you know, what, since [1934] or something like that. It was ridiculous. It was Hollywood. But, you know, they said, ‘Oh, we gotta’ do something about that,’ so they took another one of our rights away. And so now you know the right to bear arms is going to be well you can have a sub-, inferior type of weapons. You can’t have really top-notch weapons.”
Ronnie Barrett personally designed the first .50 caliber sniper rifle after observing a Browning machine gun mounted on a gunboat. This high-powered sniper rifle—available for sale on the civilian market—has an effective range of over a mile and can pierce armor. John C. Killorin, a former special agent in charge of the Atlanta field division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), called Barrett’s rifle "a devastatingly powerful weapon against which most troops, most law enforcement, no civilians, have any means of defense.” Barrett, on the other hand, has described his invention as “a toy for a big boy.” In 2004, then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) banned civilian ownership of the rifle. In 2005, U.S. Representative Jim Moran (D-VA) and 28 cosponsors introduced legislation that would have placed stricter regulations on .50 caliber sniper rifles by placing them in the same federal regulatory class as machine guns. The 50 Caliber Sniper Rifle Reduction Act found that “the intended use of these long-range firearms…is the taking of human life and the destruction of materiel, including armored vehicles and such components of the national critical infrastructure as radars and microwave transmission devices, in addition 50 caliber sniper weapons pose a significant threat to civil aviation in that they are capable of destroying or disabling jet aircraft … The virtually unrestricted availability of these firearms and ammunition, given the uses intended in their design and manufacture, present a serious and substantial threat to the national security.”
In fact, a Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle was used by the Branch Davidians during the 1993 Waco siege, forcing the FBI to use armored
Bradley fighting vehicles before having to upgrade to even heavier armor. Smalls arms proliferation led to the acquisition of Barrett .50 sniper rifles by other terrorist organizations and extremist groups. Essam al-Ridi, a government witness during the trial of terrorists involved in the 1998 bombing of United States embassies in Africa, testified that he sold Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda terrorist organization 25 Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifles in 1988 or 1989. The sale would have represented at least 15% of the total production of .50 caliber rifles for either of the two years in question. The Barrett .50 rifle was also used by IRA snipers to kill British police officers and Irish constables during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Barrett raises funds for the NRA Foundation by offering tours of the Barrett factory in exchange for a $1,000 donation.
Clel Baudler (Board Member)
In the wake of the February 26, 2023 killing of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by concealed handgun permit holder George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida, Baudler voiced support Iowa’s version of Florida's controversial “Stand Your Ground” law. The “Stand Your Ground” law, known by critics as “Kill At Will” or “Shoot First,” was harshly criticized after the Martin killing by opponents who contended that the law condones vigilantism and unjustifiable murder. In defense of “Stand Your Ground,” Baudler pointed to an Iowa case where a man used a handgun to defend himself from an unprovoked attack by two individuals. He was charged with intimidation with a dangerous weapon and going armed with intent, but acquitted of all charges. Baudler vowed to bring back Iowa’s “Stand Your Ground” bill each legislative session until it is passed. “I think when everything cools down [concerning the killing of Trayvon Martin], we will get it through some day, some year,” he said. “If we don’t, I trust the voters to put the right people in office to do the right thing for Iowans, not Floridians or Californians, but the right thing for Iowa.”
Responding to plans by Occupy Wall Street protestors to hold non-violent demonstrations in conjunction with the January 3, 2024 Iowa presidential caucuses, Baudler, who is a Republican member of Iowa’s state legislature, told protesters to expect a response that “will be swift and it will be sure.” He went on to add, “Since I'm not a state trooper anymore, they probably won't be handcuffed - but I have friends. If an officer asks for help, I will help, believe me. We're just not going to tolerate in rural Iowa what's going on in the big metropolitan areas. A little thump therapy never hurt anybody.”
Between 2007 and 2009, Baudler was a sponsor of a proposed amendment to the Iowa Constitution that called for recognition by the state of only marriages between a man and a woman. It failed to pass.
In 2008, Baudler sponsored HF 2476, “A bill for an act prohibiting local legislation that prevents local government officials or employees from cooperating with federal officials with regard to the immigration status of persons within the state.” The legislation would have made local law enforcement officers and local government officials personally liable to civil actions if their jurisdictions enacted legislation that prevented local law enforcement from working with federal law enforcement on immigrant matters.
In 2007, Baudler co-authored legislation that sought to prevent Iowa Department of Motor Vehicles locations from offering information in any language other than English. The bill failed to pass.
Baudler is a Republican member of the Iowa House of Representatives.
In February 2008, Baudler authored and introduced HF 2187, “A bill for an act relating to bail restrictions imposed against a person who is an unauthorized alien.” The bill, which died in subcommittee, sought to require law enforcement to hold “unauthorized aliens” without bail if they were charged with any criminal offense. Such a law would be unconstitutional as applied to a person charged with a federal crime as the Eight Amendment provides, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” Most U.S. states also have provisions barring excessive bail.
Clel Baudler (Board Member)
A September 5, 2023 article in the Des Moines Register indicated that Baudler supports the use of profiling at airports for “select passengers.”
Baudler once traveled to California and lied about a medical condition to obtain a prescription for medical marijuana in an apparent attempt to demonstrate that medical marijuana laws can be abused. In California it is illegal to lie about a medical condition to receive a prescription. Baudler claimed that he didn’t break any laws because he doubted the man he talked to (who he referred to as an “oriental”) was a real doctor, saying, “I wouldn't want to bet that guy had anymore than a high school degree in some other country.”
Ken Blackwell (NRA Board Member)
In a February 5, 2023 op-ed for The Patriot Post, Blackwell claimed the Obama Administration is waging a “War on Faith”through “an all-out intimidation campaign to drive the free exercise of faith from everyday life and the marketplace of ideas and into the confines of churches, mosques and synagogues for one day a week.” Blackwell added, “The Washington ruling class understands that the exercise of religion as a living, breathing 24/7 reality—as opposed to once-a-week worship—is perhaps the most significant threat to the expansion of government and its spreading control over our lives. Government's intimidation of competing institutions therefore necessitates an assault on their values as well.” Blackwell makes specific reference to the contraceptive mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which applies to religious and non-religious businesses alike. His editorial was published the day prior to the annual National Prayer Breakfast, an event President Obama has attended and spoke at during each year of his Presidency.
In a January 25, 2023 op-ed for The Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote, “As conservatives, we can take the winning message of economic liberty, family values, and strong defense into minority neighborhoods and share our hopes and dreams with new supporters in churches and synagogues. The current administration is the most hostile to religious liberty in our history … And we know from disillusioned administration insiders that the only concern President [Barack] Obama has for our all-volunteer military is for radical social experimentation.” Blackwell was making reference to the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in 2011.
In a December 9, 2023 interview with Newsmax, Blackwell responded to a comment by Republican House Speaker John Boehner that men in the Republican Party should be “a little more sensitive” to women. Boehner also added, “You look around the Congress, there are a lot more females in the Democratic caucus than there are in the Republican conference, and some of our members just aren’t as sensitive as they ought to be.” Blackwell stated that Republicans are "foolish" to respond to complaints that the GOP is waging a “War on Women”: "For us to have folks in the mainstream media tell us that we are a bunch of knuckle-dragging Neanderthals might be entertaining to them, but it would be foolish for us to start to respond to it as if they're making a good point … We have no problems convincing women, men, you name them, across these voter groups.”
Ken Blackwell (Board Member)
In a September 21, 2023 interview with the Christian Post, Blackwell spoke about the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act, which was approved by the House of Representatives on September 19, 2013. The bill proposed to cut $39 billion over ten years from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), more commonly known as food stamps. Blackwell stated, “I think through empowering others and creating self-sufficiency…there within lies the path to sense of worthiness. When I was growing up, there was fundamental belief, that there were times in people's life when they needed a hand up…there were temporariness to those programs, where they were structured so that they didn't breed so that they didn't breed dependency.” Blackwell also stated that there is “nothing more Christian” than “not locking people into a permanent dependency on government handouts, but making sure they are participants in their own upliftment and empowerment so that they in fact through the dignity of work and can break from the plantation of big government."
In an August 7, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote, “[W]e have the deepest concern for the survival of marriage itself. For in marriage, great nations are preserved. In marriage, children are nurtured and protected. Last month, Supreme Court Justice Tony Kennedy dismissed all our concerns about preserving marriage. He attacked us, and the citizens of thirty-two states, saying such ideas can only be the result of bigotry and a desire to inflict hurt on our fellow citizens. We must deny that. We must denounce Tony Kennedy's unhistorical, illogical, and spiteful pronouncements.” On June 26, 2013, the United States Supreme Court, in a decision written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, held that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined “marriage” as “a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife,” is unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment. Blackwell also referred to the decision of the British Parliament to legalize same-sex marriage, writing, “It was … the elected Prime Minister David Cameron who forced through this damaging bill. Having done this wrong thing, how can Cameron's majority in Parliament say NO to those of [the Queen’s] subjects who demand polygamy?”
In a March 6, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote about the position of the Obama administration in the Supreme Court case of Hollingsworth v. Perry, where the solicitor general was expected to urge the Court to find California’s ban on gay marriage unconstitutional. Blackwell wrote, “Last week, President Obama dropped the family friendly mask. He sent his Solicitor General, Donald Verrilli up the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court with a simple message: Dump Dads. Lose Moms … President Obama promised to ‘fundamentally transform America.’ Few then realized he meant it. Abolishing marriage is what he is doing. Not changing. Not expanding. More than re-defining marriage, he is abolishing it.”
In a January 19, 2024 interview with Breitbart News, Blackwell discussed the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in which 20 first-grade students and six adults were killed. Blackwell stated, “A gun is a tool. The challenge we face instead is the culture … More and more people reject the whole notion of right and wrong. It’s becoming fashionable to deny the existence of God, and claim the right to determine for yourself what you will live for and how you will live. Some embrace the worldview that life is ultimately meaningless, so what’s the point? We come from nothing and we become nothing. Others embrace a worldview that all that matters is going for the thrill and whatever feels good.” Blackwell also addressed President Barack Obama’s proposals to combat gun violence, stating, “If we stop this gun control legislation, what kinds of executive orders and regulations will this president come out with to achieve the same result. We can take him to court on all that, but he’s trying to remake the courts as well. We’re only a single vote away from the Supreme Court erasing the Second Amendment … Nobody wants to talk about 2016 yet, but the reality is this is likely a four-year fight over the Second Amendment to our Constitution. Whoever wins the White House in 2016 will likely determine whether the right to keep and bear arms a decade from now is embraced as a constitutional right, or as a government-granted privilege that a president or governor can revoke on a whim.”
In a January 15, 2024 open letter to former Secretary of State General Colin Powell, Blackwell wrote, “I was disappointed with the clear implication in your Meet The Press interveiw [sic] that those of us, in the GOP who defend life, protect traditional marriage and advance religious liberty are intolerent [sic]. The Democratic [National] Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina… came out against marriage. They say they only want to add to the number of happily married couples by allowing men to marry men and women to marry women. But we know that wherever these counterfeit marriages have been recognized, true marriage declines … Just as counterfeit money drives out true money, same sex marriage drives out true marriage. … President Obama has refused to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act and pledges to repeal it. He has openly joined the Marriage Enders. They're not changing marriage. They are ending it. If two men can marry, why not three? If gays and lesbians can marry, what about bi-sexual persons and persons who have sought to change their sex? Why can't they have one spouse of either sex? After slavery, after Jim Crow, after the KKK, it is fair to say that among the worst things visited upon black Americans have been the targeting of our families by abortionists and the effort to end marriage. That is why we are in a crisis. This is what happens when a major party rejects God.” Blackwell was referring to Powell’s January 13, 2024 interview on “Meet the Press,” in which he stated that the Republican party is suffering from a “dark vein of intolerance” and that some in the party seem to “look down on minorities.” Blackwell was also referring to the platform at the 2012 Democratic National Convention (DNC) which originally did not include the word “God.” On September 5, 2012, Los Angeles Mayor and Chairman of the DNC Antonio Villaraigosa made a motion on the floor of the DNC to revise the platform to include the word “God.” Some delegates and journalists on the convention floor claimed that one could not audibly hear two-thirds of the delegates say ‘Aye.’ Villaraigosa nonetheless declared the amendment had been approved.
In a January 12, 2024 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote, “President [Barack] Obama will take the oath of office later this month ‘on a stack of Bibles,’ the Washington Post tells us. He will place his left hand on Bibles owned by Abraham Lincoln and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. … Perhaps most disturbing of all Mr. Obama's exceptions in the Oath was his administration's issuance of the HHS Mandate that forces all but a few cloistered Americans to subsidize abortion-inducing drugs. This unconscionable HHS Mandate deserves to be called President Obama's Demancipation Proclamation. For, under this Demancipation Proclamation, the first freedom mentioned in the Bill of Rights, freedom of religion, is trampled under foot … If he can trample the First Amendment's religious freedom guarantees and tread upon the Second Amendment's support for the people's right to keep and bear arms, what security is there for any section of the unraveling Constitution?” The “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” requires employers to provide health insurance that covers contraception for women free of charge. The rule does not apply to church organizations themselves, but instead to affiliated nonprofit corporations, like hospitals.
In a December 29, 2023 op-ed for Townhall, Blackwell wrote about the Washington Post’s endorsement of Senator John Kerry (D-MA) for Secretary of State, stating, “As to his qualifications for that role, we’re reminded of Frederick the Great’s response when he was urged to make a less than stellar general a field marshal. Reminded the only occasionally victorious general had been in every battle for years, Frederick pointed to his mount: ‘So has my mule. Must I make him a field marshal, too?’ … Perhaps the most curious part of the Post endorsement of Kerry is the notion that defeated presidential candidates have something special to offer as Secretary of State.” Kerry was eventually confirmed by the U.S. Senate in a 94-3 vote.
In a December 21, 2023 interview on a Houston radio station, Blackwell spoke about the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut in which twenty first-grade students and six adults were shot and killed. He said, “We need to take a very comprehensive approach, not only to making sure that we keep dangerous people from acquiring firearms in a manner that doesn’t include disarming law-abiding people from their ability to defend themselves, we need to take an even broader look at the coarsening of our culture. We have people in the name of the First Amendment in Hollywood that basically refuses to rethink its relationship to violence. We need to take a look at what the whole coarsening of the culture, from treating abortion as a form of birth control to the rapid breakup of our families as things that attribute to the atrocities that we have seen occur all too frequently … We need to deal with a coarsening of our culture, everything from getting illegal weapons out of the hands of criminals to making sure that fewer and fewer of our children are born out of wedlock and into broken families where they suffer more and more from the emotional and mental disruptions in their lives that lead to these sort of mass murders.”
On October 26, 2012, the Ohio Republican Party released a political ad in which Blackwell stated, “Hi, I’m Ken Blackwell asking you to join me in supporting our grassroots efforts to unseat President [Barack] Obama and his Democrat allies this November. The stakes are higher than ever this election … If we want to restore accountability and respect for the rule of law on the part of our leaders then it Is critical that we work together to spread this message … With your help we can elect Mitt Romney as president and send a Republican majority to Congress and begin to put our great nation back on the right track.”
On October 12, 2012, the Tea Party Victory Fund, a PAC headed by Blackwell, released a political TV ad in which Blackwell asks, “Have Barack Obama's policies empowered or enslaved Americans?" The ad features an unidentified African-American woman at an Obama rally. She says, “He gave us a phone. Keep Obama in president.” When asked how she received the phone, the woman replied, “You sign up if you are in food stamps, you are in Social Security, you've got low income. Keep Obama in president. He gave us a phone." In a fundraising email, Blackwell wrote, “This commercial is a microcosm of the difference between Republicans and Democrats. Republicans want to create an environment where free people make their own choices and pursue their dreams. President Obama and the Democrats want to create a dependency on government that ensures that Americans rely on Washington from cradle to grave … What this lady said is so offensive because it's so blatant–she finally comes out and says what we all know that the Democrats really think.” Free phones are given to eligible individuals as part of a Federal Communications Commission program called Lifeline that provides low-cost or free phone service so they are “able to connect to jobs, family, and 911 services.”
In an October 8, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote, “The Obama Mandate will force us to violate our consciences. President Obama famously said he doesn't know when human life begins, but he's willing to force us to collaborate in the destruction of innocent human lives … President Obama doesn't care what you think, so long as you join him in helping to destroy the unborn on demand. And help him by paying for it … We are putting at risk America's unique contribution to the world: religious freedom.” Blackwell was referring to a January 2012 Obama Administration announcement that the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” requires employers to provide health insurance that covers contraception for women free of charge. The rule does not apply to church organizations themselves, but instead to affiliated nonprofit corporations, like hospitals, that do not rely primarily on members of the faith as employees. Additionally, the Act did not in any way alter existing, strict federal restrictions on the funding of abortion.
In a September 28, 2023 op-ed for American Thinker, Blackwell wrote, “In New York, at the U.N … [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad called for a new world order. Of what? A rule of a U.N. world body dominated—or at least held hostage by— the Terroristans that make up an increasing number of the members of the General Assembly … Worst of all is this invertebrate Obama administration. Ahmadinejad holds court, calls for a new world order based on terrorism, is applauded in the U.N. General Assembly—and our delegation walks out! That'll show them! Isn't it time to send the U.N. to Geneva and cut the U.S. contribution from 24% to 6%? [President Barack] Obama does not think the U.S. is any more ‘exceptional’ than the Greeks or the British. Very well, Mr. President—then let's scale back our U.N. dues to an unexceptional 6%. That may be the only thing that gets the attention of these dumbstruck U.N. delegates who cheer America's sworn enemy.” Blackwell was likely referring to President Obama’s statement at a press conference in Strasbourg on April 4, 2009. President Obama stated, “I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism. I am enormously proud of my country and its role and history in the world.”
In a September 21, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote, “The Democratic Party has officially committed itself to ending traditional marriage. For what else can happen to marriage when two persons of the same sex can marry and the rest of us are forced to recognize these counterfeits as true? If two, why not three? There is no compelling reason why not … Historian Michael Knox Beran found this nugget in Mr. Obama's second autobiography, The Audacity of Hope: ‘[I] came to appreciate how the earth rotated around the sun and the seasons came and went without any particular exertions on my part.’ What becoming modesty: earth, sun, seasons. Wait! Did he say the earth rotates around the sun? Yes, he did. Where is our ready-to-pounce press corps on this one? I don't know how they taught in fifth grade science in Jakarta, but here in America I learned that the earth rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun. This is no small point … President Obama has similarly mixed up the social science on family. His administration has given us ‘Julia.’ She is the Every Woman fictional figure who spends her entire life looking to government for assistance, from Head Start through Social Security. The only man in Julia's life is Barack Obama. Social science unambiguously reports that children thrive with mothers and fathers who are married and who worship regularly. President Obama's administration is not about that at all.” A Department of Health and Human Services report stated that children in nuclear families were “generally healthier, more likely to have access to health care, and less likely to have definite or severe emotional or behavioral difficulties than children living in nonnuclear families.” The study defines “nuclear family” as one that “consists of one or more children living with two parents who are married to one another and are each biological or adoptive parents to all children in the family.”
In a September 19, 2023 interview with WND Radio, Blackwell spoke about the August 15, 2023 shooting at the Family Research Council (FRC) headquarters in Washington, D.C. According to the criminal complaint, shooter Floyd Lee Corkins II entered the building and encountered the building manager, Leo Johnson. Corkins "stated words to the effect of, 'I don't like your politics,'" a witness told FBI agents. Corkins then pulled a firearm from his backpack and shot Johnson in the arm. Johnson, though injured, wrestled the firearm away from Corkins and subdued him. Blackwell is the Senior Fellow for Family Empowerment at the FRC. In the interview, Blackwell was asked if he knew of any connection between the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the shooter, Floyd Corkins. Blackwell replied, “Well [Corkins] mentioned that he was not attacking Leo [Johnson] personally but he was attacking us because we were a hate group. And the Southern Poverty Law Center has mislabeled the FRC a hate group because of our stance on traditional marriage and our strong defense of the pro-life ethic in this country … We are asking [the SPLC] to cease and desist. Look, religious liberty is the most profound of our human rights. Without religious freedom people exist only as political or economic entities not as free human beings. Religious liberty, in our view, is the first of all human rights for it implies the dignity of the human conscious. So, one’s faith is one’s most profound level of personhood. And so we think not only FRC but all those who believe in American exceptionalism, because we understand that our rights come from God not from the state, should rally behind this call for the Southern Poverty Law Center to cease and desist for mislabeling people as being haters because they stand for biblical truth … Look, President Obama…is determined to transform our family-centered society into a government-centered society … But I think the transformation [President Obama] is most wedded to is that he wants to transform our national philosophy founded upon the primacy of the individual and the supremacy of God to one founded upon the primacy of the collective good and the supremacy of central government. That’s why every day of his presidency he has done whatever it takes to undermine the Constitution and to empower a strong central or federal government which, by definition, has to be predicated on the weakening and destruction of the family and chasing God and faith out of the public square or, at minimum, silencing the church.” The SPLC stated in a September 13, 2023 press release that it does not list FRC as a hate group because of its opposition to gay marriage or its religious beliefs, but, “instead, we list the FRC because it engages in baseless, incendiary name-calling and spreads demonizing lies about the LGBT community. The FRC portrays gay people as sick, evil, perverted, incestuous and a danger to the nation. It insists that gay people are ‘fundamentally incapable’ of providing good homes for children–a myth that has been rejected by all relevant scientific authorities. One of its key leaders has actually said that homosexual behavior should be criminalized. Perhaps the FRC’s most dangerous lie is its claim that pedophilia is a ‘homosexual problem.’"
In a September 7, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote about former President Bill Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention in Tampa, Florida. Blackwell stated, “Trim and silvered, [Bill Clinton] strode onstage to his own campaign song: Don't Stop Thinkin' About Tomorrow. For liberals, it's always tomorrow. For the left, generally, tomorrow is a lot more fun than today. Vperiod! Forward! That was Lenin's cry at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution. They were always summoning their people to look beyond the suffering of today and think about the ‘shining heights’ of socialism just ahead. Keep marching. No one ever dared to mention there is such a thing as marching toward a mirage.”
In a September 5, 2023 op-ed for the Daily Caller, Blackwell wrote, “The [Democratic] party was clearly embarrassed because its platform [at the Democratic National Convention] failed to mention God and overlooked the party’s historic support for Jerusalem as the capital of Israel … So now, the Democratic platform has been changed. Are we satisfied? Does anyone think that a party that has to be arm-wrestled into acknowledging God is sincere? What we saw on the convention floor in Charlotte was the real Democratic Party. It was hostile to religion.” The platform at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) originally did not include the words “God” or “Jerusalem.” On September 5, Los Angeles Mayor and Chairman of the DNC Antonio Villaraigosa made a motion on the floor of the DNC to revise the platform to include the word “God” and affirm Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Such action requires a two-thirds vote by convention delegates. Some delegates and journalists on the convention floor claimed that one could not audibly hear two-thirds of the delegates say “aye.” Villaraigosa nonetheless declared the amendment had been approved. Any delegate who objected to the process could have made a formal challenge within ten minutes of the vote. No formal challenge was made.
In a September 5, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote, “As President, Barack Obama has loosened the strict work requirements [for welfare] that state governors—including conservative Republicans like John Sununu of New Hampshire and moderate Democrats Bill Clinton of Arkansas—worked for a decade to put in place … Paul Ryan was right to describe Barack Obama's America [in his acceptance speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida]: ‘Where everything is free but us.’ Americans should appeal to President Obama to turn back from the path to soft despotism. We should remember that a government big enough to give us everything we want is strong enough to take all we have—including liberty.” During a period of economic recession, governors from Utah, Nevada, California, Connecticut and Minnesota asked the federal government for more flexibility in how they give out welfare money. The Obama administration granted them waiver that gave them “some flexibility in how [those states] manage their welfare rolls as long as it produced 20% increases in the number of people [receiving welfare] getting work." Former President Bill Clinton defended President Obama’s actions, stating that the administration had taken steps to ensure work requirements for welfare recipients were maintained.
In a September 4, 2023 op-ed for the Daily Caller, Blackwell wrote, “Froward is admittedly an archaic word, but it’s a very good one. It describes what is actually happening in that Democratic platform with respect—or should I say with disrespect?—to marriage. ‘Froward’ is defined by the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary as ‘habitually disposed to disobedience and opposition.’ When Democrats convene today in Charlotte, North Carolina, to formally adopt their platform, they will be giving in to disobedience and opposition. Voters in the Tar Heel State strongly endorsed true marriage just last May. Like voters in 31 other states, the people are saying loud and clear: Don’t mess with true marriage. But the party bigs are defiant, determined to shove counterfeit marriage down the throats of the people.” Turning to the issue of minority voters, Blackwell stated, “North Carolina’s black voters backed true marriage by a margin of two to one … What can Democratic Party delegates in Charlotte be thinking? How can they imagine that ending marriage as we know it is a good posture to take in the teeth of such determined opposition from their most loyal group of supporters?” Blackwell was referring to a North Carolina constitutional amendment that defined marriage as between one man and one woman and banned the recognition of any other type of “domestic legal union.” The amendment was approved in May 2012.
In an August 30, 2023 interview with MRCTV, a division of the Media Research Center, Blackwell stated, “President Obama and now the Democratic Party has embraced a national philosophy founded upon the primacy of the collective good and the supremacy of the national government as opposed to our national philosophy held by most Americans founded upon the primacy of the individual and the centrality and the supremacy of God.” The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution explicitly prohibited the government from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion.”
In an August 28, 2023 interview with The Hill, Blackwell made references to controversial remarks made by U.S. Representative Todd Akin (R-MO). On August 19, 2012, Akin commented on the issue of pregnancy induced by rape, stating, “It seems to be, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, it’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down.” Later, Akin publicly stated that Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan had personally asked him to end his candidacy for the U.S. Senate. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus also announced that even if Akin, who was trailing Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill in two recent polls, managed to pull even with her, "We're not going to send him a penny." Commenting on this imbroglio, Blackwell stated, "I think it was a mistake not to get the leaders in Missouri lined up before [GOP national leadership] went up and looked overly heavy-handed in the way they were pushing [Akin] … I've encouraged people at the Senatorial Committee to wait about five days and do a poll and see if things have stabilized. If things have, they might want to readjust. Senatorial committees can do anything. It is not as if some of the damage they've done can be papered over but they can reverse themselves on it."
In an August 27, 2023 interview with Fox News Radio, Blackwell spoke about Voter ID laws. He stated, “Over the past 40 years, most of case law in elections have been focused on the franchise, making it easier for folks to cast their ballots. In the last four to six years, there’s been a focus on the other voting right and that is the right to be protected against a fraudulent vote cancelling out your legal vote … I do a lot of work with Judicial Watch, and Judicial Watch’s studies show that of the 1.3 million voter registrations gathered by Project Vote and ACORN, over 400,000 of those were fraudulent.” Radio host Bob Davis asked Blackwell why Democrats argue there is no fraud in elections. Blackwell replied, “They try to cast it as a voter suppression effort. Again, the facts will fly in the face of those misdirected concerns … In 2004, Georgia, a Southern state that had a history in terms of slavery and the black codes, etc … They implemented a voter ID law in the state of Georgia, everyone said this was voter suppression, this was geared to suppress the black and Latino vote in particular. Well, in 2008, the Latino vote went up from 18,000 to 19,000 … More importantly, there was an increase in the black vote of 42% … In American culture, in American life, having an ID is nothing that’s burdensome. We have an ID for a driver’s license. If you wanna get a library book, if you wanna receive a medical license … We must understand that what the Democrats and the left, in particular, are doing is using this notion of voter suppression to [drum] up anxiety in their base. They’re trying to convert this legitimate effort to protect the integrity of the ballot box into a way to mobilize their base by mischaracterizing as an attempt to throw us back into Jim Crow era.” Blackwell referred to ACORN, a community activist organization and its affiliate, Project Vote. After the 2008 election, the John McCain (R-AZ) campaign accused the group of perpetrating “massive voter fraud.” Neither ACORN nor its employees have ever been found guilty of—or even charged with—casting fraudulent votes. Several ACORN canvassers have been found guilty of faking registration forms. The evidence shows that the canvassers faked the forms to get paid for work they didn’t do, not to stuff ballot boxes. A report by the Congressional Research Service, the nonpartisan public policy research arm of the U.S. Congress, stated that there were no instances of individuals who were allegedly registered to vote improperly by ACORN or its employees and who were reported "attempting to vote at the polls." Blackwell also referred to the effect of a voter ID law on voting in Georgia in the 2008 election. In the 2008 election, more than 50,000 residents were purged from the Georgia voter rolls because of a computer mismatch in their personal identification information. Furthermore, voter ID laws in Texas, North Carolina, and Florida have been challenged in court by the Department of Justice over allegations that they disenfranchise minorities. In July of 2012, the DOJ began investigating Pennsylvania’s Voter ID law to determine whether it discriminates against minorities.
In an August 24, 2023 interview on "Washington Watch Weekly", Blackwell stated, “President [Barack] Obama and his party want to transform our market economy into a government-controlled economy but most importantly, they are dead set on making sure that they transform our national philosophy founded upon the primacy of the individual and the supremacy of God to one founded on the primacy of the collective good and the supremacy of the central government. Our document, the GOP document, is a direct contrast; it provides the American people with a choice, not an echo. That is so important because there are two paths that we can go down: we can reinforce our fundamental belief that when we are God-centered, free men and free women and free markets can accomplish much and overcome most hurdles thrown in our way or do we want to go down the path of being a government-controlled economy, destroying families, replacing it with bureaucrat decision makers that would run afoul of what the founders of this nation envisioned 237 years ago … In our 237th year as being an exceptional nation we are at risk of losing it all. We just can’t afford to have four more years of a President that one, doesn’t understand the nature of our exceptionalism, and two, has a worldview and a set of guiding principles that are in direct contradiction with what has made us an exceptional nation. I’ve always enjoyed the push and pull of the whole process, I think it’s now incumbent upon us to make sure that this is not a document that is put on the shelf and our candidates across the country can just let collect dust and ignore. There is a fault line from the Pacific to the Atlantic and one side are those who believe in big government and who believe that the family and God can be replaced by a supreme state government, and that’s a problem.” The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution explicitly prohibited the government from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion.”
In an August 24, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote, “Determined to do [sic] follow what is ‘inevitable,’ very liberal delegates [at the Democratic National Convention] will embrace platform proposals that will spell the end of marriage. Do they fully realize what they are doing? If your only requirement for a marriage is that people love each other, have a committed relationship to each other, and that they give their consent, then you cannot bar twins from marrying. Once you've permitted identical twins to marry, how can you bar twin brother and sister from marrying? They love each other. They have a committed relationship. None of us has had such a biological bond since before birth with our own spouses. Vice President Biden voted for the Defense of Marriage Act as a U.S. Senator. Now, of course, he says that he is not influenced by his many years as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Instead, he takes his guidance on marriage from Hollywood, specifically from the comedy series, Will and Grace. If Hollywood producers are to set the standard for constitutional law in our country, then marriage will be ended, to be sure. For Hollywood has given us another series, Big Love. It's an HBO production about polygamy. It's pretty favorable toward polygamy, they tell me … Is this really where Democrats want to go? Do their very progressive delegates think the voters at the grassroots will approve their lurch to the progressive extremes?” Blackwell continued, stating, “Minorities give strong support to true marriage. In North Carolina, black and Hispanic voters provided the winning margin for marriage … Marriage is not a wedge issue, it's a bridge issue. It's the way Republicans can embrace minorities and immigrants.”
In an August 24, 2023 op-ed for World Magazine, Blackwell wrote, “Happily, the Republican Platform Committee this week sidestepped the issue of civil unions. Committee members reaffirmed the party's historic support for true marriage. That's a good thing because, from the government's perspective, all our marriages are civil unions. And government has a duty to protect the civil institution of marriage. What some call a civil union-as a softer way to grant same-sex couples all the rights of marriage without the name of marriage-is merely a slow-motion surrender on the critical issue of marriage. Governments cannot sanctify marriage, but governments can and should protect the civil institution of marriage. True marriage … We have seen many examples of the ways in which defenders of marriage will lose their civil rights if marriage itself is abolished. If 61 percent of North Carolina voters last May had voted to end true marriage in that state instead of affirming it, we could have been sure that the very next semester schoolchildren in the Tar Heel State would have been proselytized in the early grades for the new definition of marriage. This is what happened in Massachusetts. When parents of public schoolchildren object, they will be the ones singled out for threats, ridicule, and possibly even government sanctions … Those who want to end marriage as we know it often cite the famed U.S. Supreme Court case of Loving v. Virginia (1967). In that case, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote for a unanimous court when he struck down a state law that barred men and women from different races from legally marrying. We agree with that opinion. We, too, believe that marriage is a fundamental civil right of Americans. And we also agree with Earl Warren's view that true marriage is necessary for the survival of society. Chief Justice Warren did not have to say true marriage-between one man and one woman. It was understood. It must still be so understood. The civil rights of all Americans must be defended … Keeping marriage alive requires hard work. And it needs government support. What we are saying is that true marriage must survive for America to survive. We are saying preserve Americans' civil right of marriage if we want America to climb back from the abyss of economic decline and social decay.” On the 40th anniversary of Loving v. Virginia, Mildred Loving, one of the plaintiffs in the case, stated, “I believe all Americans, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry … I am proud that Richard’s and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight, seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about.”
In an August 21, 2023 op-ed for Huffington Post, Blackwell wrote, “This election now turns on whether a critical mass of American voters have arrived at the undeniable conclusion that if we do not fundamentally transform the three major entitlements for younger Americans then it will not be there for them at all (or even for those who will soon rely upon them), and that if we do not balance the federal budget it will cause an economic catastrophe … [If] President Obama wins a second term, and claims it as a mandate not to curb spending or entitlements … by November 2016 voters should have no doubt what must be done, and realize that liberals offer only blame and denial, while conservatives offer solutions.” To balance the budget, as he has promised, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney would have to cut $9.6 trillion from non-defense discretionary spending. Romney would also increase defense spending to $7.9 trillion between 2013 and 2022. Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s budget plan would cut $5.2 trillion from entitlements and non-defense discretionary spending while increasing defend spending to $5.7 trillion between 2013 and 2022.
In an August 20, 2023 op-ed for Huffington Post, Blackwell advised President Barack Obama to replace Joe Biden with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as his vice presidential running mate in the 2012 presidential election, stating, “Imagine if Hillary could be summoned from whatever international conference she's headed to. Envision her State Department jet being re-routed in mid-air for her to appear on the platform next to her onetime rival, just in time to let hubby [former president] Bill [Clinton] announce the new Obama-Clinton ticket to the world. Joe Biden could be put back on that State Department jet as the newly minted Secretary of State. Not a bad shown-the-door prize for the man who is forever stepping on rakes. Now, in all candor, we have already gone on record calling Hillary America's worst Secretary of State. But she couldn't be our worst vice president. As long as Joe Biden's around, that title is safe.”
In an August 2, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote, “[President Barack Obama] announced early in his administration that he would not enforce the Defense of Marriage Act. He has done everything he can in the last three and a half years to dismantle the law. It is a process not unlike termites eating away at the foundations of a house. Until just a few weeks ago, he apparently hoped that the law would collapse as he systematically undermined its foundations. It didn't. So President Obama, prompted no doubt by Vice President Biden's blurted out support for counterfeiting marriage, has ‘evolved.’” Blackwell was referring to Biden’s May 6, 2023 appearance on “Meet the Press” where he stated, “I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men marrying women are entitled to the same exact rights.” Biden’s statement came several days before President Obama’s public endorsement of same-sex marriage on May 9, 2012. Blackwell continued, stating, “Democrats have announced they will put same sex marriage in their platform when they meet in convention in Charlotte, North Carolina … If the Democrats' platform embraces this radical proposal, they will be voting to end marriage, not change it. If you say a man may marry a man, and a woman may marry a woman, then on what principled basis can you say three men may not marry?”
In a July 23, 2023 op-ed for the Daily Caller, Blackwell wrote about President Barack Obama’s “’covert zeal’ for abortion.” He stated, “Abraham Lincoln faced a similar problem in 1854 when he spoke of the ‘covert zeal’ of President Franklin Pierce and Sen. Stephen A. Douglas for the spread of slavery. These leading Democrats never said they were in favor of slavery. They simply viewed the right of whites to choose slavery for blacks as a ‘sacred principle of self-government’ … President Obama doesn’t talk about abortion much … President Obama has been the most pro-abortion president in history … From his first public office, he has been an advocate for abortion-on-demand. He led the fight in the Illinois State Senate to deny protection for newborn children who survive abortion attempts. These children are U.S. citizens under the Fourteenth Amendment. And just as too many states denied ‘equal protection of the laws’ to black Americans under a century of unjust Jim Crow laws, Barack Obama denied protection of Illinois laws to newborns in the Land of Lincoln because they had been targeted for abortion.” Then-Illinois Senator Barack Obama voted against the state’s “Born Alive Infant Protection Act” in 2001, 2002, and 2004, because in his words, “Whenever we define a previable fetus as a person that is protected by the equal protection clause or the other elements in the Constitution, what we're really saying is, in fact, that they are persons that are entitled to the kinds of protections that would be provided to a… nine-month-old…child that was delivered to term. That determination then, essentially, if it was accepted by a court, would forbid abortions to take place.” Blackwell wrote, “From his first day in office until now, President Obama has quietly but vigorously pushed the abortion agenda. He records promotional videos for Planned Parenthood. This group kills 340,000 of the more than1,200,000 unborn children killed each year by abortion. Under Obamacare, they will be able to kill millions more.” Blackwell was referring to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which did not in any way alter existing, strict federal restrictions on the funding of abortion.
In a July 13, 2023 op-ed for the Daily Caller, Blackwell wrote, “[President Barack] Obama announced on July 6 in Ohio that this election is about a ‘clash of visions’ about the role of government in our lives ... If he wins, he will claim a mandate and take federal power to heights we’ve never seen.” In reference to a June 28, 2023 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court which upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Blackwell stated, “We can no longer be confident that the Supreme Court will stop him. Liberty endures only when each branch fully and fearlessly checks and balances the other two branches. Abdicating judicial review empowers President Obama to subvert the Constitution with an imperial presidency, and fundamentally transform the United States to the detriment of future generations.”
In a July 6, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote, “We are now told by the Supreme Court of our day that millions have come to ‘rely’ on abortion and therefore we must accept it. But did not millions then ‘rely’ on slavery? Today, 71% of pregnancies in Harlem end in abortion. For those who view the fate of unborn children as "above their pay grade," that 71% pre-natal death rate is not enough. Today, Obamacare threatens to trample liberty underfoot in its drive to force acceptance of abortion on Catholic and non-Catholic institutions that try to defend innocent human lives. What was wrong in slavery is what is wrong in abortion: It denies to members of our human family their rightful place at the national celebration of the Glorious Fourth. It says we will celebrate as your lives ebb away … Lincoln said it well: If slavery is not wrong, then nothing is wrong. We agree. And if abortion is not wrong, then nothing is wrong.” It is unclear where Blackwell got his statistics regarding pregnancies in Harlem—he did not provide any source.
In a July 2012 article for Loop 21 on the pros and cons of “Stand Your Ground” laws, Blackwell was asked why he thought the Commission on Civil Rights was investigating them for racial bias. “Stand Your Ground” laws generated national controversy when unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin was killed by concealed handgun permit holder George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida on February 26, 2012. The National Rifle Association helped to author the “Stand Your Ground” law in Florida and promoted it aggressively there and in many other states. Blackwell stated, “Michael Yaki is a member of the commission. Mr. Yaki is an anti-Second Amendment lawyer, who has been pushing for the investigation ... If anything, [the law] benefits racial minorities more.” In June 2012, the Tampa Bay Times identified nearly 200 “Stand Your Ground” cases in Florida and determined that 73 percent of those who killed a black person faced no punishment, compared to 59 percent of those who killed a white person. When asked why he thought “Stand Your Ground” was being challenged, Blackwell responded, “I have no idea why anyone would challenge this point of view, unless they foolishly think we can grow a government big enough to protect all of us, all of the time.” He replied to a question about the cons of the law, stating, “There are none.”
On June 25, 2012, Herman Cain, former 2012 Republican presidential candidate, released an advertisement in which he and Ken Blackwell defended a Florida’s Voter ID law. Blackwell asked, “Why is [U.S. Attorney General] Eric Holder demanding that Florida stop removing illegal voters from their rolls/a>?” Blackwell was making reference to a Department of Justice lawsuit which challenged the Florida law because of allegations that it disenfranchises minorities. Blackwell further boasted, “As Secretary of State of Ohio, I was responsible for the integrity of the vote.” In 2004, while serving as the Secretary of State of Ohio and co-chair of the “Committee to Re-Elect George W. Bush,” Blackwell was the defendant in 16 lawsuits that alleged he disenfranchised Ohio voters.
In a June 19, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote, “In 2010 [Director of the Center for Religious Liberty Ken Klukowski and I] published a book [“The Blueprint: Obama's Plan to Subvert the Constitution and Build an Imperial Presidency”] arguing that Barack Obama was creating an imperial presidency. The past few months prove that prediction was correct.” He continued, “The Constitution vests all lawmaking power in Congress. It vests all executive power to enforce and administer those laws in the president. And it vests all judicial power—including the power to determine whether lesser laws violate the Supreme Law (the Constitution)—in the courts … President Obama has arrogated to himself all of those powers. If Congress doesn't make the laws he wants, he just declares them under the name of ‘regulations.’ If he doesn't like a law on the books, he acts like the judiciary by proclaiming the law unconstitutional, and refuses to enforce it. He effectively makes or abolishes laws at will.” Finally, Blackwell warned, “This president has engaged in a series of unprecedented power grabs during his term of office. The past week's amnesty plan [for the American-born children of immigrants] is just the latest in a long train of imperial abuses. And he's done all this knowing he still has to stand for reelection. Can you even imagine how far he will go if he wins reelection and knows he will never again be held to account?”
In a June 15, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote “Recognizing same-sex couplings as marriages will mean the end of marriage. That's because saying yes to two men or two women marrying opens the door to polygamy … With same-sex couplings and polygamous arrangements recognized, where would that leave marriage? Ended, that's where. When everyone can marry, no one can marry. There is no marriage left. Advocates for same-sex couplings have never agreed to bar polygamous groups being granted marriage rights. After all, if ‘marriage equality’ is the real goal, then three or four marital partners are even more equal than two.” Blackwell continued, stating, “Much media talk about how young people support same-sex couplings does not translate into votes. There is a silenced minority here. Young people are constantly told it's not cool to be against same-sex demands. With Americans waiting longer to get married, it should not surprise us that the youth cohort is the least supportive of true marriage. They're not married yet.” He urged, “Defenders of true marriage need to be equally bold in speaking with younger audiences. Candidates need to tell the young the truth: that if they support marriage rights for same-sex couplings, they will be voting to end marriage … The young, according to all polls, are disproportionately pro-life … We need to share with the young this hopeful message: Marriage is the best protector for unborn children that we have. Four out of five unborn children who are killed in abortion are the children of single parents. If you really care about unborn children, protect the institution that best protects them.”
In a June 12, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote about liberal talk show host Bill Press, who had expressed his distaste for the National Anthem a week earlier. “What is it with liberals that they are forever saying and doing things that lead people to question their patriotism—and then they howl in rage when folks question their patriotism?” Blackwell asked. He continued, stating, “Consider Barack Obama, the most liberal president in history. In 2007, then-Sen. Obama was campaigning in the Heartland. At the famous Iowa State Fair, he raised eyebrows when he failed to place his hand over his heart during the National Anthem … Only in an Obama Nation could the lyrics of our National Anthem be ‘an abomination.’ The Star-Spangled Banner calls us ‘the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.’ Those words inspire us all to action—to keep this Home of Freedom free.”
In a May 29, 2023 speech at the American Religious Freedom Program Conference, Blackwell called a January 2012 Obama administration announcement about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act “one of the most unprecedented and ominous assaults on religious freedom.” The administration was declaring that employers would be required to provide health insurance which covers contraception for women free of charge. Blackwell warned, “Late in the 19th Century,Germany’s Chancellor Bismarck waged an assault against Catholics. The Prime Minister intended to close down Catholic schools and hospitals, convents and monasteries throughout the country. We’re not there yet; but we must be vigilant … There’s a scene in a famous movie I recommend watching over again. In A Man for All Seasons, Sir Thomas More is facing execution for standing by his conscience in a time of agitation. More tells his prosecutors: ‘I do none harm, I say none harm, I think none harm. And if this be not enough to keep a man alive, in good faith I long not to live.’ Thank God, we have not gotten to that point. But our task is to make sure we never get to that point. We cannot allow these salami tactics—this divide-and-conquer strategy—to succeed. If the [Department of Health and Human Services] can that we subsidize abortion-causing drugs now, what is to stop them from mandating our support for surgical abortions next year?”
In a May 9, 2023 op-ed for the Huffington Post, Blackwell wrote “Elections are about choices, and 2012's pivotal election showcases two very different visions for America's future.” President Barack Obama’s vision for America’s future, Blackwell claimed, is one in which “government usurps the place of family. Big Brother becomes Big Father who brings home the bacon through government entitlements covering everything from housing, to education, to food (stamps), to government-run healthcare. You need have faith in government alone, as the collective state becomes the god in whom you trust and from whom you receive your daily bread. And they replace the family unit with the state, undermining the foundational unit of civilization.”
In a May 9, 2023 op-ed for World Community, Blackwell accused President Barack Obama of being a “full-blown advocate of abolishing marriage.” He referred to efforts at the state to level to ban same-sex marriage as evidence that “Americans overwhelmingly do not agree that marriage should be ended.” According to Blackwell, that would be the result if same-sex couples were allowed to marry. “Three men marrying?” Blackwell wrote. “Two men and a woman? If everyone can marry, then no one can marry, thus ending marriage as we know it.”
In an April 26, 2023 op-ed for The Daily Caller, Blackwell wrote about “the secularization of Martin Luther King Jr,” stating, “So, since Rev. King and religion are inseparable, why are some people so quick to hide Dr. King’s religiosity? We would expect this type of careful ideological manipulation of history in the tyrannical states of the former Soviet Union or North Korea, but how does this happen in America? Sadly, I believe this is another example of how the secular left is winning the culture war. By driving religion out of the public square and re-writing the history books, they are erasing the invaluable role religion has played in our country’s history.” He continued, “By eliminating religion, the secular left is using the force of law to build its own type of warped, unholy church which is highly dogmatic and mandates participation under the threat of force … With the Obama administration’s openly hostile approach to religion, we have a government forcing members of religious institutions to participate in acts that violate their consciences, such as providing contraception and abortion services. All churches in Obama’s America are subservient to the whims of government bureaucrats, who are exercising power far outside the limits of our Constitution.” Blackwell was referring to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which requires employers to provide health insurance which covers contraception for women free of charge. The Act did not in any way alter existing, strict federal restrictions on the funding of abortion.
In a February 26, 2023 web appearance on The Daily Caller, Blackwell said of Democratic President Barack Obama, “What you see is a president that ignores the Constitution, an administration that ignores the Constitution. And he wants to build a federal court system in his own philosophy and in his own image, and thereby give him, and his administration, unbridled power.” Blackwell was then asked why some polls were indicating that African-American support was down for President Obama. He responded, “I remember being in graduate school and I read a work of a psychiatrist in the late 1800s and he was talking about the Antebellum south and slavery. And he said, ‘What people don’t understand is that you have a slave, and you have to worry about that slave running and bolting towards freedom. So your guarding and you put him in chains. And what you have is not a slave, you have a captive.’ He said, ‘When you can take off the chains and you can do away with the guards and that captive will not walk and walk outside of the area of prescription of slavery, you then have converted that captive to a slave.’ And he said, ‘There is a fear of freedom, that slaves, unlike captives, wont take the risk of bolting because all of us, slave and master alike, like homeostasis or equilibrium.’ And so one of the things that I’ve started to notice is that more and more young black people are willing to take the risk of being free, the risk of being not dependent on the government, and that is something, that’s a force that the pill of dependency, you know, cannot overtake by the Obama administration.”
In a February 22, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote, “The term ‘Southern Strategy’ was invented by liberals in 1968 to attack their partisan opponents in the Republican Party, then led by Richard Nixon.” In fact, it was Republican President Richard Nixon’s political strategist, Kevin Phillips, who popularized the practice. The “Southern Strategy” involved exploiting white racism against African-Americans to drum up Republican votes, and was first used by Nixon during the 1968 presidential campaign. Blackwell added, “We who defend true [heterosexual] marriage are equally committed to civil rights. We strongly believe that marriage is a civil right—and that overturning true marriage will cause grave harm to all Americans, not the least to the poor and to minorities.”
In a February 7, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post where Blackwell urged Israel to immediately launch a military attack against Iran, he also claimed that the administration of President Barack Obama “is outraged by the sight of too many Jews in Jerusalem.”
In a February 2, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell lamented that complaints by civil rights organizations led retired General Jerry Boykin to withdraw from speaking at the West Point military academy’s annual prayer breakfast. Blackwell wrote, “The Obama administration's hostility toward religion—and especially Christians—continues even to the detriment of our men and women in uniform.” Boykin is an anti-Muslim hardliner who has described the War on Terror as a “Christian battle against Satan” (a statement that was repudiated by President George W. Bush). He has also called Islam “a totalitarian way of life” and has argued that the First Amendment, which protects the free practice of religion, does not apply to Islam. A statement by VoteVets.org alleged that Boykin’s presence at the prayer breakfast would “put our troops in danger.” Blackwell called Boykin “an ideal choice” to speak at a prayer event held at a military academy. He went on to write, “This sad episode is yet another example of the Obama administration's ongoing hostility to people of faith,” despite the fact that the Obama administration played no role in the controversy.
In a January 30, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote, “President Obama has relentlessly pushed abortion at home and abroad. Obamacare is the most massive expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade. Under Obamacare, health care coverage will include abortion. Thus, we will all be forced to pay for the killing of unborn children.” In reality, the signing of the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010” did not alter existing, strict federal restrictions on the funding of abortion. Blackwell also added, “The president is concerned, he tells us, about education. We must all share that concern. But he has taken over college loans, an unprecedented power grab. He does this even as his administration is menacing the liberty of every private and religious college in America. If your college does not want to push condoms in the dorms or dispense abortion-producing drugs [birth control] at Student Health, the Obama administration threatens you with action.”
In a December 31, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell expressed support for Voter ID laws that have been accused by the Department of Justice and others of disenfranchising minorities. In a rant on the topic of race, he wrote, “The African-American community has a staggeringly-high unemployment rate under President Obama. So Black Americans will not vote for this president because of any prosperity he's brought to that community. Instead, he has to gin up their votes by painting a picture of racial conflict in which he—and the governmental agency dealsing [sic] with such things, DOJ—is their champion. This is also seen in [Attorney General Eric] Holder's incessant playing of the race card. First he says we're a nation of cowards about race. Now that he's on the ropes for DOJ's scandalous Operation Fast and Furious gun-running scandal into Mexico, he has the audacity to say that he and President Obama are being attacked in part because they're both African-Americans.”
In a December 24, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote, “Nothing so threatens the middle class in America as Obamacare. If this is not repealed, middle income Americans will find themselves shackled to a government-provided health service that gets worse and worse and costs more and more … Worse, Obamacare forces middle income Americans to subsidize the killing of millions of unborn children. These children are the best hope of getting us out of this debt spiral.” In reality, the signing of the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010” did not alter existing, strict federal restrictions on the funding of abortion. Blackwell also expressed amazement “that the canny TR [Teddy Roosevelt] invented” the phrase “the lunatic fringe” “101 years before the Occupy Wall Street crowd appeared on the scene.”
In a December 9, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell called the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act—a piece of legislation that allowed the residents of those states to determine whether slavery would be allowed inside their borders—“the original ‘pro-choice’ legislation.” He also added, “A year before his acceptance speech at Denver. Mr. Obama went before Planned Barrenhood and shackled himself to their sterile ideology of abortion-on-demand.”
In a December 8, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote, “Mr. Obama and his administration keep Planned Barrenhood in business—shoveling billions to their lethal efforts. Because of them, six in ten pregnancies in Harlem end in abortion. There is no hope in that dread change.” In reality, only three percent of services provided by Planned Parenthood are related to abortion, with 90% of services aimed at preventing unwanted pregnancy
In a November 23, 2023 op-ed for the Huffington Post, Blackwell wrote, “Mr. Obama, as a candidate, had to bat away accusations that he was close, too close, to Rashid Khalidi, a radical Palestinian Arab intellectual.” Khalaidi is actually a Palestinian-American Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University. President Barack Obama was acquainted with Khalaidi, but never consulted with him on matters of foreign policy. Blackwell also harshly criticized the Occupy Wall Street movement, writing, “the Occupy Wall Street crowd quickly descended to anti-Semitism. They are protesting income inequality, they say, but their cry of 99% against the 1% is a veiled reference to American Jews, who constitute less than 2% of the U.S. population.” Turning back to the President, he concluded, “Barack Obama's intellectual world is one in which [anti-colonialist Franz] Fanon, [linguist Noam] Chomsky, [historian Howard] Zinn, and those neo-Marxist thinkers hold sway. Only free societies can create enough surplus wealth to support such dissident scholars and their ‘myrmidons’ [hired ruffians] in the Occupy Wall Street Movement in their midst.”
Writing about Iran, Blackwell authored a November 12, 2023 op-ed for the American Thinker in which he declared, “For three years, Mr. Obama has tried to appease the world's number one terrorist regime. … Even the anti-Semitic Richard Nixon was there for Israel, when the chips were down during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Barack Obama's record makes him unmistakably the first anti-Israel president in our history.”
Due to ongoing tensions between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the Falklands Islands, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated in March 2010 that the United States will “facilitate them talking to each other.” “We’re not interested and have no real role in determining what they decide between the two of them, but we want them talking and we want them trying to resolve the outstanding issues between them,” she added. In response to Clinton’s statement, Blackwell authored a November 11, 2023 op-ed for the Huffington Post in which he stated, “By raising the subject of ‘talks’ about the Falklands, Mrs. Clinton is threatening a renewed war. We know Bill Clinton has lamented he did not have a war to assure his presidential greatness. Is Hillary hoping to be called upon to negotiate the Falklands matter so she, too, can cop a Nobel Prize? If she wins one for this, let's make it tin.” Blackwell also compared the Argentine military dictatorship that ordered the invasion of the Falklands to the “Occupy Wall Street” protests addressing income inequality in the United States by writing, “Think ‘Occupy Buenos Aires.’”
In a November 4, 2023 op-ed for World Magazine, Blackwell claimed that the “Respect Marriage Act,” which would repeal the “Defense of Marriage Act,” would “abolish marriage.” He also said of the bill, “While calling for ‘respect’ in the Orwellian sense, it would offer true marriage the same ‘respect’ President Obama showed to the body of Osama bin Laden—a hasty burial at sea after summarily being put to death.” Blackwell also claimed that legalizing gay marriage would lead to polygamy.
In a November 4, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell made a number of unverified claims about President Barack Obama’s policy towards Iran and claimed that the President “even sent Persian New Year greetings to the Iranian people and their dictatorial rulers.” In fact, President Obama sent a greeting only to the people of Iran. In that greeting, he compared the political situation in Iran to populist uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia and stated, “Just as the people of the region have insisted that they have a choice in how they are governed, so do the governments of the region have a choice in their response. So far, the Iranian government has responded by demonstrating that it cares far more about preserving its own power than respecting the rights of the Iranian people.”
In an October 29, 2023 op-ed for American Thinker, Blackwell cast doubt on the legitimacy of recent populist uprisings in the Middle East by writing, “It is a profound misunderstanding of democracy to think that merely by staging elections and showing off purple fingers of voters we can bring on a new order in Muslim lands. Edmund Burke said it well: ‘Men of intemperate minds cannot be free; their passions forge their fetters.’ Intemperate minds are what we see at work in the Arab Middle East. Opinion surveys throughout the region confirm that, by overwhelming majorities, the ‘voters’ for these sham democracies believe that those who convert from Islam must be put to death. As long as this grim reality exists, there will be no democracy in the region.”
On October 27, 2011, Blackwell appeared on MSNBC host Chris Matthew’s Hardball show to express support for a Mississippi ballot initiative that would confer “personhood” at conception, a designation that would outlaw all abortion. In defense of the measure, Blackwell said, “I am not a doctor and I am not a lawyer, but I am one who believes in the human dignity of the human life no different than the Pope, no different then—God bless him—Jerry Falwell.” Falwell was a controversial televangelist who once noted, “As a Christian who has a theological perspective, I do not feel that rape and incest are moral grounds for abortion. I do not think that two wrongs make a right.”
On October 26, 2011, Blackwell endorsed Republican Texas Governor Rick Perry for president in the 2012 elections.
In an October 20, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell claimed that the United States government’s support of the ouster of Egyptian dictator Honsi Mubarak meant that, “American taxpayers [are] aiding the slaughter of Egypt's Christians.” He went on to call President Obama “the most anti-Israel president in our history and also, de facto, the most anti-Christian.” Blackwell’s claim was based on a tragic October 2011 event where Coptic Christian protesters threw molotov cocktails and fired weapons at the Egyptian military, which retaliated with deadly force. In the wake of the violence, Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf addressed the nation, saying, “I call on Egyptian people—Muslims and Christians, women and children, young men and elders—to hold their unity.” Blackwell also claimed that the Muslim Brotherhood—an organization that was a key component of the nonviolent uprising against Mubarak—“is known to use terror against its opponents.”
In an October 20, 2023 op-ed published by the Family Research Council, Blackwell addressed allegations of racial bias in SAT questions by writing, “Some fringe activists who push the test-optional approach denigrate the exams, claiming they are biased against minority groups, a false assertion that has been debunked thoroughly and is not accepted by mainstream educators and psychologists.” In contrast, a 2010 study published in the Harvard Educational Review found, “The confirmation of unfair test results throws into question the validity of the test and, consequently, all decisions based on its results. All admissions decisions based exclusively or predominantly on SAT performance—and therefore access to higher education institutions and subsequent job placement and professional success—appear to be biased against the African American minority group and could be exposed to legal challenge.” The study confirmed earlier research that the SAT favors whites over African Americans who share a similar educational background and skill set.
In an October 1, 2023 op-ed for Townhall, Blackwell claimed that imposing a federal mandate that requires health care plans to cover contraceptives upon Franciscan University of Steubenville would destroy the institution. He added, “Chai Feldblum [an official in the Obama administration] is a tenured professor at Georgetown University Law School. This is the oldest Catholic university in the country. Ironically, Feldblum, is also a homosexual legal activist … The Obama administration is also the most anti-Catholic administration in American history. Never before have tens of millions of Catholic Americans been forced to subsidize the killing of unborn children with their taxes—as they are under ObamaCare. But now they are also forcing Catholic institutions to take part in the destruction of innocent human lives and the maiming of others by paying for abortifacients and sterilizations.”
On September 22, 2023 it was announced that Blackwell, along with former Nevada U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle, would serve as the two vice presidents for the National Federation of Republican Assemblies (NFRA). Commenting on his selection, Blackwell said, “The NFRA is the flagship of constitutionalist conservatism within the Republican Party. It is intent on making sure the federal government has limited powers and the states have an independent sovereign place in our system of government. If we, the people, are to arrest the Obama march to collectivism, social democracy and an imperial presidency, we must swell the ranks of the NFRA and maintain its status as a principled defender of liberty.” One month later, the NFRA endorsed former Republican Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum for president in the 2012 election.
In an op-ed for the Patriot Post published on September 15, 2011, Blackwell called Palestine “Terroristan” and challenged science that supports the conclusion that climate change is a man-made phenomenon. Blackwell praised a Danish scientist who found a connection between solar activity and the earth’s temperature, adding, “It's worth noting that the Danes stood up to China on human rights, even when the Communists in Beijing threatened to crush Denmark ‘like a little bird.’ The Danes published those cartoons of you know who [Muhammad] that set off riots throughout the world by followers of the religion of peace.”
In a September 13, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell repeated sexist characterizations about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, writing, “Mrs. Clinton has even been derided in liberal blogs as Barack Obama's ‘Saudi wife.’ Feminist editor Tina Brown went so far as to say she's been put in a ‘foreign policy burka.’ We don't have to follow the Washington Post's annual In/Out listings. Fashions come and go in the ‘Style Section,’ even burkas.” Blackwell also accused the Secretary of State—without evidence—of anti-Semitism—by stating, “Perhaps most offensive of all is Hillary Clinton's assignment of counting Jews in Jerusalem. Old Washington hands may remember that President Richard Nixon bitterly ordered one of his aides to count the Jews in the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics. The good man who took on that odious assignment has long since apologized and done penance. And the world has heard on the White House tapes Nixon's foul-mouthed rants and lashings out against the Jews.”
In a September 8, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell claimed that Congressman John Lewis (D-GA)—who spoke at the 1963 March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech—intended to incite violence within the crowd with his original planned speech. In the actual speech Lewis delivered that day, he called for the crowd to nonviolently support the civil rights movement by “march[ing] with the spirit of love and with the spirit of dignity that we have shown here today.” Blackwell’s editorial portrayed a nonviolent, pro-union rally on Labor Day 2011 as “an incitement to riot.”
In a September 1, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell commented on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s reaction to the foreign policy of President Barack Obama by writing, “She had to smile a forced smile and pretend there was nothing amiss. That's not a role that comes naturally to a miss like Hillary. Correction: A Ms.”
In 2011, Blackwell appeared “Online with Terry Jeffrey.” Of President Barack Obama, he said, “I think the President is one who believes in collectivism. I think his preferred path is European-style socialism.” He also said, “The foundation [of the United States government] started with Moses receiving the Decalogue.” Blackwell added, “Tell me, in all of human history, tell me of any authoritarian government or regime, totalitarian government or regime, big welfare state government or regime, that hasn’t run God and faith out of the public square and hasn’t destroyed the family. When you destroy the family and when you and silence the church you create a void that is filled by the authority and totalitarianism of Big Government.” Speaking on his opposition to gay marriage, Blackwell said, “It goes back to one, not only our moral and biblical foundation of this country, it goes back to common sense economics and sociology. What we know, whether it was Patrick Daniel Moynihan or modern day economists like Walter Williams, the fact of the matter is that when you have strong families and you have role models of men and women in that marriage for young children [then] young children do better educationally, they do better economically, as does the family.” When asked whether it is wrong for married same-sex couples to have children, Blackwell said, “I think so. Do I think that having children experience the well-being and love of an adult community is better than having kids abandoned? Yeah. But I don’t think that should be mistaken for what is, one, the preferred, and two, the Biblically-sanctioned family. [Pope John Paul II] understood that equating any other coupling [other than man and woman] was wrong, and counterproductive, and ultimately destructive of a culture and a society. Even the Ancient Greeks, where they celebrated homosexuality, were not so stupid as to attack the bedrock of culture: the union between one man and one woman in holy matrimony.”
Blackwell authored an August 19, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, criticizing President Barack Obama’s role in the death of Osama bin Laden. He wrote that what was missing from the raid (ordered by President Obama) was “presidential leadership.” Blackwell further opined that, “The real reason why President Obama has hurriedly put the bin Laden raid behind him is the same reason why George McGovern could not point to his wonderful combat record, or even let others point to it: The Democratic Party houses a large and influential pacifist element.”
In an August 7, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post entitled “Not Just Whistlin’ Dixie!” Blackwell wrote, “I'm especially proud of my home state of Ohio. In 2004, Buckeye voters approved a state constitutional amendment protecting [heterosexual] marriage by a thumping 62%. As the Ohio secretary of state at that time, I had to fend off attempts by liberals to throw the measure off the ballot … There is one region of the country where marriage is even more strongly supported: the South. In the ten states of the Old Confederacy where Americans have voted thus far, [heterosexual] marriage initiatives have averaged a stunning 71.44% support. North Carolina has just advanced a marriage initiative. If we are successful there, Tarheel voters will give new meaning to the Solid South.” The “Solid South” is a term for the southern states that voted as a bloc to preserve segregation.
Blackwell believes that the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review process, which produces reports assessing human rights conditions in all member countries, is being used by European countries to diminish United States sovereignty in the Western Hemisphere by imposing human rights conditions on Latin American countries. In an August 6, 20011 op-ed for the Daily Caller, Blackwell said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “has done nothing to uphold the Monroe Doctrine and nothing to defend our Latin American allies from this new form of European imperialism … Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are on the side of the European imperialists.”
On August 2, 2011, Blackwell commented on the resolution of the debt ceiling crisis, writing, “The only thing being terrorized by tea partiers is the tyranny of the status quo.”
On July 12, 2023 Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted requested $332,000 in taxpayer money to pay for attorney’s fees for plaintiffs who sued then-Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell over his conduct during the 2004 presidential elections. The plaintiffs, who alleged that Blackwell violated the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, settled the lawsuit with the state in 2009.
In a July 1, 2023 op-ed for The Daily Caller entitled, “Blacks Don’t Need Same-Sex Marriage,” Blackwell wrote, “The first same-sex unions anywhere on earth appeared less than a decade ago … The ideal remains. Two parents—one man and one woman—raising their children in a loving and supportive marriage gives children the best chance to become happy and successful.”
In a June 12, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell claimed—without any evidence—that “San Francisco gay activists” were behind a local ballot initiative to ban infant circumcision.
In an April 12, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell claimed that President Obama was involved in orchestrating the populist uprising in Egypt, writing, “What was the point of going to a nest of Muslim Brotherhood activity to deliver that 2009 Obama address if not to puff up their stature and their influence? Osama bin Laden tells us that Arabs like to go with ‘the strong horse.’ Did Mr. Obama saddle up Mubarak or the Muslim Muslim [sic] Brotherhood as the strong horse with that Cairo speech?”
In April 2011, Blackwell expressed support for a piece of Ohio legislation that would have banned abortion—for any reason—as early as 18 days after conception. Ohio Right to Life, the state’s leading anti-abortion group, opposed the bill in the face of criticism that the legislation was clearly unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade.
In a March 23, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell, upset that a book about the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan focused too little on Reagan’s policies as president, wrote, “Just imagine if Hinckley had so grievously wounded Jimmy Carter. Can anyone believe that that would have made 18% mortgage rates go away, forget ‘America held hostage’ in Iran, chill out while lining up for gasoline, or learn to enjoy the era of limits and malaise?” The book in question, “Rawhide Down,” was critically acclaimed and well received by reviewers with diverse viewpoints, including Bill O’Reilly and Bob Woodward.
After President Obama said that Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was “on the wrong side of history,” Blackwell wrote a March 17, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post asking, “Where does that ‘wrong side of history’ idea come from? President Obama was at pains to tell the National Prayer Breakfast of his conversion experience. He certainly sounded sincere. But ‘The Wrong Side of History’ trope is drawn from Karl Marx. It presumes that there is a dialectic—a great impersonal, inevitable force moving through time and space. It presumes that history is going one way. Thus, to Marxists, you can be ‘on the wrong side of history.’”
In a March 10, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell expressed his belief that democracy would never be established in the Middle East because “democracy requires not only religious liberty, but representative institutions, a vibrant civil society, respect for property rights, the rule of law, and a free and open press. The Middle East has no history of these building blocks of democracy. There are other cultural practices that bode ill for democracy.” Blackwell also claimed that “84% of Egyptians say anyone who departs from Islam should be killed … And there is a real danger they will come under the sway of the Muslim Brotherhood.” He concluded by describing Middle Easterners thusly: “Edmund Burke said it well: ‘Men of intemperate minds cannot be free; their passions forge their fetters.’ There's a reason no state in the Middle East—except Israel—has been free thus far.”
In an interview with the radio program “NRA News” on February 11, 2011, Blackwell remarked, “We have to be thankful as a people to our internal alarm clock that has gone off in the form of the Tea Party, in the form of those who love our Constitution, and the brakes that it puts on the big and long reach of government.”
Blackwell tweeted “I am disappointed with ACU's decision to team up with GOProud” and re-tweeted “homosexuality is not conservative” in response to news that the American Conservative Union (ACU) would allow the GOProud organization to participate in the 2011 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
In a January 19, 2024 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell claimed that the U.N. Population Fund “aids and abets China's government as it brutally enforces its one-child policy.” Claims that the Population Fund encourages women to have abortions have been thoroughly debunked.
In a January 11, 2024 op-ed for the Patriot Post entitled “The Constitution Did Not Condone Slavery,” Blackwell claimed, “There was no mention of slavery in the Constitution. The framers were unwilling to admit in the federal charter there could be property in men.” To the contrary, the Constitution contained the three-fifths compromise that counted slaves as three-fifths of a person for representation and tax purposes. Additionally, Article 1, Section 9 and Article 5 allowed the continued importation of slaves and prohibited the Congress from banning slavery until twenty years after ratification of the Constitution. Finally, Article 4, Section 2 prohibited citizens from providing assistance to escaped slaves (before being superseded by the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery).
After actor Liam Neeson said that the Aslan lion character from the “Chronicles of Narnia” series could serve as an allegory for both Jesus Christ and other religious figures, Blackwell wrote a December 21, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post entitled “A Fatwa on Liam Neeson?” In it, he suggested: “Liam Neeson is certainly not stupid. He is, unfortunately, a dhimmicrat. A dhimmicrat is one who uses his social, cultural, or political position to smooth the path of sharia, the law they have in Saudi Arabia … Liam Neeson's fawning attempts may prove dangerous. He did, after all, publicly compare Mohammed to an animal. No matter that it's an allegory. It can still be taken up by Muslim rioters as ‘blasphemy.’”
In a December 17, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell urged the Senate to not ratify the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia, because “President Obama has never disavowed his socialist convictions. Even the Washington Post refers to him as a socialist. Isn't it time we had a full airing of all of this before we ratify a treaty with the rulers of the Kremlin?”
In a November 2, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell—who does not believe in man-made climate change—claimed that “Cap and Trade” legislation would “nationalize all American enterprise.” “It would have the federal government control all decisions about what to produce, where to produce it, when to produce, where to market it, and how,” Blackwell wrote.
In an October 22, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote, “Today, tragically, nearly 40% of our children are born out-of-wedlock. And big government consumes nearly 40% of our Gross Domestic Product. I don't believe the 40/40 link is imaginary? [sic]”
Commenting on a controversy surrounding the proposed construction of a Muslim community center near Ground Zero, Blackwell wrote an October 20, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post asserting: “Imam Rauf has been seeking funding for this mosque throughout the Middle East. He's in league with some of the most repressive and brutal regimes on earth. It makes no sense to fight a war on terrorism abroad while allowing Islamists to do a victory dance at Ground Zero. Just because Imam Rauf is soft-spoken doesn't mean he’s ‘moderate.’ What he says in his soft-spoken voice is that the U.S. had it coming.” What Rauf actually said was the following: “There's going to be a dedicated prayer space for Muslim, which we do need. And we want to have prayer space for Christians and for Jews. As I said, we have to build on our common platform.” Rauf also indicated that the project will disclose all donors and reject any money offered by organizations that advocate violence.
Commenting on his support of Delaware Republican candidate for Senate Christine O’Donnell in a September 16, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote, “It should not go without mention that [Republican candidate Mike] Castle was the co-author of the Castle-DeGette bill. Under this measure, Americans would be taxed to create embryonic human beings. Taxpayers would then have to fund experiments upon those embryonic human beings, including cloning humans. Finally, the taxpayers would have to pay for the killing of these cloned humans and other embryonic human lives. This is a nightmare scenario for pro-life Americans.”
In an op-ed for the Patriot Post entitled “Obama’s Mosque at Ground Zero” published on August 20, 2010, Blackwell wrote, “Only their [Muslim] beliefs are respected by President Obama … To allow a mosque within spitting distance of Ground Zero is to allow a triumphal arch for our jihadist enemies. It will be a recruiting poster for jihadists worldwide…Do we want sharia law here? That’s the law they have in Saudi Arabia. [Community center proponent] Imam Rauf is all out for sharia. If he succeeds in his life quest, Americans will lose every liberty—starting with our religious liberty.” Rauf actually has said the following about the center: “
In a July 28, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell claimed that the Obama administration promotes abortion in Third
World countries because the administration “wants fewer of them.”
Commenting on the abortion and LGBT rights debate in America in a July 7, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell complained, “Let Chastity Bono, the daughter of Sonny and Cher Bono, go through surgery and hormone treatments and is there a liberal publication on the planet that will not call this person Chaz and refer to this person as a man?”
In a May 31, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote, “What’s a dhimmicrat, you say? It’s not the same thing as a democrat. A dhimmicrat is a person who, while not Muslim himself, nonetheless clears the path for shariah law to be adopted and incorporated into otherwise free nations …. Eric Holder is a leading dhimmicrat in government today.”
In an April 27, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote, “When Mr. Obama bowed low before Emperor Akihito, it was a tacit apology for [the use of nuclear weapons against Japan during World War II].”
Commenting on his belief that the United States promotes abortion in Kenya in an April 16, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post,
Blackwell flirted with “Birther” rhetoric by writing, “The Obama administration doesn't want to raise any questions about why it's pushing for fewer birth certificates in Kenya.”
In a March 24, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell called President Barack Obama, “The Abortion President.”
Commenting on the administration of President Barack Obama in a March 19, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote, “What about jobs? Don’t hold your breath. No, wait, do hold your breath. That’s because Obama’s EPA just issued an ‘endangerment’ finding on carbon dioxide. So, when we exhale, we are polluting. Or so the Obama administration says.”
In a March 9, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell suggested that remarks by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could incite a second Falklands War. Blackwell was incensed that Secretary Clinton referred to the Falkland Islands by their Spanish name. “But
now, we face another possible crisis over the Falklands. And all because of Hillary Clinton’s clumsy attempt at “even-handedness”—which is in fact ham-handedness,” wrote Blackwell. “Think we’re having trouble with Latin Americans now? Try to imagine U.S. Naval vessels called in at the last minute to block an Argentine invasion of the Falklands.”
In a February 26, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell claimed “If it is passed, ObamaCare will greatly increase abortions in this country by making them free.” In reality, in conjunction with the health care reform bill, President Obama issued an Executive Order preserving the restriction on the use of federal government funds to pay for abortions.
In a February 23, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell claimed that homosexuals “created” the AIDs epidemic and worried “Do the American people want to bring this health crisis into the ranks of our volunteer military?” Regarding the potential repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy, Blackwell wondered, “What would the gay quota be? Would it be the widely discredited 10% figure that gay activists like Obama’s Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings always cite? Or would it be the more realistic ‘less than 3% figure?’”
In a February 8, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell expressed outrage about the order in which President Barack Obama listed religions in his Inaugural Address, writing, “When President Obama took the oath of office last year, he made a stunning rhetorical shift in his Inaugural Address. He described America as a nation of ‘Christians and Muslims, Jews, Hindus and nonbelievers.’ Where did that come from? This was the first time in U.S. history that the Jews had been so displaced.”
In a January 19, 2024 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell suggested that TWA Flight 800, which crashed in 1996 killing all 230 persons aboard, was downed by a terrorist attack. A FBI investigation revealed no evidence of terrorist involvement.
In a January 7, 2024 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote, “In the 1960s, many developing nation’s had nearly wiped out malaria, but it came back after DDT was banned. It did not matter that DDT was harmless to humans—and actually saved lives—the Left attacked it, ultimately causing 50 million preventable deaths.” Medical research has linked human exposure to DDT to diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and reproductive problems, including miscarriages, developmental disabilities, and premature births. DDT is also a “probable human carcinogen,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In 2010, Blackwell, along with Family Research Council colleague Ken Klukowski, published “The Blueprint: Obama’s Plan to Subvert the Constitution and Build an Imperial Presidency.” According to the authors, President Obama’s goal is to “transform the United States of America into a militant, secular welfare state dominated by an overbearing central government” by using tactics “such as changing voting laws, politicizing the census, coercing corporations into adopting its policies, planning to destroy talk radio, and seeking to make millions of illegal aliens into voting citizens.” They also claimed that Obama “shut down media outlets that expose the truth, and co-opt[ed] the rest of the media to parrot his daily messages.” On the subject of race, the book had this to say: “For affirmative action, the victims are blacks or Hispanics. (We can’t say all minorities, because the tremendous overall success of Asians and Indians proves that there’s no systemic racism that keeps all minorities down.)…Whoever you are and whatever you do, if you are not a wealthy white male with a great education and a great career, a stable family, and in fine health, then Barack Obama says you are a victim of something and will tell you who to blame.”
The Family Research Council (FRC), where Blackwell works as a Senior Fellow, has made a number of controversial statements about homosexuality, leading it to be designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
After the District of Columbia legalized same-sex marriage, Blackwell wrote a December 21, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post suggesting that the new law would allow polygamy and incest. “Remember, we’ve all been schooled in that LGBT formulation. That means Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered. The advocates of counterfeiting marriage cannot leave out their B and T. So, what will that mean? How can they deny ‘marriage equality’ to a bisexual person who wants to marry two significant others? Or what about a person who has attempted through surgery and drugs to change his sex? Should such a person, if married, be denied the right to marry another person? If love and commitment make a marriage, why cannot brothers and sisters marry? Or fathers and daughters? What the District Council has done is to open the door to polygamy, to incest.”
In a December 19, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote, “When someone repeated to [author Malcolm] Muggeridge [economist John Maynard] Keynes’s famous dictum—in the long run we’re all dead—Muggeridge shot back, ‘Well, he would think that wouldn’t he? He was a predatory homosexual.’ That line was considered below the belt. But there is more than an element of truth in it.”
In a December 16, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell worried that the recent Copenhagen climate change summit was a step towards the “implementation of Chinese-style population control” around the world. “China has for more than thirty years been engaged in a ruthless campaign of forced abortions. Beijing’s one-child policy, were it to be enforced world wide, would lead not only to totalitarianism and massive human rights violations, it would lead to infanticide, as well … Could Americans ever be forced under such an inhuman regime? Is this what Global Warming alarmism leads to? … There is one thing we could do that would make a small contribution to lowering temperatures: We could bury, not burn, the bodies of unborn children who have been aborted under Mr. Obama’s health care takeover. Currently, the practice is to incinerate the hundreds of thousands of bodies cruelly of those denied the right to life,” wrote Blackwell.
Comparing the Department of Justice’s decision to prosecute 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a civilian court to the role of then-Attorney General Janet Reno during the Waco siege, Blackwell wrote a December 5, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, stating, “Attorney General Janet Reno thought she might have to prove her toughness by transferring dozens of women and children from a Waco cult headquarters to eternity. Really bad idea.” Blackwell also wrote, “Eric Holder’s decision to try the terrorists in Manhattan may not be simply the worst decision of this administration, it bids fair to stand with Dred Scott and Roe v. Wade as being among the three worst decisions in American history.”
In a December 4, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote, “In turn, [former Kansas Governor] Sebelius vetoed bills that might have put a crimp in [George] Tiller’s sales. While we denounce Tiller’s murder and his murderer, it’s interesting that liberals have not really been able to make Tiller a martyr. He didn’t donate those abortions.”
Blackwell compared the presidency of Jimmy Carter to the slave trade in a November 25, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, writing, “More Africans lost their freedom during Jimmy Carter’s four years than at any other time in history.”
In a November 20, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell claimed “more than 90 percent” of Democrats “never go to church.”
Blackwell called President Barack Obama “the world’s Number One enabler of China’s forced abortion policy” in a November 14, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post.
In a October 30, 2023 opinion piece, Blackwell attacked the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex and national origin, by writing, “Would you rather not have a receptionist or customer service representative of your company who has tattooed his or her face with fierce Maori markings? You could be forced by the EEOC [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] to make that hire.” Blackwell also worried about the EEOC’s effect on “employers who would prefer not to hire or promote employees who dress as members of the opposite sex.
In an October 22, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, Blackwell wrote, “I was elected statewide as secretary of state. Believe me, I know the corrupt influence labor-backed groups are on the ballot box.”
Expressing his belief that homosexuality is a choice at the 2009 Republican National Convention, Blackwell said, “I've never had to make the choice because I've never had the urge to be other than a heterosexual, but if in fact I had the urge to be something else, I could have in fact suppressed that urge.” Blackwell further stated that the only two sexual orientations are “male” and “female.”
In a May 27, 2023 op-ed for Townhall, Blackwell wrote about the decision of the Philadelphia City Council to increase the Boy Scouts of America’s lease of a city owned building from $1 per year to $200,000 per year because of their discriminatory policy barring homosexual members. Blackwell stated, “Ever since 1910, Scouting has taught that part of being a committed Scout is a traditional understanding of sexuality. Though Scouting respects adherents of various faiths, it has always had a Bible-based morality as the foundation of its values. The Boy Scouts of America believes expressed homosexuality is inconsistent with its credo. They believe their ‘duty to God’ and promise to be ‘reverent’ requires fidelity to that traditional faith. As a result, the Scouts do not allow openly homosexual individuals in their adult leadership ranks. But the Philadelphia City Council has bought into a radical homosexual agenda lock, stock, and barrel. Not only does the Council provide full recognition of special homosexual rights, they also will obviously attack any organization that does not adopt its newfound agenda. The Council is utterly intolerant of any person or organization that does not embrace its new ‘tolerance,’ and is seeking to drive the Scouts from the city. One consequence of democracy is if elected leaders, in a city, state, or nation, choose to embody a radical agenda and attack traditional values, they can usually get away with it. There is nothing to stop government from enacting wrong policy.” Philadelphia officials explained that city law does not permit government subsidies of groups that discriminate.
While serving as Ohio Secretary of State, a state audit revealed that Blackwell illegally paid out over $80,000 in bonuses to staff in December 2006 just before the switch from a Republican to a Democratic administration.
During the 2006 Ohio gubernatorial election, Blackwell was accused by his Democratic opponent, Ted Strickland, of using innuendo to imply that Strickland had a homosexual relationship with a former aide. During a debate, Blackwell also made the shocking accusation that Strickland was associated with the pro-pedophile North American Man Boy Love Association (NAMBLA). Strickland defeated Blackwell by a large margin.
Blackwell compared homosexuality to arson and kleptomania in 2006, describing homosexuality as “a transgression against God’s law.”
In 2006, Blackwell said that he favors legislation that would outlaw abortion in the case of rape, incest, and even to save the life of the mother.
On two separate occasions, Blackwell was blamed for the release of the social security numbers of millions of Ohio residents. In 2006, while serving as Ohio’s Secretary of State, Blackwell’s office sent CDs to 20 political parties that contained records of 7.7 million registered voters in Ohio. This followed an earlier incident in which a lawsuit was filed against Blackwell for publishing the social security numbers of thousands of Ohio residents on state websites.
In 2006, Blackwell co-wrote a book with Jerome Corsi, who is well known for his role in the “Swift Boat” campaign against Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and the “Birther” accusations against President Barack Obama. Blackwell and Corsi’s book called for eliminating all federal welfare benefits.
While overseeing the 2004 presidential election in Ohio, Blackwell was accused by the Democratic Party and others of implementing policies that disenfranchised minority and young voters. Numerous lawsuits were filed against Blackwell, who was at the time an Honorary Co-Chair of President George W. Bush’s Ohio campaign. One lawsuit filed by the Ohio Democratic Party alleged that Blackwell’s policies violated the Help America Vote Act, passed in the wake of the 2000 presidential election fiasco.
In October 2004, prior to the presidential elections, Ohio Secretary of State Blackwell sent a letter to conservatives to encourage them to vote on a gay marriage ballot issue. Democrats contended that it was inappropriate for the person in charge of overseeing the election to rally voters to vote a specific cause. Marion County Prosecuting Attorney Jim Slagle compared Blackwell’s conduct to “allowing the manager of the New York Yankees to also serve as the chief umpire in the World Series.”
Blackwell owned shares of Diebold, a voting machine manufacturer, while he was responsible for overseeing the 2004 presidential election in Ohio as Secretary of State. While Secretary of State, Blackwell also directed Ohio to purchase Diebold voting machines. Walden O’Dell, chief executive of Diebold and a fundraiser for George W. Bush, famously sent a letter to Ohio Republicans stating that he was “committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president [George W. Bush in 2004].”
Blackwell received the John M. Ashbrook Award at the CPAC convention in 2004. The award is named after one of the founders of the ACU who served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 21 years as a Republican from Ohio.
Blackwell called himself “the lead spokesman” for a 2004 ballot measure that sought to ban gay marriage in Ohio.
In 1980, Blackwell wrestled a soda-drinking bear named Victor as part of a charity event during his tenure as mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio. The bear broke Blackwell’s finger. By 2006, Bear wrestling had been banned in 20 states. The practice is accused of being cruel because of the harsh physical and psychological training the bear receives.
In a September 21, 2023 interview with the Christian Post, Blackwell spoke about the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act, which was approved by the House of Representatives on September 19, 2013. The bill proposed to cut $39 billion over ten years from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), more commonly known as food stamps. Blackwell stated, “I think through empowering others and creating self-sufficiency…there within lies the path to sense of worthiness. When I was growing up, there was fundamental belief, that there were times in people's life when they needed a hand up…there were temporariness to those programs, where they were structured so that they didn't breed so that they didn't breed dependency.” Blackwell also stated that there is “nothing more Christian” than “not locking people into a permanent dependency on government handouts, but making sure they are participants in their own upliftment and empowerment so that they in fact through the dignity of work and can break from the plantation of big government."
Matt Blunt (Board Member)
In 2003, Gregg Hartley stepped down as Chief of Staff for then-U.S. Representative Roy Blunt (R-MO) and began working as a lobbyist for Cassidy & Associates, where he lobbies his former boss and other Republican legislators. In 2006, Cassidy & Associates was hired by the Missouri Association of Realtors to lobby then-Missouri Governor Matt Blunt to oppose a veto recommendation of the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission for a piece of realty legislation. The Department of Justice’s antitrust division and Federal Trade Commission warned that the legislation in question would raise costs for individuals buying homes. Blunt did not follow the recommendation and signed the bill—which benefitted realtors—into law. Cassidy & Associates and their clients then made thousands of dollars in political donations to Matt Blunt. Matt Blunt joined Cassidy & Associates as a senior consultant in February 2009, less than one month after his last day as governor of Missouri.
In September 2007, controversy arose when the Blunt administration refused to release emails between Blunt’s chief of staff and anti-abortion groups. The emails, obtained from an outside source, indicated that the Blunt administration was encouraging anti-abortion groups to make political attacks against Blunt’s political opponents. Scott Eckersley, an attorney in the Blunt administration, was fired and claimed it was because he pointed out that the failure to release the emails could violate Missouri’s Sunshine law. Missouri later settled Eckersley’s wrongful termination and defamation lawsuit for $500,000. The Blunt administration falsely told media that Eckersley visited a “group sex Internet site” while on the job.
In August 2007, then-Governor Blunt issued a directive compelling members of state law enforcement to verify the immigration status of anyone they arrested. Immigration statuses were even checked for minor traffic violations. Jorge Riopedre, secretary of the St. Louis-area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, called the plan, “an open door to racial profiling.” Blunt claimed that the Missouri State Highway Patrol would only check the status of individuals incarcerated by the police, but in at least one instance patrol officers checked the immigration status of a number of workers on a construction project on the basis of a tip from an unidentified local legislator. A representative for the construction company said that he was “puzzled” by the investigation because the site was routinely inspected by federal officials and the project itself did not receive state money.
In May 2007, Missouri Governor Blunt signed into law state legislation prohibiting the seizure of firearms during a state of emergency at that year’s annual National Rifle Association convention. He stated his belief that, “The Constitution and Bill of Rights were designed to protect our freedom from an overreaching and intrusive government. They refuse to acknowledge that the Second Amendment creates a personal right to bear arms … We cannot always rely on unelected judges to uphold our constitutional rights so here in Missouri we are pushing legislative initiatives that will protect individual rights from an overreaching government.”
John Bolton (Chairman of International Affairs Subcommittee)
On April 13, 2012, in a speech at the NRA Convention in St. Louis, Bolton stated, “You’ll remember, Jimmy Carter told us that we were suffering—we the American people—were suffering from a malaise. It turned out the only malaise we were suffering from was Jimmy Carter. And Ronald Reagan took care of that. I think we’re gonna take care of another malaise this November.” Bolton then compared President Barack Obama’s foreign policy to that of Ronald Reagan, stating, “Ronald Reagan was proud to be an American. How ‘bout that in a president for a change? We’ve got instead today, we’ve got our first post-American president in Barack Obama. He’s above all that patriotism stuff. He doesn’t believe in American exceptionalism. He says he does, but he doesn’t … Ronald Reagan believed deeply in American sovereignty. In his administration, U.S. foreign policy was not made at the United Nations. That’s not the approach of President Obama or today’s left in America. They’re constantly talking about giving up our sovereignty ... They do it almost expressly to undercut our Constitution … You know as well as I do, that once Obama is reelected, if that happens, and never has to face the voters again, it’s gonna be Katie-bar-the-door on his efforts to undermine our sovereignty and key constitutional freedoms.” Finally, Bolton expressed concerns about U.S. missile defense, stating, “The problem with Obama is that he sees American strength as provocative. When in fact it’s the exact opposite. It’s American weakness that’s provocative. And we have an American president who specializes in it.”
In September 2011, National Rifle Association President David Keene announced the creation of an International Affairs Subcommittee under the NRA’s Legislative Policy Committee and appointed Bolton as chairman. Explaining why he picked Bolton to lead the committee, Keene said, “He may not be in the State Department anymore, but he’s as dedicated to preserving the Second Amendment as any NRA member and will be advising us on strategy as we confront our opponents in this newly dangerous forum.” The forum Keene was referring to is the United Nations. Keene has theorized that a small arms treaty being considered by the UN is designed to “destroy private gun ownership” in the United States. Bolton himself has suggested that the Obama administration is seeking to “use an international agreement as an excuse to get domestically what they couldn’t otherwise.”
During a speech at the 2011 annual National Rifle Association convention, Bolton said that President Barack Obama has “disdain for the American people.” He also said that the President is “using [the drug war] in Mexico, and the use of drugs in our own country, not to combat the illicit narcotic, but to use it as a foundation to argue for stricter gun controls at the federal level.”
In January 2011, Bolton called for the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) to be removed from the Department of State’s list of Foreign Terror Organizations at a conference hosted by MEK in Brussels, Belgium. According to the Department of State, “During the 1970s the MEK staged terrorist attacks inside Iran and killed several US military personnel and civilians working on defense projects in Tehran. Supported the takeover in 1979 of the US Embassy in Tehran. In April 1992 conducted attacks on Iranian embassies in 13 different countries, demonstrating the group's ability to mount large-scale operations overseas.” MEK has also been accused of committing atrocities against Iraqi and Kurdish civilians while the group was allied with Saddam Hussein, and some Iranians refer to the organization’s leader, Masoud Rajavi, as “the Pol Pot of Iran.” When MEK attempted to ally itself with the populist 2009 Green Movement to remove Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from office, Green Movement leadership rejected their overture, writing, “Countless first-rate analysts, scholars and human rights organizations—including Human Rights Watch—have determined that the MEK is an undemocratic, cultlike organization whose modus operandi vitiates its claim to be a vehicle for democratic change.” The Department of Justice has argued that challenging an organization’s designation as a terrorist group amounts to criminal material support of terrorism under the Supreme Court decision Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project.
When asked what he would have done differently as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Bolton said, “We don't know if, logistically, it would have been possible to do anything differently at the time.” Then-Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) called Bolton’s answer, “amazingly passive.”
During 2005 confirmation hearings regarding Bolton’s nomination for United States Ambassador to the United Nations by President George W. Bush, Members of Congress alleged that Bolton had distorted intelligence for political purposes a number of times while serving as Undersecretary of State from 2001-2005. In once instance, Bolton was accused of exaggerating Cuba’s weapons capability while trying to terminate the position of an intelligence officer who corrected Bolton’s misstatements. Government officials told TIME that Bolton frequently pressured the CIA to produce reports confirming his own views. One CIA official stated, “Whenever his staff sent testimony, speeches over for clearance, often it was full of stuff which was not based on anything we could find.” This type of behavior led then-Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) to call Bolton “the poster child of what someone in the diplomatic corps should not be.” Fifty-nine former American diplomats (who served in both Republican and Democratic administrations) sent a letter to U.S. Senators opposing Bolton’s nomination. Senate Democrats filibustered the nomination and Bolton ended up receiving a recess appointment to the position by President Bush.
A line in President George W. Bush’s 2002 State of the Union address that made the case for war against Iraq pointed to a supposed attempt by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to acquire nuclear material from Nigeria. This now-discredited intelligence was promoted by Bolton in his position as Undersecretary of State. Days before Bush’s speech, the Department of State branded the intelligence (which had also been rejected by the CIA) as “dubious.” While Saddam Hussein’s alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction was a key justification for the War in Iraq, no such weapons were ever found.
In 1994, foreign aid worker Melody Townsel accused Bolton of waging an intimidation campaign against her after she wrote a letter complaining about the amount of funding her employer, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), received from a USAID private contractor that employed Bolton as a lawyer. According to Townsel, “Within hours after dispatching that letter my hell began. Mr. Bolton proceeded to chase me through the halls of a Russian hotel—throwing things at me, shoving threatening letters under my door and generally behaving like a madman ... Mr. Bolton then routinely visited [my hotel] to pound on the door and shout threats … John Bolton put me through hell—and he did everything he could to intimidate, malign and threaten not just me, but anybody unwilling to go along with his version of events. His behavior back in 1994 wasn't just unforgivable, it was pathological,” she said. Townsel also said that Bolton falsely told her employer that she was being investigated for misuse of funds, made comments about her weight, and spread rumors that she was gay.
In 1988, then-Congresswoman Pat Schroeder (D-CO) said, “Mr. Bolton's approach to maternity leave is: get pregnant, get interrogated, get fired,” after an incident in which Bolton denied a subordinate at the Department of Justice extended doctor-recommended leave after a difficult pregnancy. Bolton also threatened the woman with dismissal and legal action.
Lynne Finney, a former legal adviser to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), alleged that in 1982 or 1983, fellow USAID employee Bolton screamed that she was fired after she refused to lobby to loosen restrictions on the sale of baby formula in Third World countries. Finney refused, citing studies that demonstrated that formula was killing babies in Africa because it was often mixed with unclean water. Bolton reportedly told Finney “that Nestlé [a maker of formula] was an important company and that [Bolton] was giving [Finney] a direct order from President [Ronald] Reagan.” Finney discovered that Bolton did not have the authority to fire her, but blamed him for her reassignment to a basement office.
Rep. Dan Boren (Board Member)
On October 13, 1011, Boren voted in favor of H.R. 2250, “The EPA Regulatory Relief Act of 2011.” The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warned that the bill, which proposes to loosen regulations on mercury levels in incinerators, will lead to 20,000 premature deaths due to pollution if enacted.
On October 13, 2011, Boren voted in favor of H.R. 358. The bill—labeled by pro-choice groups as the “Let Women Die Act of 2011”—proposes to effectively prohibit private insurance plans from covering abortion. It would also allow hospitals to deny treatment to women seeking abortions—even in circumstances where an abortion would be necessary to save the life of the mother. U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) slammed the bill, stating, “When the Republicans vote for this bill today, they will be voting to say that women can die on the floor of health care providers ... It's just appalling. I can't even describe to you the logic of what they are doing today.”
In September 2011, Boren voted in favor of H.R. 2401, a bill that sought to strip the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of its ability to regulate air quality in the United States. The Obama Administration threatened to veto the bill, stating that H.R. 2401 would block the implementation of regulations that “would avoid tens of thousands of premature deaths, prevent tens of thousands of heart attacks and thousands of hospital visits for respiratory and cardiovascular disease, and alleviate hundreds of thousands of childhood asthma attacks and other respiratory illnesses.”
In 2011, Boren was a co-sponsor of the controversial No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act in the House of Representatives. Prior to the bill’s introduction, it was already illegal for federal funds to be used for abortion except for in cases of rape and incest where the life of the mother is in danger. The legislation was widely criticized because it sought to further restrict federal funding to cases involving “forcible” rape.
According to DirtySecrets.org, Boren has accepted $836,664 in contributions from polluters during his congressional career and has voted for legislation that could put as many as 187,250 lives at risk. No other legislator is considered by DirtySecrets.org to put more lives at risk through his/her votes on environmental bills than Boren.
Boren voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2009 and was one of only three Democrats to vote to repeal the legislation in 2011. Commenting on the bill, Boren said, “They can break my arms. They can do whatever they want to. They'll never get my vote—ever. They'll have to walk across my dead body if they want my vote on this issue.”
On September 25, 2005, Boren voted in favor of a House bill to amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The legislation sought to prevent the federal government from designating “critical habitat” areas for endangered species. A spokesperson for the Natural Resources Defense Council said of the legislation, “It would be scandalous to pass this bill into law. This legislation would do nothing to protect wildlife and, in fact, would lead to more extinctions. Of the many damaging provisions in this bill, one of the worst would repeal rules that protect endangered species from pesticides like DDT, which nearly killed off the bald eagle years ago. The bill also would fleece U.S. taxpayers by paying wealthy developers to comply with endangered species protections. Under a loose compensation scheme, land developers would be able to name their price for lost profits. In America we don't pay people not to pollute.”
In 2006, Boren appeared on the League of Conservation Voter’s annual “Dirty Dozen” list. The list targeted Boren for voting “against the environment on every key vote.”
Bob Brown (Board Member)
In 2011, Brown supported the campaign of far-right gun lobbyist and Firearms Coalition of Colorado president Steve Schreiner for the National Rifle Association Board of Directors. Schreiner was not endorsed by the NRA’s Nominating Committee. “NRA will not endorse him 'cause they think he's 'too much of a zealot’" Brown told gun rights activist/blogger David Codrea. "My response is that we could use a few more zealots on the BOD [board of directors].”
In 2003, Soldier of Fortune published a two-part article applauding the activities of “Ranch Rescue,” a Texas vigilante border patrol organization. Ranch Rescue leader Jack Foote has referred to Mexicans as “dog turds.” Two members of Ranch Rescue were later arrested for assaulting two individuals they suspected of being illegal immigrants during a vigilante raid.
Soldier of Fortune distributed copies of a newsletter called The Resister during the 1990s. The Resister was published by Steven Barry, then a member of the Army’s Special Forces and leader of the unsanctioned Special Forces Underground organization. The newsletter initially drew inspiration from the controversial siege at Ruby Ridge. The content of the newsletter evidenced a “white Christian militia mentality,” according to Michael Reynolds from the Southern Poverty Law Center, containing racist and anti-Semitic content while also exploring “New World Order” conspiracy theories. When Timothy McVeigh was arrested for the Oklahoma City Bombing, in his possession was a Soldier of Fortune-distributed copy of The Resister.
In September 1996, the U.S. Army initiated an investigation into Steven Barry, who was a member of both the Army’s Special Forces and the unsanctioned Special Forces Underground organization. Concerned that Barry was leaking sensitive information, the Army provided him with false intelligence. That intelligence later appeared in a Soldier of Fortune article written by national affairs editor James Pate. Pate has publicly downplayed his association to Barry in spite of clear evidence to the contrary.
During a 10-year span covering the early 1980s to the early 1990s, “more than a half-dozen” contract murders were linked to Soldier of Fortune:
- In June 1985, Soldier of Fortune ran an ad from Michael Savage that read, “GUN FOR HIRE: 37-year-old professional mercenary desires jobs. Vietnam veteran. Discrete and very private. Body guard, courier, and other special skills. All jobs considered.” After the ad ran, Savage’s phone “rung off the hook” and he was hired to perform a contract killing. A United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit decision upholding a $4.37 million judgment for the victim’s family against Soldier of Fortune magazine stated that the ad, “clearly conveyed that [Savage] was ready, willing and able to use his gun to commit crimes,” and that “[t]he publisher could recognize the offer of criminal activity as readily as its readers obviously did.” The magazine did not accept any responsibility for the murders, claiming, “We're as culpable as any newspaper which accepts an ad from a used-car salesman and doesn't go out to check the condition of his brakes.”
- In November 1985, Sean Doutre bludgeoned Anita Spearman to death while she slept. Doutre had been hired by Michael Savage to perform contract killings. The hit on Spearman was ordered by her husband, who saw Savage’s ad in Soldier of Fortune.
- In 1985, Larry Gray responded to an ad in Soldier of Fortune and hired Michael Wayne Jackson to kill Gray’s ex-wife’s fiancée. The intended victim survived two assassination attempts, including one where a bomb was placed under his car, before Jackson was arrested. Jackson worked with contract killer Michael Savage on the contract after they met through Soldier of Fortune.
- John Hearn ran a 1984 ad in Soldier of Fortune soliciting “High risk assignments. US or overseas.” “If I had never run an ad in Soldier of Fortune I would have never killed anyone,” he later stated. Hearn got so many responses he had to purchase an answering service and estimated that 90% of callers asked him to commit a crime. Of the three to five murder propositions he received each day, one involved a political assassination in Canada. In addition to murdering Sandra Black at the behest of her husband in February 1985, Hearn also committed a double murder in Florida after being paid by another Soldier of Fortune reader.
- Some Soldier of Fortune ads were more explicit than others. One ad that was allowed to run read, “Married man looking for an expert in poisons to kill his wife.”
In 1986, Brown wrote in a Soldier of Fortune op-ed, “For the last decade, I’ve hunted terrorists with the Rhodesian African rifles and fired up a Russian fort in Afghanistan with the mujahideen.” The Rhodesian African rifles were a regiment that fought under the rule of white supremacist Ian Smith in Rhodesia from 1965 to 1979. The Rhodesian Army fought rebel forces that opposed Smith's white minority rule and apartheid policies. The conclusion of the war led to universal suffrage and the eventual creation of Zimbabwe as a country. The mujahideen that Brown fought with opposed the Soviet Union during their war in Afghanistan, which lasted from 1978 to 1989. The mujahideen received significant financial backing from deceased Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who used his family fortune to establish training camps and pay for foreign fighters to travel to Afghanistan.
A Chicago Tribune reporter doing a story on Brown’s involvement in the civil war in El Salvador in March 1984 witnessed Brown become the victim of an accidental shooting when one of Brown’s friends pulled the trigger of a gun he thought was unloaded. The friend shot himself through the hand and the bullet struck Brown in the calf. “You stupid son a bitch, you shot me,” Brown said. “And now I can’t go to El Salvador.”
In September 1984, Brown claimed to have sent over 100 men and $4 million in supplies to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua, who engaged in widespread human rights abuses, including the rape and murder of civilians. Brown justified expending these resources by saying, “Those cretins in Congress won’t do anything about [toppling the ruling, left-wing Sandinista FSLN party in Nicaragua].”
In 1983, Brown accompanied a team of mercenaries to El Salvador. The purpose of the trip was to provide training to the forces of fascist leader Roberto D'Aubuisson. Brown tried to strike a deal with D'Aubuisson where his own mercenaries would replace U.S. Army advisors in El Salvador. The offer was accepted, but never came to fruition. Brown, however, went as far as engaging in combat missions alongside D’Aubuisson’s death squads. These paramilitary units assassinated D’Aubuisson’s political enemies and “talked of the need to kill 200,000 to 300,000 people to restore peace to El Salvador.” Known as “Blowtorch Bob” for his torture techniques, D’Aubuisson’s most high-profile victim was Bishop Óscar Romero, who was assassinated in 1980 after speaking out about human rights abuses in El Salvador.
Brown sold enlistment materials for the Rhodesian National Army through other magazines in order to finance the creation of Soldier of Fortune in 1975. During that time, the Rhodesian National Army fought under the leadership of white supremacist Ian Smith, the Prime Minister of the apartheid regime in Rhodesia from 1964 to 1979. Soldier of Fortune magazine itself prominently featured recruitment material for the Rhodesian National Army during the Rhodesian Bush War, in which Smith's army targeted those who advocated for universal suffrage.
Soldier of Fortune magazine has been used by advertisers to sell Nazi memorabilia.
Pete Brownell (Board Member)
Pete Brownell is the grandson of Brownells founder Bob Brownell and currently serves as the company’s president. Brownells is the world's largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, equipment and accessories. The company is part of the NRA’s corporate giving program and has donated enough money to be included in “The Ring of Freedom,” a designation reserved for NRA’s largest corporate donors. Brownells contributed between $500,000 and $999,999 to the NRA between 2005 and 2010. During his campaign to join the NRA board, Brownell highlighted his company’s close ties with the organization, saying, “Having directors who
intimately understand and work in leadership positions within the firearms industry ensures the NRA's focus is honed on the overall mission of the organization.” Brownell, however, has claimed that he has no financial interest in the positions of the NRA.
At the 2011 NRA annual meeting, Brownell criticized President Obama’s position on gun rights but was unable to indicate anything that Obama has done to make gun laws more rigorous. He also claimed unnamed members of Congress are attempting to ban firearms.
Responding to criticism he has received as an NRA board member, Brownell told the NRA News radio program, “When I stepped up to be a board member I knew that that would put my face and my name out there in front of those people and those entities that are anti-gun and, I would say, anti-American.”
John Burtt (Board Member)
During a 2010 interview with “NRA News”, Burtt described efforts to ban civilian ownership of .50 caliber sniper rifles as the first step toward large-scale gun confiscation in the United States, saying, “What they were going to do was come in the back door to ban the .50 caliber rifle, and then by banning the .50 caliber rifle, they were going to come right back down the firing line and take out the 300 win mag [.300 Winchester Magnum ammunition], the 30 aught 6s [.30-06 Springfield ammunition], the 308s [.308 Winchester ammunition], right down to our handguns.”
Burtt has praised his fellow NRA Board Members by saying, “I am so impressed with the people I meet in that board room, who represent the firearms industry as well as the gun rights industry in America.”
Harlon Carter (Former NRA Executive Vice President)
On March 3, 1931, in Laredo, Texas, Carter, who was 17, shot and killed 15-year-old Ramón Casiano. After returning home from school that day, Carter was told by his mother that there were three Hispanic youths loitering near their family’s property. Carter left his house, shotgun in tow, to confront the alleged loiterers. After finding Casiano and his two companions, Carter pointed his shotgun at them and ordered them to come with him. Casiano refused and pulled out a knife and asked Carter if he would like to fight. Carter then pointed the shotgun at Casiano’s chest. Casiano pushed the gun aside and asked Carter not to shoot while taking a step back. He was then shot and killed. Carter claimed self-defense, but the presiding judge instructed the jury, “There is no evidence that defendant had any lawful authority to require deceased to go to his house for questioning, and if defendant was trying to make deceased go there for that purpose at the time of the killing, he was acting without authority of law, and the law of self-defense does not apply.” Carter was convicted of murder without malice aforethought (a crime similar to second-degree murder) and sentenced to three years in prison. Subsequently, Carter successfully appealed his conviction with the appeals court, holding that the trial court failed “to submit to the jury appropriate instructions upon the law of self-defense.” When the shooting incident was reported in media in 1981, Carter initially denied that he had killed Casiano before falsely claiming that the shooting took place on his property.
In 1975, Carter was asked if he would “rather allow those convicted violent felons, mentally deranged people, violently addicted to narcotics people to have guns, rather than to have the screening process?” An opponent of the 1968 Gun Control Act—which created categories of prohibited firearms purchasers—Carter responded that arming dangerous individuals was “a price we pay for freedom.”
In 1973, federal agents investigated Carter concerning his former employment with the Immigration and Naturalization Service after 40,000 to 50,000 rounds of government ammunition were reported missing. He was called before a grand jury to testify about the matter, but charges were never filed.
Speaking in opposition to legislation that aimed to ban “Saturday Night Specials” and other inexpensively-produced handguns, Carter stated in a 1972 speech before the NRA’s executive committee: “I can produce actual cases that the cheap handgun that snaps in…[a police] officer's face instead of firing has saved many, many lives, and the question arises: What are we trying to do? Upgrade the quality of handguns in the hands of our criminals?” He then promoted the use of miniature Derringer guns by children, arguing, “There was a little boy... and it was real cold and he had his hands in his overcoat. He had one of these little old derringers, and four bushy guys ambled up in an arrogant manner. He stopped them, and three of them were very nice and decent, and one of them said, ‘What would you do if I told you I had a pistol and I was going to kill you?’ And he says, ‘I would kill you, you son-of-a-bunch.’ These little guns have a very noble and a very important place and we should make our position clear.”
Richard Childress (Board Member)
In June 2011, Childress confronted Kyle Busch, a NASCAR driver for a rival racing team, by placing him in a headlock and punching him several times. NASCAR fined Childress $150,000 and put him on probation through the end of the year. Childress accepted the fine without apologizing to Busch.
During multiple hunting trips in Africa, Childress completed the “The Dangerous Seven,” shooting a lion, leopard, cape buffalo, rhinoceros, elephant, crocodile and hippopotamus as trophies. Childress has also participated in polar bear hunting.
Jeff Cooper (Former Board Member)
In Vol. 14, No. 5 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published June-September 2006, Cooper wrote about one of the mostly hotly contested elections in Mexican history, in which Felipe Calderón was elected president. “So the Mexicans have held forth with a hair−splitting national election!” wrote Cooper. “This is an occasion for great excitement. The Mexicans have a tradition of very exciting elections, even when they are one−sided. When they are pretty close calls, such as this last one, the results may be quite rousing. Those of you who can put your hands on a large quantity of 30−30 ammunition ought to be doing very well in weeks to come, if not to say, months to come. The lever−action 30−30 has been the weapon of choice for all parties south of the border, during most of our lifetime. Well I haven't heard the shooting yet, but we can expect it to begin at any time.”
In Vol. 13, No. 11 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in November 2005, Cooper espoused views on modern education, writing, “It seems that the academic world is increasingly dominated by ‘those other people.’ In this case I refer to the custom of replacing BC and AD with BCE and CE. The idea is to get Christianity off center stage… If a historian chooses to redo our traditional terminology, he may quietly step to the rear of the class.”
In Vol. 13, No. 11 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in November 2005, Cooper wrote, “ Christmas, as the name implies, is a Christian celebration. The men who gave us this country were Christians, and they did not celebrate a "winter break." The fact that the traditional date for Christmas happens to coincide with Winter Solstice is a coincidence. But this is a Christian country. People of other faiths may be welcome, but they did not give us our traditional holiday, and it is mildly annoying to hear people suggesting that they did.”
In Vol. 13, No. 10 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in October 2005, Cooper wrote, “Does it not seem that far too much is being made of 'a college education'? Just what is meant by that? A bachelor's degree from a major institution was at one time pretty significant, but now it seems to be solely a matter of money. We find that what used to be certification of a rounded personality is now sort of a remedial trade school. When I was a boy the major universities were distinguishable from the second rate.”
In Vol. 13, No. 7 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in July 2005, Cooper wrote, “So now the Bantu bosses of South Africa have decided to change the name of the traditional capitol, Pretoria. The new word is Tshwane. This seems to us to be a conspicuously lousy idea. Andries Pretorius was one of the outstanding heros of modern time. Changing Pretoria to Tshwane suggests changing the name of Washington, DC to Nat Turner City. South Africa was one of our favorite places prior to the revolution, but time has a way of marching on.” Andries Pretorius, a Boer leader, was a major agent of white conquest in Southern Africa. In 1838, Pretorius defeated 10,000 Zulus at the Battle of Blood River, killing 3,000 Zulus. The Boers then overran the Zulu kingdom.
In Vol. 13, No. 7 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in July 2005, Cooper wrote, “For those who are thinking of equipping your own private army, the Socom 16 appears to be the best thing now available.” The “Socom 16” is a nickname Cooper gave to an automatic rifle produced by Springfield Armory.
In Vol. 13, No. 4 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in April 2005, Cooper wrote, “Whence this sudden anti-Christ! The US is a Christian nation. Followers of other faiths (and atheists excepted) are welcome abroad, but they do not make policy. The moral and religious foundations of this country are absolutely Christian as is easily discernable from the written efforts of our founding fathers. It may be that a general lack of history is destroying our sense of morality, but that need not be happily accepted. The nuclear family with church on Sunday is the groundwork of our social righteousness. Time may change, but that does not mean that we cannot tell right from wrong.”
In Vol. 13, No. 1 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in January 2005, Cooper wrote, “The world scene is not so bright, since the nanny states do not seem to understand that it is the responsibility of the individual to protect himself and his family, in the absence of the state. We remain the last best hope of Earth, which would be a rather bleak prospect if it were not that we are now the one great super power. It is comforting, in a way, to observe the ineptitude of our world enemies. Our optimism is fortified by the understanding that we now alone cultivate the warrior spirit. It is not only permitted, but fashionable, for the individual citizen to possess the means and the skill with which to protect himself, his property, his family, and his political rights. There are cultural losers among us, but as of now they constitute a minority.”
In Vol. 13, No. 7 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in July 2005, Cooper made reference to the war in Iraq, describing it as “this Holy War.” Referring to the religious traditions of Muslims, Cooper said that Americans should “resort to pig−like pollution of these murderers and their survivors” because “tradition has it that the Ay−rab is horrified by anything swine−like.”
In Vol. 12, No. 12 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in November 2004, Cooper wrote about the recent presidential election won by President George W. Bush, stating, “And [close] it was, but not so much as the left−leaning media would have us expect. The important thing is that we did win, and now we have the chance to do something about this evil religious conflict that threatens to engulf the world … We may give thanks as Thanksgiving approaches in the realization that most Americans prefer to face up to a violent challenge rather than to cut and run. Hurray for our side!” Cooper added, “At school long ago I was told of one of the early church fathers, Telemachus by name, who taught that one of the delights of the blessed in heaven would be looking over the ramparts and relishing the torments of the damned below. This struck us as a bit rough for a true Christian, but after our recent election I can see how it might apply to our current domestic scene.” Cooper then turned to the topic of the war in Iraq, stating, “We continue to reflect upon the need to identify our objective in this Holy War. We certainly have the ability to destroy our enemies; but first, of course, we must be able to point out who they are. The fanatics cannot be intimidated, since tactical suicide is in their minds the pathway to paradise. Therefore they must be personally destroyed. The policy was set forth at the notorious Siege of Beziers. 'Omnes moritatem. Deus suos cognoscet.'" Cooper is referring to a quote attributed to the Abbot of Citeaux Arnaud Amalric during the Siege of Béziers: “Kill them all, God will know His own.” Finally, Cooper shared an observation from a Marine, “Consider the following: ‘And I know you don't have much use for female Marines (neither do I, but let's keep that quiet) but there is one out here who is pulling more than her weight and is doing things no one else could do. She is an educated Syrian−born Lance Corporal, an absolutely delightful and fascinating person. Because of her particular abilities, she can go with units on a variety of missions and help calm a situation by speaking to the women and children, which is something no male Marine can do effectively. She has also done yeoman's work as a translator for the interrogators. All of that is even more impressive when you hear what career she walked away from to enlist in the Marine Corps: she was a practicing physician. I wouldn't have believed it unless I saw it myself.’”
In Vol. 12, No. 11 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in October 2004, Cooper wrote about Paul Kirchner’s book, “Dueling With the Sword and Pistol: 400 Years of One-on-One Combat.” “We cannot help feeling that if modern politicians were free to use that course of action our political campaigns would be conducted with more dignity,” Cooper stated. “Candidates should not say things about adversaries when they realize they are going to have to live with their words after the election, no matter how it turns out. A personal duel might handle the situation nicely.”
In Vol. 12, No. 10 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in September 2004, Cooper wrote about a complaint he heard that troops sent to Iraq were “basically unfamiliar with rifle shooting.” He attributed this “to the increasing urbanization of our culture, in which there are large numbers of young men who have never touched a weapon of any kind (possibly excepting a baseball bat) prior to putting on a soldier suit. This may be a reflection of the ‘Nanny state,’ in which a large proportion of young men have no fathers. Even if there is a man around the house, he is usually not a father figure. If he does not know anything about firearms, he is unlikely to have anything useful to hand on to his sons.”
In Vol. 12, No. 9 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in July 2004, Cooper wrote, “It turns out that young Britons are much put out by being yelled at during their training exercises. So they quit ... If these limp−wristed grass eaters object to the rigors of the military regimen, it is good to know that they will not be required to face up to the realities of life in any military campaign.”
In Vol. 12, No. 9 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in July 2004, Cooper wrote, “It seems evident that the basis for civil safety is homogeneity. A culture which is socially uniform is pretty well devoid of informal violence. A melting pot may be a pretty rough place at its inception, but as it becomes a puree, things simmer down. A city inhabited by people of the same outlook, background, marriage, or apparent wealth is a safe city. The sooner that melting pot becomes a puree, the sooner it will dispense with civic strife.”
In Vol. 12, No. 9 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in July 2004, Cooper wrote about an “Arab who signed up for the US military and then proceeded to murder his comrades−in−arms in Iraq.” Cooper was likely referring to a March 2003 incident in which Hasan Karim Akbar, a U.S. soldier and Muslim convert, threw grenades and fired his weapon into tents where his fellow soldiers were sleeping. Cooper wrote, “There are various ways of disposing of a sociopath, but in this case whatever action is taken should be both quick and exemplary. In situations like this it might be nice to have a king in charge.”
In Vol. 12, No. 8 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in June 2004, Cooper wrote, “If you had only one personal firearm, what would it be? Now there is a subject worth discussion far too complicated for a simple answer. If you allow yourself two or three or even four individual instruments, the problem becomes much simpler, but it depends finally upon your lifestyle and your political position. Unfortunately, such matters are usually left up to the whims of unqualified bureaucrats, usually of the socialist persuasion, who regard the individual as a possession of the state, rather than the other way around.”
In Vol. 12, No. 6 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in May 2004, Cooper addressed a protest outside the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting concerning racist comments he had made in the past. He wrote, “One thing that seems to bother [the protesters] excessively is my insistence that assimilation is better than diversification. I am in good company here, taking my clue from our icon, Roosevelt I. Theodore was very positive about his rejection of ‘hyphenated Americans.’ His point was that immigrants are welcome, only as long as they come here to become one hundred percent Americans and not cultural half−breeds. I find the diversified cultures of Europe to be interesting and worthy of study, but this country is not Europe and our ancestors came here specifically to establish that fact.” He also asked, “Is it possible that liberty is too good for the common people? Surely we hope not.” Cooper then urged his readers to “Write to your Commander−in−Chief [Republican George W. Bush]. These are tough times and he needs all the support that he can get. He probably will not read your letter, but notice will be taken of it, and your position will be appreciated.”
In Vol. 12, No. 7 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in May 2004, Cooper wrote, “In my wars we studied the bayonet and trained with it, but I never saw it put into action and I only heard of its being used once. But it should not be forgotten. Our friends the British seem to be its principle exponents today, having used it on one occasion in the Falklands with great success. Now we learn of a recent case in Iraq by the Argyle and Southerland Highlanders, a Scottish regiment of renown. It seems these people were attacked while on the move in three vehicles, but they decided to dismount and go after their assailants with cold steel. The timing here is difficult to assess, but the results are not. It is not clear how many ragheads were involved, but the Scots killed 45 of them and captured nine.” He then added, “Following Memorial Day, we got to thinking about the Jefferson Memorial in Washington. It is of ionic Greek design and circular in plan. Inside the rotunda, inscribed in prominent gold letters, you may read the following inscription: ‘I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.’ So much for political correctness (and so much for Islam).”
In Vol. 12, No. 4 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in April 2004, Cooper wrote, “The trouble with democracy is that 50 percent of the voters are below average.” Turning to the War in Iraq, he added, “Personal observations are always interesting. The subject of girl soldiers keeps coming up, and our observer just back tells us that the enlisted girls are doing very well, but the girl officers are a waste of time … One girl machine−gunner caught the attention of our man because she was conspicuously attractive. She told him that she did not mind the duty, but she could not wait to get home and get feminine again. This is certainly understandable, but we wonder how she got into uniform in the first place. A female machine−gunner is something like a male nurse. The mechanics may be okay, but the attitude is all wrong.”
In Volume 12, No. 5 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries, published in April 2004, Cooper shared the following account: “We learn of a cheerful incident in Bahrain prior to the running of the first Grand Prix motoring event in the Middle East. It appears that a group of Islamic nitwits resented the serving of booze to Westerners at a local restaurant. They burst in waving knives, whereupon one of the Westerners relieved one of the thugs and cut him down with it. The answer to aggression is, as always, counterattack.” He then made a thinly-veiled death threat towards liberal philanthropist George Soros, writing, “The Oath of Office, which those of us who have worn the uniform have taken, calls upon us to defend the Constitution of the US against all enemies, foreign and domestic. The Moslems are foreign, but we have a conspicuous example of the domestic variety in the figure of this George Soros … This man is more of an enemy of the Constitution than anyone outside the borders of this country. We did not know about the Jihad until after they started it, but we now know about Soros, who is a greater threat. We adjure you to read up on the subject and act accordingly.”
In Vol. 12, No. 3 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in March 2004, Cooper wrote, “We note that there are those who object to our referring to Japanese as Nips. However, the Nips have no reticence about referring to me as a gaijin. I do not know why we have all suddenly become almost hysterically touchy.” Turning to the topic of “hyphenated Americans” (an early 20th century slur for Americans of foreign birth or origin), he added, “We were pleased to be singled out by some members of the New York City Council as one of the sort of evil person who sits on the board of directors of the National Rifle Association. I did not know any of those other people were listening, but I certainly enjoy following the lead of Theodore Roosevelt in disdaining hyphenated Americans, and thus preferring assimilation to diversity. I do wish these people would stand up and fight, as I relish this sort of thing, but I cannot swing at a target if I cannot see it.” Addressing the War in Iraq, Cooper wrote, “Shooting Master John Pepper showed us an interesting report from the war zone suggesting that the ragheads are pretty inferior soldiers, being sloppy, lazy and disinclined to run risks. Fifteen hundred years ago the Arabs fought well, but times have changed.”
In Vol. 12, No. 2 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in February 2004, Cooper discussed technological advancements in China and stated, “The Chinese communists seem determined to join the human race.”He also added, “The fact is that some people are better than other people, on any point worth discussing, from shining shoes to making money. Equality is not only impossible, but also undesirable.” Cooper then turned to the topic of vigilantism and Muslims in the United States military, writing, “’If I were ‘king’ I would give serious thought to the institution of exemplary punishment. This goblin who murdered the little girl in Florida should be disposed of publically in some horrifying manner. This would not bring back the child, but it just might give pause to certain kinds of social degenerates. As for capital punishment, it has not been announced what we have done or will do to that Arab soldier who joined the American Army and then took it upon himself to murder his comrades in arms. Is it possible for a devout Moslem to take oath to serve in a non−Moslem army? As I understand it, his first duty must be to Allah, as revealed in some version of the Koran, but not to the United States.” He then addressed the culture of native Africans, writing, “It appears that life insurance is an unpromising enterprise in Bantu Africa. When a friend of ours suggested to his employee that he might take out a policy to provide for his dependents upon his demise, the man pointed out that as soon as such an act had become known he would be poisoned at his next meal. This is called cultural diversification.”
In Vol. 12, No. 1 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in January 2004, Cooper wrote, “If the year 2003 showed us the flowering of the Holy War of Islam upon the West, it also established the United States of America as the world's sole super power, and thus charged us with the responsibility of setting forth on the 21st century with the capacity of altering the world for the better. The Moslems will do their best to frustrate this, and for that we must prepare, but it is a struggle well worth fighting. Christianity is not just one among several equivalent religious faiths, but rather the champion and exemplar of the western way of life. The Moslems would prefer to see us all dead, as far as can be made out from their rather obscure language. So be it. Let us buckle on the sword and prove worthy of the challenge. God's will be done!” He also wrote, “This unisex thing can be pretty silly. At the winter meeting we learned of a case in which a girl insisted upon qualifying for the wrestling team. When a match came up, her prospective male opponent quite properly refused to compete. We may assume that any girl who chose to compete in interscholastic wrestling would not be much of a choice damsel, but this sort of thing may come up again, from time to time, as the feminists flaunt their foolish flag.” Turning to the meaning of the Second Amendment, Cooper stated, “You can only push people around if they submit to being pushed, and this is impossible if they are personally armed. Thus the Second Amendment of the US Constitution has nothing to do with hunting. It has rather to do with the security of a free state against all enemies foreign and domestic.”
In Vol. 11, No. 15 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in December 2003, Cooper wrote, “We find this hand wringing about capital punishment puzzling. If a criminal deserves death, the method of inflicting it hardly seems important, although such horrors as hanging in irons are both extravagant and degrading … I did a certain amount of research work on vigilantism in graduate school, and that sort of informal activism did not produce any obvious distress in either a criminal or the executioner.” He also wrote, “There is talk now in South Africa about changing the name of Pretoria, the capitol, to something more Bantuesque. Hardly a surprise. Andries Pretorius was a mighty hero, and the father of his country−comparable to George Washington. This proposed name change could be something like changing the name of the capitol of the US to ‘Nat Turner.’” Pretorius was a Boer colonist who has been described as one of the “major agents of white conquest in Southern Africa.” Born into slavery, Turner led a slave insurrection in 1831, after which he was captured and hanged.
In Vol. 11, No. 13 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in November 2003, Cooper wrote, “Street crime in Britain has been increasing steadily over the past decade, and much of it has been committed with firearms. Therefore the British seem to think that they have a ‘gun problem.’ Actually these homicides are almost all committed by immigrant gangsters whom [Rudyard] Kipling would term ‘lesser breeds without the law.’ Thus it appears that the British do not have a gun problem, but they do have a race problem.” He also added, “It is very difficult to understand how we can have Moslem chaplains in the US Army. Islam has effectively declared war upon all unbelievers. Even if all Moslems do not commit these religious murders, they do not seem to condemn those who do. Those of us who cannot read Arabic can never be quite sure of the words of the Prophet (may peace be upon him). But as far as the idea comes across in English, the physical destruction of the infidel must be the aim of every devout Moslem. For us to employ a clergyman (?) in our forces to look after the spiritual welfare of people who want us to lose the Holy War is totally paradoxical.”
In Vol. 11, No. 12 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in October 2003, Cooper commented on the Iraq War, writing, “We remember the refrain from the Phillippines: ‘Underneath the starry flag/Civilize him with a Krag [a type of bullet cartridge]/And then get underway for home sweet home.’ But you have to civilize him first, and how you do that with the ragheads is the problem.”
In Vol. 11, No. 11 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in September 2003, Cooper wrote, “Some of our pundits choose to make a political virtue of diversity. The point is not necessarily well taken. The goal of good government is the optimum balance of liberty and order. Social diversity does not pull in that direction. Liberty is what we seek over the centuries, but if we grant it to too diverse a population, order disappears … We have unsegregated schools in which the children segregate themselves by choice. Our military establishment does surprisingly well in this regard, but of course, the military is and must be a tightly disciplined organization. It seems to me that diversity, rather than being a goal to be sought, should be an obstacle to be circumvented.” He also wrote, “Walter Nowotny was a distinguished fighter pilot of World War II, killed in action just before its close. Born and raised in Vienna, Major Nowotny's remains were buried at Vienna's Central Cemetery. Now it appears that there is a movement afoot to disinter Nowotny's remains and toss them on the municipal ash heap—because he fought for the wrong side … I do not think that we can castigate Nowotny for fighting for the Germans when we recall that David was, according to Scripture, a thoroughgoing scoundrel. You do not have to be a nice guy to be a hero—it is not even much of a help—but you cannot dishonor a hero by spurning his mortal remains.” Nowotny was a Nazi pilot credited with 258 aerial victories.
In Vol. 11, No. 10 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in September 2003, Cooper wrote, “Tolerance means that you don't really give a damn.” He also shared this anecdote: “Reports from the front indicate that the Arabs cut down all their power lines in order to steal the copper, and then complain bitterly that power is out.”
In Vol. 11, No. 9 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in August 2003, Cooper wrote, “So what are we going to do with this ragheaded US trooper who took it upon himself to murder his brothers−at−arms? The act of killing the man who fights alongside you is so atrocious as to merit special attention. If our Constitution did not forbid ‘cruel and unusual punishment,’ we would resurrect the exemplary British act of ‘hanging in irons,’ in which the subject is hoisted aloft in a snug−fitting network of iron straps and permitted to perish of thirst or exposure, whatever comes first.” Turning to the topic of slavery, Cooper wrote, “This foolish talk about reparations for slavery would be funny if it were not evidence of disastrous historical ignorance. Slavery is a natural course of human events from as far back as we have any record. If you are not going to kill all the losers on the spot, you put them to work. Somebody has got to chop the wood and draw the water, and that is generally what losers do. If we suggest that somebody today should pay somebody else for something that other people did in times long past, we might suggest that the Romans pay the Algerians, the Aztec pay the Maya, the Arabs pay the Berbers, the English pay the Irish, the Norwegians pay the Russians, the Russians pay the Cossacks, the Mohawks pay the Pequots, and so on and on and on. American Negro chattel slavery, which was just one form of the ‘peculiar institution,’ was abolished a century and a half ago, in case Al Sharpton has not heard. It would not be surprising to learn that some of Al Sharpton's ancestors did a bit of buying and selling on their own.” Then addressing the topic of race relations, Cooper added, “It may be that there is such a thing as racial memory, and it is supported by the undeniable observation that the goblins will get you if you don't watch out.”
In Vol. 11, No. 8 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in July 2003, Cooper wrote, “The second Iraqi war was of just the right size, violently enough to be serious, but not long enough to be tiresome.” Cooper then shared the following quote (which he misattributed to then-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft): “Islam is a religion in which Allah (God) requires you to send your son to die for him. Christianity is a faith in which God sent His Son to die for you.” He also added, “In these days of aggressive feminism, women are often expected to be unprotected by men, and thus should be able to protect themselves.”
In Vol. 11, No. 7 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in June 2003, Cooper wrote, “We can hardly set forth to subdue Islam in a military or geographical sense, but what we can do is to identify Islam as the enemy and to convince them that the East can no more defeat the West than the West can defeat the East. We have here the greatest standoff in history. It is up to us to convince the raghead on the camel that simply killing kafirs, as the prophet (may peace be upon him) exhorts him to do, will not raise his standard of living, even if it may assure his passport to paradise.” He also wrote, “Offering democracy to an Arab is like bringing a horse to a steakhouse.”
In Vol. 11, No. 6 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in May 2003, Cooper wrote, “The poodle shooter [the M-16 or M-4 rifle used by the U.S. military] seems to put the ragheads down in fairly satisfactory fashion, especially since the range in today's wars is short.” He went on to praise the May 1, 2023 speech of Republican President George W. Bush where he declared victory in Iraq by writing, “I think the gesture made by President Bush in landing on the carrier was excellent. George Bush is the most powerful man who ever lived on the face of the Earth, and for him to use our fantastically potent air arm as a vehicle to demonstrate this gives me great pleasure. Also it annoys the ‘hate America’ people excessively, and this is always a good thing.” In the end, U.S. military forces did not withdraw from Iraq until December 2011.
In Vol. 11, No. 5 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in April 2003, Cooper wrote, “The devout Moslem continues to regard us as infidels worthy of perdition, and this is irrespective of his nationality. It is said that only some Moslems feel that way, but we do not see any public apologies on any part of Islam for atrocities committed in its name.”
In Vol. 11, No. 3 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in March 2003, Cooper wrote, “The Moors [Muslims] seem to be ahead in the Holy War at this time, at least they have succeeded in making domestic air travel inconvenient and ridiculous. It might make some sense to regard all Moors at airports with suspicion. At least it would avoid subjecting obviously upperclass ladies to random body search.” Turning to the topic of women in the military, Cooper added, “I cannot accept the idea that the girls really want to be placed in harm's way. I think they want to have it both ways, which has always been difficult. Placing a woman deliberately in harm's way is gross, and cannot be countenanced by ladies or gentlemen.” Commenting on Islam, Cooper then wrote, “I continue to read carefully into Islam, and if what I discover is not ridiculous, that must be because Arabic does not translate well into English.” He added, “This airport security business is unnecessarily obnoxious. All you have to do is profile your passenger, and this does not take a philosopher. These Jihadis look like Jihadis … Profiling may be regarded with horror by some who are preoccupied with political correctness, but this matter is too serious to be toyed with. The bad guys simply look like bad guys, and they cannot change that by shaving off their beards. That is one positive advantage we have in the Holy War.”
In Vol. 11, No. 1 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in February 2003, Cooper wrote, “’Political correctness is the oppression of the majority by the minority.’ Who said that?”
In Vol. 11, No. 2 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in February 2003, Cooper wrote, “If you approve of the way President Bush is handling his daunting tasks, write and tell him so. He sees the press, just as you do, and it must be depressing for him to be told only of the enemy viewpoint. If you support him, tell him so. Every little bit helps.” He also added, “It seems that the Russians are pigging out the Jihadis in Chechnya. That is to say they are polluting the bodies of dead Moslems with swine blood, denying the deceaseds' [sic] place in paradise. Theoretically this may work. Time will tell.”
In Vol. 10, No. 14 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in January 2003, Cooper wrote, “We hear of a new triumph for the old reliable in Vietnam. It appears that a sailor in a downed helicopter was able to repel boarders with splendid success, using his own personal 1911. He was almost the only man to survive the crash, but he left no less than 37 gooks flat on the field.” Turning to the topic of Islam he wrote, “The Koran is the Word of God, as revealed by his prophet … After he became convinced that he was indeed the messenger of God, Mohammad had only to consult the most high in order to get the straight word on anything, from how many times to pray to how to beat your wife (carefully so as not to break any bones). The appeal here, it seems to me, is to the universal human failing of intellectual laziness. A Moslem does not have to think about things, but only to consult the Koran.” Cooper then added, “Islam translates approximately as submission, and means absolute submission of the individual intellect to the transcribed pronouncements of the prophet. Thus we face this curiously amorphous enemy, which is more like malaria than an army.”
In Vol. 10, No. 13 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in December 2002, Cooper wrote, “The world scene may be pretty bleak, but we certainly have a lot to be thankful for at home. With a serious president in the White House [Republican George W. Bush] and a [Republican] majority in both houses of Congress, our ship of state rejoices in a sound hand at the helm and fair winds aloft. Despite the general moral decline in our society, we still have great things to appreciate—the first of which is having been born on the right side of the Holy War. We have been reading up on Islam and discover that while Western Civilization is far from perfect, it is infinitely better in all respects than that which looms ‘East of Suez.’ We may need to clean up our act, but at least we are in the right theater.” Turning to the role of women in society, Cooper added, “Any homemaker who operates a satisfactory household must be plenty strong enough to handle all of her kitchen appliances and, therefore, certainly strong enough to manage a pistol. Perhaps the postmodern housewife does not operate a successful kitchen, but buys everything prefabricated in the supermarket.” Going back to Islam, he wrote, “The Moslems' idea of peace is the extinction of Christianity.”
In Vol. 10, No. 12 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in November 2002, Cooper wrote, “I repeat that I think we are missing a bet in not using pigs and pig products as weapons in the Holy War. If you happen to have any hollow point ammunition you might think of filling the point with pig fat in order to increase your psychological advantage.”
In Vol. 10, No. 11 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in October 2002, Cooper wrote, “The Moslem objective seems to be simply to destroy the infidel. I cannot believe that any Moslem feels that by killing Christians or Jews or agnostics at random he will win any sort of tangible objective … the ragheads still insist that we infidels are the accursed of God, and they seek to flaunt this without any prospect for amelioration. We see these people complaining when they are ‘profiled’ while making every effort to make such profiling obvious. If a raghead does not wish to be identified as a raghead, there would seem to be no reason for him to speak like a raghead, act like a raghead, and dress like a raghead. The best way for him to avoid being identified as a raghead would be to stay back where he came from.” Turning to public schools, Cooper added, “The attempt by the education establishment to castrate American youth has produced some very peculiar attitudes. One is an announced ‘hatred of violence.’ It seems to me that people who hate violence as an abstraction are living in the wrong country. This nation we live in, still the last best hope of Earth, was born in violence, and if there is any such thing as a typical American man, he is certainly a violent man.” Addressing Islam again, Cooper wrote, “By examination we may conclude that a good Moslem earns one point for killing another Moslem of a different sect, two points for killing a European Christian, three points for killing an American, and four points for killing a Jew. I may have this wrong, but then I cannot speak Arabic.” He then took up the topic of political correctness writing, “This political correctness foolishness is so silly that it is hard to take seriously, but there it is. It is even miscalled, for it is neither political nor correct. It is social censorship, the rule of the polypragmatoi (read ‘busybodies’). Mr. Jefferson is quoted around the inside of his monument at Washington as standing foursquare and forever against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. As he declaimed, and as I hope we all agree, the State may justifiably control our actions—but never our thoughts. Sorry, Mr. Jefferson, but all men are not created equal. (‘All ya gotta do is look.’)” Turning to the topic of slavery, Cooper wrote, “This foolishness about reparations for slavery has got to take some sort of prize for inanity. Human slavery has been with us since the beginning of time. It is the natural course of social order. Without it we would probably still be living in the Bronze Age, and such trivia as mathematics, philosophy, religion, and art would never have been invented. As Aristotle pointed out, most people have slave minds, and prefer to be told what to do and where to line up for chow.”
In Vol. 10, No. 10 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in September 2002, Cooper wrote, “Note that riflery is not an exclusively masculine province. The ladies can shoot right along with the gentlemen, if they wish to. Driving, on the other hand, does seem to be a man's job.” He went on to mock the accidental shooting of a tourist, writing, “We hear from Namibia that a German tourist's holiday down there came to an end when he was mistaken for a baboon and shot by a local farmer. If this poor fellow looked enough like a baboon to be mistaken for one, he may be better off dead.” Turning to the topic of slavery Cooper added, “This talk about reparations for slavery is so silly that one could expect it to fade of its own embarrassment, but people keep after it. In the first place, it is unreasonable to ask anyone to make reparations for something he did not do, nor cause others to do. In the second place, if you study this subject you will realize that slavery may be considered a natural condition of civilized man. As our favorite columnist, Thomas Sowell, has pointed out, there is hardly anybody on earth whose ancestors have not enslaved or been enslaved at sometime in the past. It is a lot more sensible, as well as more humane, to put the losers to work than to kill them. I have been amused by the tale of Richard Burton, the famed explorer of Arabia, who was a crusader against slavery but went to considerable trouble to acquire the necessary slaves of his own when setting forth for Mecca. As even Al Sharpton should note, the Negro slaves who were brought to America by the colonists had one and all been enslaved by their black brothers in Africa. Perhaps these activists should put in to Nigeria or the Congo for their reparations.” He continued on the topic of race, writing, “Perhaps you will not believe it, but I recently picked up from a British publication that some movie producer is now contemplating making a movie about the man who crossed the Alps with the elephants—casting Denzel Washington as the man! So much for public education!” Cooper was upset because Denzel Washington is African-American, and added, “If we can cast Denzel Washington as Hannibal, I think we might try to cast Brad Pitt as Booker T. Washington.”
In Vol. 10, No. 7 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in June 2002, Cooper wrote, “Is it possible for something to be deadly and silly at the same time? Islam comes to mind.” He also added, “I can find no fault at all in this matter of ‘profiling.’ If these creeps look like creeps, that is their problem, not ours.” Turning to the War in Afghanistan Cooper added, “As the Holy War proceeds it is obvious that the principle problem is target identification. Since the ragheads do not have nations, they can smack the Pentagon, but what do we smack? It is going to be a long haul.”
In Vol. 10, No. 4 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in April 2002, Cooper wrote, “We asked about the reputed plague of AIDS in southern Africa. Accurate statistics are hard to get, but our best−educated guess places the rate of the disease at 1 1⁄2 to 2 percent of white South Africans. As reported in the press, the rate is very high amongst the [native African] Bantu.” Turning to the operation of his firearms training school, Cooper added, “It appears that we are now contemplating a ‘Ladies Only’ class for November. The front office has not yet told me how they are going to decide who is and who isn't.” He also added, “We saw in the press that recently a suicide bomber was blown up by an Israeli rifleman who shot him in his bursting charge. Perhaps. But perhaps not. I do not know what explosive these ragheads are using, but I do know that it is very difficult to fire C4 by hitting it with gunfire.”
In Vol. 10, No. 3 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in March 2002, Cooper wrote, “Well, they finally got Jonas Savimbi. There was possibly the greatest unsung hero of the Cold War. Savimbi fought the Communists to a standstill in Angola for decades, with no help from us. He was not ‘African−American’ (unsatisfactory term). He was, on the contrary, a first−string African, and he will go down historically with [Zulu chieftain] Chaka as one of the great heros [sic] of his people. I never had the honor of meeting him, but I got pretty close on two occasions, and I regret the loss.” The United States Department of Homeland Security characterized Savimbi’s UNITA political group—from 1998 until the killing of Savimbi in 2002 by Angolan government forces—as a terrorist organization. During this time period, Human Rights Watch described UNITA as “a rebel group led by Jonas Savimbi, [that] killed, abducted, and terrorized civilians with impunity.” The United States Institute of Peace wrote, “Savimbi is indeed responsible for a litany of crimes against humanity.” The conflict between UNITA and the Angolan government resulted in the country having one of the highest concentrations of landmines in the world, with some experts estimating that up to six million mines remain in the ground. Cooper also wrote, “Those of you of the old school will remember that we threw the Moors out of Spain in 1492. Trouble is that we did not throw them far enough. In searching through the records for ragheads of consequence, I discover Haroun−al−Rashid and Saladin, and then my sources begin to dry up. Our current crop of Extollers of The Faithful would have us believe that what we may refer to as the Arab Culture was way ahead of the West up until something mysterious happened along about 1450 or so. These people had shown us such things as numerology, algebra, cotton fabric, and coffee, but suddenly something went wrong. Maybe they lost their push and civilization left them behind. The cultural structure of Islam must have a strong appeal, otherwise it would not be proselytizing throughout the world as it is. How is it that the West copes and the East does not? Allah has fallen short somewhere along the line.” He then complained about patients at the Mayo Clinic, writing, “A friend of ours who is troubled with a nagging form of recurrent carcinoma makes a practice of visiting a Mayo Clinic regularly to keep ahead of the game. He reports that over the last couple of years the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, has been so completely patronized by Arabs that treatment therein begins to resemble some sort of cult practice. The waiting rooms are solidly populated with people wearing bed sheets. Treatment at the Mayos is not cheap, but this does not trouble the rag heads.” Cooper continued, “Our enemy in the Holy War turns out to be simultaneously deadly and silly. They can kill us, of course, dead, but it is hard to take anyone seriously who announces continuously five times a day that God is Great. Is it that ‘milady doth protest too much’?”
In Vol. 10, No. 2 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in February 2002, Cooper wrote, “It has been pointed out to me that I am in error in referring to all non−ragheads as ‘Christendom.’ A whole lot of people who profess Christianity are a long way from being Christians, but since we are going to have to choose up sides, I guess we better start buying the right uniforms.” He also added, “We rather wish that our egg−headed social commentators would quit trying to prevent our annoying the ragheads. They are already annoyed as much as necessary, and there is no way that we as infidels can turn that around. Why they are sore at us hardly matters, since they are and for reasons which lie in the past. We as the warriors of the West will accomplish nothing by trying to analyze the causes of hostility. Our business now is to win the Holy War and clean up our act as necessary as we go along.” Turning to the topic of racial profiling, Cooper wrote, “From what we can tell from the tube, as it is shown to us out here in the sticks, the ‘bottom−feeders’ in our society certainly look, act and dress the part. This is ‘profiling.’ It is not only acceptable, it is pretty much automatic.”
In Vol. 10, No. 1 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in January 2002, Cooper wrote, “The devout Moslem demands that other people share his faith or die. That is not a foolish fancy—it is right there in the book [Koran]. The devout Moslem does not necessarily hate the Infidel, he simply cannot accept his existence, and there you have the Holy War. It may be that OBL's [Osama bin Laden] days are briefly numbered, but whether he lives or dies, Islam remains the core of the Holy War. I cannot handle the Arabic language, and therefore it is not possible for me to interpret the Koran. The fact remains that we do have a Holy War on our hands, and how we pursue it remains to be seen.” He also added, “We American shooters who constitute the foundation of liberty, are philosophically correct, but we are not strong enough to aid the enemy by fighting amongst ourselves. Please do not throw rocks at people on your own side of the barricade. Despite our temporary victory at the polls, there are still plenty of people who voted the wrong way—and will continue to do so. [New York Democratic Senator and gun violence prevention advocate Chuck] Schumer, I understand, is still alive and well.” Turning back to the subject of Islam, Cooper wrote, “Several correspondents have informed us that according to the Koran, Moslems are forbidden to fight any but defensive wars. Since I do not read Arabic, I cannot be sure about this, but it seems that the Arabs had to defend themselves furiously all the way from Mecca (in Arabia) to Tours (in France), going backwards all the time. Those Christians must have been pretty clever in order to get around behind the ragheads, who then defended themselves in reverse for several thousand miles and several hundred years.” Cooper continued, “Our two favorite columnists are Thomas Sowell and Florence King. Miss King just threw us a real beauty in National Review. She asserts that her mother (an unreconstructed Southern Lady) disputed this ‘sensitivity’ about busting the ragheads during Ramadan, as follows: ‘That's the best time to get 'em—when they've got their faces in the rug and their asses in the air.’”
In Vol. 9, No. 14 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in December 2001, Cooper wrote, “It is somewhat surprising that our champions in this Holy War do not make proper use of the pig in our propaganda. You cannot daunt a devoted Muslim by fear of death, but you can get to him through fear of pollution. There are all sorts of ways of putting this psychological weapon to use. Just use your imagination.” Cooper concluded by writing, “As Islam has declared war on Christendom, our sacred annual festival [Christmas] assumes an unfamiliar place in our hearts. We must not let those other people reduce our joy in the occasion of the Holy Birth. If we become disheartened we will have granted them the first victory of the War. God forbid that this may come to pass! The spirit of Christmas is the spirit of Joy—especially so at this critical time. Our foes seek to deny us this, but they will not succeed. We will fight them by all means God has granted us—with the fist, with the sword, and with the Spirit.”
In Vol. 9, No. 13 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in November 2001, Cooper wrote, “One wonders if Nip swordcraft was at one time the standard of the world, as its advocates claim. As with the Japanese culture, it seems to be stylized to the point of unserviceability, but the outsider is in no position to criticize it until he has seen it in live combat.” He also added, “There is no way that Christendom can cozy up to Islam. There is no way we can pat those people on the head and expect them to accept us unbelievers as moral equals. No matter what they say, the Arabs are on the other side of this holy war, and when we see them wearing t−shirts celebrating the mass murder of 6,000 Americans, we must realize that to a devout Muslim a Christian is fouler than a pig (which in their eyes is pretty foul).” Cooper then wrote, “OBL [Osama bin Laden] evidently perceives himself as a spokesman for Islam. There are Muslims who may dispute that, but they are stuck with him. Whether they agree with him or not, somebody − probably OBL, but perhaps not − has decided to murder the infidel in the greatest possible numbers. The situation is only going to get worse before it gets better. What are we going to do if those people hit Times Square on New Year's Eve? Weep? It would be neat if we could feed OBL to the pigs before this happens, but if we cannot do exactly that, some sort of decisive retribution must be undertaken. Mr. President [Bush], Let's Roll!”
In Vol. 9, No. 12 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in November 2001, Cooper wrote, “We are informed from South Africa that the crime situation there continues to deteriorate. This is not something you will hear in what is normally called ‘the Western media,’ since it indicates what happens when you give the country back to the Indians. We knew South Africa reasonably well back in the old days, which we think of as the good old days, despite current political rectitude.” The “good old days” that Cooper referred to are the days before the end of the white supremacist apartheid state in South Africa. Political reforms in 1994 mandated majority rule.
In Vol. 9, No. 11 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in October 2001, Cooper commented on 9/11 architect Osama bin Laden, writing, “This fellow, whom we shall refer to henceforth as OBL, is said to stand 6’ 5” and could properly be referred to as a ‘trophy rag−head.’ Any Arab this long should certainly go in the record book.” He also wrote, “It has been suggested that you can really upset a Moslem if you undertake to sew up his dead body in a skin of a pig. If we are going to play this game, we should explore all possibilities.” Cooper turned to the topic of slavery to state, “This talk about ‘reparations’ for slavery is pretty quaint when you think about it, unless you are disconnected from history. Slavery has always been a normal aspect of civilization. Since the beginning of recorded history, and probably before, human beings have enslaved one another and nobody thought much about that until quite recent times. What do you do with the losers? You can either kill them on the spot or put them to work. Without the institution of slavery, civilization would never have been achieved, for no one could ever have done anything intellectual if he had to spend all his time hewing and digging and fighting … Those who speak of ‘reparations’ for slavery betray a state of mind which might have been universal if it had not been for slavery. I find it odd that nobody has brought that up in these dim−witted discussions we hear about.” Turning back to the topic of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Cooper called Islam, “an extremist cult rooted in the Middle Ages.”
In a Special Edition of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in September 2001, Cooper wrote in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, “I suppose killing an infidel is always an act of virtue for a devout Muslim, but the notion that ‘the only good Christian is a dead Christian’ is a bit much, even for those who must admit that some sort of retribution may not be avoided.” He added, “It is up to the United States to lead in what has now become, in truth, a holy war. We have both the muscle and the mass. Now we need the objective and the will.”
In Vol. 9, No. 8 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in August 2001, Cooper wrote, “I am told by ‘new soldiers,’ even Marines, that what once was considered normal disciplinary procedure is today held to be legally reprehensible. During my own tour as company commander I never once sent a man before a court. I didn't need to. I had sergeants. How today's captains proceed without sergeants is beyond me. But how to proceed with perverts and girl warriors is also beyond me.”
In Vol. 9, No. 6 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in June 2001, Cooper wrote, “It is indeed a troublesome thing to observe the historical tomfoolery of many of our modern activists. I recently saw a statement to the effect that six million Negros died in the slave trade between Africa and the New World. Considering that a slave trader only made money out of a live slave, this would seem very poor economics, but beyond that it is doubtful if there were six million Negros available in Africa at any one time to be enslaved.” Of the estimated 20 million Africans sold into slavery, roughly half died during the excursion from their homelands to the African coast. Millions more African slaves died during the Middle Passage voyage between Africa and the New World. Cooper also added, “We have reports from the military to corroborate this. We are told of young men signing up for the military service who have never: slept on the ground, cleaned a fish, climbed a mountain, thrown a punch, ridden a horse, shot a rifle, sailed a boat, changed a wheel, built a fire, [or] read the Bible. I suppose many of these young men know all about sexual perversion, the use of the hypodermic needle, auditory abuse, political correctness, gender equality, and ‘global warming.’ It is hard to say what is to be done.”
In Vol. 9, No. 5 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in May 2001, Cooper wrote, “There is no more American way of spending a snowy Wyoming morning than listening to [conservative talk show host] Rush Limbaugh while loading ammunition. Our friend Rush sometimes gets a little overblown in his presentations, but certainly his heart is in the right place.” Limbaugh has been frequently criticized for his statements about minorities, women, and gays. Cooper added, “If the Chinese fighter pilot, Wang Wei, is an example of the breed, we take that as a good development. If Chinese fighter pilots are incapable of keeping distance in the air, it is nice to have them on the other side. Should we add the term ‘Chinese fighter pilot’ to what we used to call ‘a Chinese fire drill’? We should not get our hopes up, however. The rest of that crew may be more skillful.” Wang Wei was a Chinese pilot who died in a mid-air collision with a U.S. Navy aircraft in 2001. The accident caused an international dispute between the United States and China.
In Vol. 9, No. 4 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in April 2001, Cooper wrote, “We learn from a family member down in Australia that the Aussie army has been effectively washed out by its unisex policies. When you start putting girls in the army, you have lost the war, and when you lose it, you can simply call ‘time out!’ and all will be forgiven.” He also added, “In connection with granddaughter Amy's work with the History Channel, we discover that history is not politically correct. If you tell it like it is (wie es eigentlich gewesen), you will be deemed sexist, racist, elitist, insensitive, and, worst of all, old−fashioned.”
In Vol. 9, No. 3 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in March 2001, Cooper wrote, “It would appear that that small, black cloud on the horizon is the specter of a general Moslem war against the West − something which should be put off as long as possible, but is probably going to be with us in due course.” He also added, “Someone has observed that if you find yourself in San Francisco, be careful upon leaving not to look back, lest you be turned into a pillar of salt.” Cooper was referring to the biblical story of God’s destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of the inhabitant’s sinful behavior (God warned that anyone who looked back at the ruins of the cities would be turned into a pillar of salt). He also wrote, “As I understand it, slavery was abolished in this country in 1865. The issue is closed. Buying those people from their friends in Africa and bringing them over here was a great mistake and we have suffered for it for a long time. Perhaps we should let the matter drop.”
In Vol. 9, No. 2 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in February 2001, Cooper wrote, “One of our old time students in San Salvador just last year was beset by no less than eight punks with SMG's [sub-machine guns] bent upon assassination. Edwardo killed four and claims he only let the other four get away out of kindness. ‘They were so young,’ he said. Well, kids can kill you pretty well, too, though they usually do not do it expertly.” He also asked his readers to search the Internet with the question, “Was American Negro chattel slavery an institution extensible into the American West?”
In Vol. 8, No. 13 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in December 2000, Cooper published the following excerpt of a song written by his daughter Lindy: “The sun shines bright/On the old Kentucky home/'Tis summer/And all the African−Americans are homosexual.” In Vol. 9, No. 3 of the Commentaries, Cooper stated that his daughter was updating the pre-Civil War song “My Old Kentucky Home,” which opens with the lines, “The sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home/Tis summer/the darkies are gay.” The song’s status as the official song of Kentucky has been called into question for the song’s use of racially disparaging terms for African Americans. “Clearly we had to restructure this because we cannot longer use the term ‘darky,’ and ‘gay’ has been rerouted,” explained Cooper.
In Vol. 8, No. 12 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in November 2000, Cooper wrote of a book about Mozambique that “recounts the degeneration of what was once a delightful part of the world into a disgusting black−African tyranny. Colonialism has a bad reputation in the modern context, but Colonial Africa was a far better place for both black and white before the colonists gave up.”
In Vol. 8, No. 8 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in August 2000, Cooper wrote, “Perhaps you know of the book ‘Unintended Consequences,’ by John Ross, which narrates the fictional account of violent resistance to the infringement of the right of the people to keep and bear arms in the United States. Turns out now that the BATF [Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms] is doing its best to suppress the book, since those people care no more about the First Amendment than they do about the Second. We hear mutterings from several sources about the possibility of a serious backlash against these obnoxious people in their unconscionable behavior.” The plot of “Unintended Consequences” revolves around a man who systemically kills federal law enforcement agents as revenge for the implementation of the 1994 assault weapons ban and other gun control laws. The book concludes with the president of the United States vowing to repeal gun control measures. Oklahoma City Bombing perpetrator Timothy McVeigh called the book his “New Testament” and stated that if he would have read it before plotting his attack, he might have gone on a sniper rampage.
In Vol. 8, No. 9 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in August 2000, Cooper wrote, “It is okay to cut your wife's throat as long as you are rich, famous—and black.”
In Vol. 8, No. 7 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in July 2000, Cooper wrote, “We reflect, in this period of racist agitation, that slavery has been the normal condition of mankind for most of history. What do you do with the losers? You either kill them outright or put them to work. If you pen them up you have to feed them, and you have enough trouble feeding yourself. Despite this a large number of semi−literate types in the States seem to think of slavery as a unique invention of the southern states of the US over a period of a few generations.”
In Vo. 8, No. 6 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in June 2000, Cooper wrote, “It is sad to note that the political unrest in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) has practically ruined tourism/hunting in that country. I find this odd. On several occasions I have gone hunting in a war zone, and found the experience exhilarating.” Zimbabwe has not been called Rhodesia since before 1980 when the country was subjected to the white supremacist rule of Ian Smith.
In Vol. 8, No. 5 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in May 2000, Cooper wrote, “When people ask us how are things in South Africa, we are inclined to quote our great, good friend Barry Miller of Durban. ‘People get the government they deserve, and we got it.’ When I first went to Africa over 20 years go, the unit of currency was the Rand, which was worth at that time $1.50. Today it is worth 14 cents. Before the revolution [i.e., the end of apartheid] South African Airways was an outstanding airline in terms of cabin service. Today it would appear that the new management is taking its pointers from Aeroflot. When you effectively ‘give the country back to the Indians’ you may find that the Indians do not know how to run the store.”
In Vol. 8, No. 4 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in April 2000, Cooper wrote, “May it be suggested that a man who does not hunt is like a woman who does not cook? Okay, I said it and I am glad!” He also added, “Note that there is no such thing as a ‘wall of separation’ between church and state stipulated in this country. We do not have it and we do not need it. What we may need, however, is a wall of separation between school and state. The state has no business brain washing our children, despite the fact that that seems to be what it does at this time, or attempts to do. Education is not the state's business.”
In Vol. 8, No. 3 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in March 2000, Cooper wrote, “It appears that this baseball player [Atlanta Braves reliever John] Rocker has stated publically that he dislikes having to ride public transportation in company with scruffies. On this he has been sent to Coventry, where presumably they regularly wash his mouth out with soap. Does anybody really like to ride with scruffies? Social censorship − miscalled ‘political correctness’ − is reaching new lows all the time.” Cooper was reacting to the following comment that Rocker made when asked during an interview if he would like to play baseball in New York: “I would retire first. It's the most hectic, nerve-racking city. Imagine having to take the [Number] 7 train to the ballpark, looking like you're [riding through] Beirut next to some kid with purple hair next to some queer with AIDS right next to some dude who just got out of jail for the fourth time right next to some 20-year-old mom with four kids. It's depressing. The biggest thing I don't like about New York are the foreigners. I'm not a very big fan of foreigners. You can walk an entire block in Times Square and not hear anybody speaking English. Asians and Koreans and Vietnamese and Indians and Russians and Spanish people and everything up there. How the hell did they get in this country?” Cooper also wrote, “They had a big raffle [election] recently in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia). To everyone's intense surprise, Comrade [Robert] Mugabe was the winner of the grand prize. For all our putative rejection of ‘racism,’ it is sometimes hard to take these popinjays seriously.” Zimbabwe has not been called Rhodesia since before 1980 when white supremacist apartheid supporter Ian Smith ruled the country.
In Vol. 7, No. 14 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in December 1999, Cooper wrote, “We learn that Comrade [President of South Africa Nelson] Mandela has announced in a speech that he hopes for a bright future in South Africa for ‘liberty’ and ‘equality.’ Anyone who has thought about it realizes that liberty and equality are antithetical concepts. You can have one, or you can have the other, but you certainly cannot have both. As to that, either concept is a rather futile goal. Equality is biologically impossible, and liberty is only obtainable in homogeneous populations very thinly spread.” He also wrote, “As the brave new world takes over in South Africa, it is now an offense to call a Boer a Boer. Oddly enough, if it applied to me, I would consider it a compliment.” In South Africa, there has been a movement to refer to residents of the country using the all-inclusive term “Afrikaner” rather than “Boer,” which refers only to a white ethnic identity.
In Vol. 7, No. 12 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in November 1999, Cooper wrote, “When our good friend and colleague [fellow NRA board member] Bob Brown was recently asked his age in the course of an interview, his reply was, ‘I am so old that I can remember when the Kennedys killed their women one at a time.’” Brown and Cooper were likely mocking an incident that occurred on July 16, 2023 when a plane piloted by John F. Kennedy, Jr. crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off of Martha’s Vineyard. Kennedy, along with his wife and sister-in-law, were killed. Cooper also wrote, “A ‘busybody war’ is one which is fought in order to straighten out the morals, ethics, practices or religion of another group of people. Defensive wars are morally justified, and we can even put down reasons for wars of conquest, but ‘nanny wars’ are disgusting. The American Civil War is an example of one, as is the Boer War in South Africa. In both these cases, the more powerful side fought basically for the purpose of changing the lifestyle of the other. Losers fight well in these busybody wars, as morally they should. What the invader thinks when he attacks to make sure that ‘those other people’ part their hair on the right side is not always easy to discover.”
In Vol. 7, No. 11 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in October 1999, Cooper wrote, “We are informed again that piracy is up in Southeast Asia. This has always been a good place for piracy, and the Indonesians take naturally to it as a profession.” He also wrote, “We often hear of war described as if it were some kind of impersonal affliction, such as the Black Plague or famine. The fact is that war is not something that just happens, it is something that people make happen, and they make it happen for reasons. As Clausewitz said, war is the continuation of politics by other means. Exactly. War is neither a hurricane nor a flood. It is, on the contrary, the cutting edge of ideology.”
In Vol. 7, No. 9 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in August 1999, Cooper suggested that feminism was responsible for the mauling of a woman by a hyena, writing, “In the second instance, a female hunter took the notion to take a pleasant evening walk outside the compound, despite being told vigorously that she was not to do this. She was taken by a hyena, but at last report, she was expected to live, though terribly disfigured. As you know, the hyena goes for the face. (Do we detect an element of feisty feminism here? Or the basic lack of discipline of the flower children?)”
In Vol. 7, No. 8 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in July 1999, Cooper wrote, “Now it appears that the Nips want to erase the Sack of Nanking from the history books. In the age of illusion a good many people feel that to deny something is to cause it to cease to exist. It seems to me that if the Nips want to erase any history, they can start by erasing Pearl Harbor. That would put them in a better position.”
In Vol. 7, No. 6 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in May 1999, Cooper referred to a 1999 mass shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, writing, “Accurate assessments of the Littleton disaster have yet to be properly evaluated, but one point stands out clearly. The only thing that could have saved the day was a qualified, armed teacher. Moral decay has brought us to this pass, and we cannot look to the state for relief. Relief must come from the populace at large, and not in the form of legislation.”
In Vol. 7, No. 5 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in April 1999, Cooper blamed students at Columbine High School for not stopping a mass shooting at the school committed by two students on April 20th of that year. He wrote, “I suppose I should begin this issue by wringing my hands over the disaster at Littleton, Colorado. Certainly that was a dreadful episode, but I can see no relevant connection between the murderous rampage of a couple of psychopathic adolescents and the activities of the National Rifle Association. If anyone on campus had had the presence of mind and the ability, he might have stopped that atrocity before it got started: at the very least, he could have limited it to one or two casualties. But as we know, no weapons are allowed on campus, so the place is ostentatiously defenseless. I once saw a door−poster which announced, ‘There are no guns in this house. Feel free.’ Thus it is with schools. We do not announce these things, but the creeps know that a school is easy pickens. That is probably an important factor in the recent epidemic of school shootings.” The Columbine shooters obtained their firearms through private unregulated sales at a Denver gun show where no background checks were required. The National Rifle Association has long opposed legislation to require background checks on private firearm sales. He went on to write, “As Cousin Bongo continues to wander around the vast Pacific, he runs across more evidence of the general aspect of the war in the Pacific. For example, recently on the Gilbert Islands, the remains were discovered of 22 whites − probably British − who were simply shot out−of−hand when the Nips took the place. There was no fighting, this was just murder, but that is the way that war was. The ‘post modern’ generation does not seem to understand that.” Finally, Cooper shared a story from a friend who pulled a handgun on four African-American men because he saw them wearing “ski masks” on Halloween, writing, “It is delightful to contemplate a circumstance in which the right man was there at the right time. We do not read of such situations often because they are simply not newsworthy. There is nothing to wring our hands about.” Cooper’s friend concluded his story thusly: “Perhaps they did nothing else criminal that night, or perhaps they did. I will never know. But I'm sure that before they decide to approach another old, broken−down, potential victim, they may remember what the muzzle of my 45 looked like as it was pointed at their heads.”
In Vol. 7, No. 2 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in February 1999, Cooper wrote, “We hear by round−about ways of a copchick in Latin America who responded to a call of a bank robbery in progress. She was by herself and armed with a P35 Browning. By fortuitous chance she confronted the three bad guys directly. One was armed with an FN assault rifle (caliber 308), one with some sort of 9mm squirt gun, and the other with a 12 gage [sic] shotgun. With admirable aplomb our heroine selected the most dangerous target, the one with the 308, and terminated him cleanly with one round to the center of the forehead. She then shifted to the man with the squirt gun and knocked him down with two rounds to the center of the chest. At this point the boy with the shotgun dropped his gun and gave up. Olé! The report we have insists that this girl is quite pretty, which makes a story all ready too good even better.”
In Vol. 6, No. 12 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in November 1998, Cooper wrote, “I am now informed that there is a specialized security detail in evidence around the Pentagon after dark wearing black uniforms. Now black is an excellent color for a dress uniform, as demonstrated by the [Nazi] SS before and during World War II, but black is a very poor color for a fatigue uniform. It does not make the wearer look smart, it just makes him look scruffy. Plus that, a black fatigue uniform makes its wearer highly visible except in pitch black, where target identification is the main problem.”
In Vol. 6, No. 10 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in September 1998, Cooper wrote, “There seems to be no agreement amongst our leaders as to what must be done about these ragheaded terrorists. It is adduced that if we kill the leaders there will simply be more to take their places. This may or may not be true, but we can be pretty sure that blowing up installations with Tomahawks is not going to accomplish much, apart from making a number of uninvolved people angry.” He went on to write, “You may remember Amy Biehl, the white girl who went down to Africa to help the downtrodden and who was murdered by a black mob with rocks. Four of her killers have now been turned loose, one remains in custody. The only reason Amy was killed was because she was white. Now on the other side of the world we have this particularly nasty murder of an unarmed black man by three white thugs in East Texas. It seems that the only reason they killed him was because he was black. I am willing to bet that they will not go free. It is more likely that in this case the death penalty will be invoked − and quite properly so. Shall we conclude that it is okay for Negroes to kill a white girl because of the color of her skin, but it is a dreadful sin for white men to kill a Negro because of the color of his skin? I am sure that there are those who will call this ‘racial justice.’”
In Vol. 6, No. 9 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in August 1998, Cooper wrote, “Since the United Nations organization is so fond of passing pointless resolutions, I suggest one banning the provision of high explosives to rag heads.” He also relayed, “We recently ran across another example of the unsatisfactory performance of the misbegotten US 30−caliber carbine used in the latter part of World War II and in Korea. In this case the Jap soldier attempted to run clear and was taken under fire by one of the Marines with a 30 carbine. The range was not specified (as is usually the case), but he managed to hit this Nip five times and his friends could see the dust flying from the back of the jacket. The Nip ran on away, to be found dead later.” Turning to the environment, Cooper added, “Will somebody please tell the Vice President of the United States [Al Gore] that carbon dioxide (CO2) is not a pollutant, but rather is absolutely necessary to carbon cycle life?” Cooper is correct that that carbon dioxide is a natural part of Earth’s atmosphere, however, pollution resulting in the overproduction of CO2 is closely tied to climate change.
In Vol. 6, No. 6 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in June 1998, Cooper blamed “blacks” for all of the crime in South Africa, writing, “The criminal violence is pretty nasty, but it tends to take place in categories. Street crime in the big towns is mainly a car−against−car, black−against−black proposition, and it can be avoided it one stays out of the wrong places and does not move around in congested areas after dark. On the other hand, raids on isolated rural dwellings are mainly black−on−white, and they are difficult to combat in a culture which has been used to staying in Condition White [a relaxed mindset] at all times. As you know, it is possible to be legally armed in South Africa and to fight back, unlike the situation in Britain where it is considered politically incorrect to resist violence. In most of the cases which have come to my attention, the farm house raids could be defeated by people who are prepared to fight back. It is, however, a truth that most people find it difficult to remain in a properly guarded mindset all the livelong day. The result of this is that most of the wonders of South Africa can be visited by the tourist or hunter without risk, provided, as always and everywhere, that the individual is armed, awake and aware.” He also wrote, “We were saddened to discover that South African Airlines, which we used to think was second only to SwissAir, has come down several clicks in service and comfort following the revolution [that ended the white supremacist apartheid in South Africa]. A form of affirmative action seems to have equipped the cabins with too many people who are simply not up to the task. The job of airline stewardess (‘flight attendant’) demands an eminent degree of intelligence and sophistication. It is not a task for just anyone, and people who have spent a lot of time flying commercially over the past decades have discovered that times have a way of changing.”
In Vol. 6, No. 5 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in May 1998, Cooper wrote, “In view of all the excitement about that sad business in Jonesboro, we should note that fatalities from firearms mishaps are at an all time low today. More people die each year from medical misadventures than from accidental shooting.” The “business in Jonesboro” was not a firearm accident. On March 24, 2023 13-year-old Mitchell Johnson and 11-year-old Andrew Golden perpetrated a mass shooting at their middle school that left four of their female classmates and a teacher dead; 10 more were wounded. Cooper also added, “Have you noticed that women who spout off about things they do not understand usually hyphenate their last names? In my opinion, a hyphenated last name is evidence of violation of Rule 5, which is ‘Thou shalt not take thyself too seriously.’”
In Vol. 6, No. 4 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in April 1998, Cooper wrote, “It appears that since the Nips were unable to defeat us in the field, they are going to try to do so at the conference table. We may lose this one, as long as we maintain the current sleaze camp in Washington. It's just another reason why we must change the administration.” He also added, “Did you see where some Nip punk recently attempted to attack a police officer in order to hijack the officer's service pistol? Upon his arrest he claimed that he just wanted to know what it was like to shoot a firearm. Now what on earth should we make of a social organization in which that sort of thing turns up!” Turning to the role of women in society, Cooper wrote, “Family member Pat Rogers tells us of a case in New York wherein a police officer correctly, justifiably, and expertly laid out a goblin on the street with his shotgun. The action had been building up for a few minutes, and there were several other police officers in the vicinity. Three of them were copchicks, who had to be taken off the line to recover their composure after having witnessed so ghastly an event. One of these girls obtained a medical discharge, and is now on a pension from the taxpayers because of what she saw in the line of duty for which she volunteered.” He went on to write, “A recent report from Africa informs us that a Bantu hunter of our acquaintance was recently set upon after dark by an armed robber. Our friend cut him down neatly and went on about his business. Naturally, I am not going to furnish any details about the nationality or locality of our friend. In cases like this, the less the authorities know, the better. Years ago in our Balsas expedition we were forcefully informed by our permit issuing authorities in Mexico City that if we had occasion to knock off a bandit, we were by no means to report the matter. Just get the body out of sight in the bushes and get on with your business.”
In Vol. 6, No. 3 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in March 1998, Cooper wrote, “You have all heard about the Japanese harassment of the biathlon shooters in the Olympics … These people have a great capacity for being obnoxious. I discovered it many years ago in the Pacific, and I have since not seen any reason to change my mind.”
In Vol. 5, No. 13 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in December 1997, Cooper favorably quoted a National Review article that stated, “It is not ignorance, but an accurate perception of reality, that lies at the root of much of what is now called ‘white racism.’”
In Vol. 5, No. 12 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in November 1997, Cooper wrote, “Note that after the emasculation of both VMI [Virginia Military Institute) and the Citadel, there is now a move afoot to establish a ‘Southern Military Institute’ in the hill country of northern Alabama. This academy is projected as male, Christian, private and white, about as ‘politically incorrect’ as one can get. It will be interesting to see whether it actually gets underway. If this is truly a free country, as we keep telling ourselves, there is no reason why it should not.” Cooper’s mention of VMI was likely a reference to the 1996 Supreme Court case United States vs. Virginia that ended the institution’s practice of only admitting male students. He went on to write, “We are now given to understand by a police firearms instructor of wide background and experience that lesbians make lousy shots. Normal girls, on the other hand, tend to do rather well on the range. Is there a point to be learned here?”
In Vol. 5, No. 11 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in October 1997, Cooper expressed surprise that a woman could be an officer in the Marines, writing, “While in Washington I ran into a rather presentable woman of young middle age wearing the Marine Corps casual uniform. On her collar appeared three stars. As with Scarlet O'Hara, I do not want to think about that today. I will think about that tomorrow.”
In Vol. 5, No. 10 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in September 1997, Cooper wrote, “In current usage the solecism ‘homophobe’ has begun to intrude. Upon analysis this term signifies an irrational terror of being the same. It is used to designate one who is disgusted by sexual perversion, in which sense it is quite incorrect, because fear or terror, either reasonable or unreasonable, is implied. Perhaps we should all brush up on our Greek.” He went on to share a letter he sent to the editorial board of the Arizona Republic (that the newspaper declined to publish) on the subject of cockfighting: “In your letters column we note a continuing rumble on the part of certain people calling for the prohibition of chicken fighting in Arizona. While we must certainly admit the presence of ruffled feathers on the part of those who are distressed by chicken fighting, we must at the same time protest that it seems uppity for us to deny our Latino residents such pleasure as they may derive from the conduct of one of their public ethnic enjoyments … I have attended various cock fights in both Latin America and the Philippines, and as with vodka, while I have not been enthused, neither have I been repelled. The birds lay into each other with unaffected enthusiasm. The end they suffer in the ring would seem preferable to that which they would otherwise suffer in the barnyard.”
In Vol. 5, No. 8 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in June 1997, Cooper wrote, “It is interesting to infer that Bill Clinton invented slavery—for which he is being called upon to apologize. If we antedate Bill somewhat, we discover that the only thing the United States government ever did about slavery was to abolish it. Perhaps that was a mistake, but I do not feel inclined to apologize for it. As Aristotle tells us, slavery is the normal condition of much of mankind, and has been a feature of all civilizations from the Bronze Age downward. Perhaps, while we are at it, we should apologize for gravity. That certainly causes a lot of trouble,.” Cooper also wrote, “The Nips hit us without warning when we were sleeping in on Sunday morning [Pearl Harbor], and our response, for the most part, was completely savage.” Finally he shared the following slogan with his readers: “If we'd known they'd have been such a nuisance, we would've picked our own cotton.”
In Vol. 5, No. 7 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in June 1997, Cooper addressed post-apartheid South Africa, writing, “Street crime continues to increase, but the good thing about African street crime is that you can shoot back. There are, to be sure, certain legal responsibilities to be observed, but you can still carry your personal arms and you can still legally shoot a runaway, providing that you can establish that was what he was.” Cooper also wrote, “Our Arizona newspaper reports that the Gila River Injuns—sometimes referred to in the vernacular as ‘pesky redskins’—are now objecting to the proximity of the newly titled ‘John Wayne Highway’. Seems to us that if we can have a ‘Cochise County’, we can certainly have a ‘John Wayne Highway’. (It might be a good idea to declare a 100 year moratorium on racist puckishness.)”
In Vol. 5, No. 6 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in May 1997, Cooper bemoaned the fact that an armed fugitive was unable to shoot any law enforcement officers before being shot himself, writing, “We would appreciate any detailed reports available on the Davis Mountains shoot. As we understand it, one of the rebels took off into the hills, but was killed by police action without any effective resistance. We have no opinions about the morals of this case, but it would seem that an armed fugitive in wild country should be able to score at least once before he gets it.”
In Vol. 5, No. 5 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in April 1997, Cooper wrote, “We have discovered a proper use for this communication system newly termed ‘ebonics.’ We discovered that when we asked the question, ‘What is Windows 95?,’ it sounded wrong; and when we changed that to, ‘What are Windows 95?,’ that also sounded wrong. By using ebonics we can say, ‘What be Windows 95?,’ and now we are all right. (We asked someone who knows about such things just exactly, ‘What be Windows 95?,’ and his answer was, ‘Windows 95 be cooool.’)” Cooper also wrote, “The news may be too late to reach you, but Saturday the 19th of April has been designated ‘Patriots' Day,’ on which all patriots are invited to display their right to keep and bear arms just as far as the law allows. Carry your piece openly and exult in the knowledge that you remain a citizen of ‘The Land of the Brave and the Free’—the last best hope of Earth.” April 19th is the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord—however, the “Patriots’ Day” holiday observed in Maine and Massachusetts occurs on the third Monday of April. Ominously, the Patriots’ Day referred to by Cooper fell on the two-year anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing; a terrorist attacked committed by right-wing extremist Timothy McVeigh that left 168 dead, including 19 children under the age of six.
In Vol. 5, No. 1 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in January 1997, Cooper wrote, “We ran across an amusing anecdote from Vietnam which suggests that there are two sides to most questions. It appears that this marine sergeant became involved in a short−range daylight firefight in which his people were supported by two M48 tanks mounting 90 millimeter guns. As things developed the sergeant noticed a gook a short way off armed with a bazooka (RPG), which was aimed precisely at one of the supporting tanks and well within rocket range. The sergeant assumed a classic offhand firing position, right elbow high, left elbow under the piece, and with his weapon placed properly in the semi−automatic mode, he squeezed off his single round. At precisely that moment, the other tank, having noticed the same gook, touched off one round of 90 millimeter main battery ammunition, but there was so much going on at the time that the sergeant was not aware of the tank round. The gook was totally scrambled, and our marine looked wonderingly down at his little poodle shooter in amazement. ‘Jeez!’ he said.” Cooper also added, “I suppose all sports fans are aware of the case in which some Texas stripper claimed that she was ‘raped at gunpoint’ by a member of the Dallas football team. What a quaint notion! The technical procedures involved in rape at gunpoint would seem exotic, to say the least. How does one do that? As it turns out the whole thing was a hoax, which is not unusual in the circles involved, but it is curious that nobody in the press thought to ask any questions about that.”
In Vol. 4, No. 16 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in December 1996, Cooper wrote, “Objection to that sneaky piece that was slipped through at the last congressional session, depriving anyone convicted of ‘spouse abuse’ from forever owning a firearm, is rising to a crescendo. Certainly no one defends wife beating under any circumstances, but permanent recision [sic] of civil rights is not the answer. I have always held that the proper punishment for the wife beater is the public whipping post, but certainly not permanent deprivation of basic civil rights.” He also wrote, “Clearly propaganda is more potent than truth. Take this matter of Guernica, for example. Pablo Picasso, one of the more significant propagandists of the left, made a very successful point in claiming that the town of Guernica had been flattened from the air by the German Condor Legion in the Spanish Civil War−this being an atrocity since the town had no strategic value. This point was accepted by the world press, and is now considered a fact, even for inclusion in encyclopedias. For those who have access to the official records it is clear that the Condor Legion had been grounded for two weeks prior to the occupation of the city by the Nationalist forces. Moreover, the German light bombers did not have the technical capacity for ‘carpet bombing,’ as later practiced by the Allies in Europe. Most conclusive, however, was the fact that there were no bomb craters in the streets. The buildings were pretty well demolished, but this was done from inside them. It is obviously impossible to flatten a town from the air without hitting any of the streets, but now, to the amazement of the well−informed, the German government is proposing to pay an indemnity to Spain for an atrocity never committed. Such goings on!” In reality, Guernica was bombed on April 26, 2023 by the Nazi Germany Luftwaffe and the Italian Fascist Aviazione Legionaria. The bombing is considered one of the first instances of military planes being used to target civilians. The idea that Guernica was a hoax has been propagated by supporters of right wing Spanish dictator Francisco Franco in order to cast blame upon leftist anarchists, rather than the Nazi and fascist forces, for the atrocity. Turning to a racial discrimination lawsuit brought against oil giant Texaco, Cooper wrote, “In continuing observation of what might be called the ‘hoax effect,’ Texaco has caved in to Jesse Jackson, even after both parties have discovered that the tapes responsible for the racial uproar were fake. Jesse Jackson, himself, has claimed he does not want to be bothered by the facts.” In actuality, tapes did exist of Texaco executives using racially disparaging language and plotting to destroy evidence related to the lawsuit. Texaco settled the lawsuit for $176 million.
In Vol. 4, No. 14 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in December 1996, Cooper wrote, “In the famous case in which one of the Tsavo maneaters [lion] was trapped inside a boxcar with three armed coolies from which he was separated by an iron grill work, the men expended about twenty rounds apiece at arm's length or less without achieving even one hit on the beast. It may be asserted that they were ‘terrified,’ and this is doubtless true, but they were terrified because they did not know how to shoot.” “Coolie” is a racial slur for an individual of Asian descent.
In Vol. 4, No. 13 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in November 1996, Cooper wrote, “This is indeed a bad time for the Republic. We on the right have the issue of character available as our Sunday punch, and yet our party leaders decline to use it. You can't win if you don't fight.” He also wrote, “If machismo is lost, only money is left. One wonders if time may be ripe for a ‘male backlash’ such as suggested in Sir Henry Rider Haggard's famous novel ‘She.’ Those of you familiar with that excellent fantasy will recall that ‘the people of the rocks’ portrayed therein were a matriarchal society in which women made all the decisions and inheritance was traced entirely through the female line. According to the story, this procedure got totally out of line every second generation or so, and all the females except the very young were put to death. This seems rather extreme, but after all, the race portrayed was one of the ‘lesser breeds without the law.’”
In Vol. 4, No. 11 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in September 1996, Cooper wrote, “For those who are proud of their lifetime shooting record, we learn of an old geezer, aged 96, who at the end of his life in the Transvaal boasted that he had taken 341 elephants, 187 lions, 40 kaffirs and two Englishmen. It will take some doing to top that.” “Kaffir” is a racial slur for individuals of African descent that was used in apartheid-era South Africa. The slur is analogous to the use of the N-word in the United States, and its use in South Africa is criminal.
In Vol. 4, No. 10 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in September 1996, Cooper wrote, “In this curious age in which we live, where money seems to be everything, it is interesting to note that the highest wage paid to anyone is paid to a member of an ‘oppressed minority.’ According to the English newspaper ‘Daily Star’, Mike Tyson is paid 500 thousand pound −that is about 800 thousand dollars−each week.”
In Vol. 4, No. 8 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in July 1996, Cooper wrote, “Family member Barrett Tillman tells us that he recently caught a segment on the tube portraying girl soldiers undergoing bayonet training. We had been told that obscenity on television was growing out of control, but we did not realize that it had gone this far.” He also wrote, “Just last week up in Denver we were treated to an example of the handgun training procedures now apparently in widespread use amongst the feds. I was holding rifle school on a range back−to−back with the contingent of agents from the Health and Human Services division. Their training procedure was strictly in accordance with regulations handed down from on high, and the officer in charge was a copchick in the range tower manning a bullhorn. Naturally she could not do much supervising up in that perch, but she had the training manual in front of her and she proceeded with great precision.” Cooper went on to blame feminists for the suicide of Chief of Naval Operations Mike Boorda, writing, “The naval establishment−most specially the naval air arm−constitutes the republic's first line of defense, and when it is pilloried by feminist activists such as [Democratic Congresswoman] Pat Schroeder and its traditions are thrown aside in the face of ‘sensitivity’, it had become impossible for Boorda to look himself in the mirror. Turning our mighty fleet carriers into floating brothels, and the erosion of the iron discipline necessary to fighting efficiency are rapidly wrecking, if they have not already wrecked, America's status as a world power. Mike Boorda apparently could not face the prospect of presiding over this calamity−by the direction of the sleazemaster in the White House.” In his suicide note, Boorda cited a controversy about whether he was entitled to wear a medal for valor in combat as the reason. Cooper also added, “On the subject of concealed carry, it occurs to us that the occupation most in need of this asset is that of trained nurse. A nurse goes on and off duty at all hours. Most nurses are young, trim, reasonably attractive females.”
In Vol. 4, No. 7 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in June 1996, Cooper expressed a disbelief at the existence of posttraumatic stress disorder, writing, “Family member and Orange Gunsite rangemaster Dave Harris reports a personal contact from up in northern California. He handled it perfectly, and he attributes this to his thorough indoctrination in the combat mind−set. On conclusion he was asked by his fellow police officers if he did not feel shock and distress after having disposed of a goblin. His answer was, of course, ‘Certainly not. I feel fine. How about you?’ But there are people who still push this ‘post operational trauma’ foolishness, and far too many of them are in the police service. As we have sometimes said, ‘There is nothing wrong with winning a fight. There is a great deal wrong with losing one.’”
In Vol. 4, No. 4 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in March 1996, Cooper wrote, “The bell tolls again for another of the great. Adolf Galland, at one time the youngest two−star general in the Wehrmacht, passed away after heart surgery at the age of 83 … But more than his outstanding capacities as a warrior, Adolf Galland was distinguished as a gentleman, which is an almost extinct species.” Galland was a Nazi pilot with 103 credited kills against Allied forces.
In Vol. 4, No. 3 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in February 1996, Cooper wrote, “Following the demise of the Colonial Era, a considerable number of miscreants have discovered that the post−colonial gentry in their midst have been disinclined by generations of law and order to fight back. In New Guinea, for example, the bad guys−who are referred to as ‘raskols’−have taken to pillaging the innocent in large numbers, assuming their victims will offer no resistance. As you might suppose, times have a way of changing. Recently at Port Moresby one Mr. Cragnolini, an Australian businessman, simply refused to go along with a band of raskols who burst into a restaurant in which he and his wife were dining. The news report says that there were eleven goblins, and Cragnolini cleaned up on the lot, decking four, killing two, and scattering the rest. This was a fine performance and hailed as heroism downunder, but it simply corroborates the fact that the human hyenas of the world are astonished and dismayed when their intended victims fight back. The answer to street violence is counterattack rather than more jails.” He also wrote, “According to Louis Farrakhan, who now aspires to take over Jessie Jackson's place as fuhrer of the anti−white revolution, ‘We do not say that a woman's place is in the home, but we do say that a woman's base is in the home.’ I think that is a pretty good line.”
In Vol. 4, No. 2 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in January 1996, Cooper wrote, “Did you hear about this Israeli chick who decided she wanted to become a fighter pilot? Zahal [IDF] would not accept her, so she took the matter to court, and the Israeli supreme court [sic] finally decided that she had to be accepted. So they took her in and she washed out, solving the problem for the moment without reaching any conclusion about the morals, ethics or manners of deliberately placing a woman in harm's way. No man who is ‘properly equipped for reproduction,’ to use the Spanish expression, will do that, but of course there are other kinds of men in positions of authority.”
In Vol. 4, No. 1 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in January 1996, Cooper wrote, “Reluctant as we may be to compliment a dictator who prefers to be addressed as ‘Comrade,’ we are compelled to do so in the case of Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. He officially refers to homosexuals as ‘perverts who do not deserve civil rights.’ In his words, ‘Let the Americans keep their sodomy, bestiality, stupid and foolish ways to themselves. Let the gays be−gay−in the United States and Europe, but they shall be sad people here.’ How about that?”
In Vol. 3, No. 13 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in November 1995, Cooper wrote, “On the occasion of the recent demonstration in Washington, engineered by [Nation of Islam leader] Louis Farrakhan and others, one of his lieutenants (sporting the unimaginative name of Khalid Mohammed) is quoted in Human Events as shouting, ‘This is the time of blackman's rise and the whiteman's demise.’ Being genetically placed on one side of that confrontation, I apparently have no choice but to join the fray. This being the case I am reminded of the statement attributed to John Parker at Lexington on 19 April 1775, to wit: ‘If they mean to have a war, let it begin here!’”
In Vol. 3, No. 10 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in August 1995, Cooper wrote, “I do not think I mentioned the name of the BATgirl [federal law enforcement agent] who stomped the kitten to death in the course of the [Harry] Lamplugh raid. Her name is Donna Slusser. That is one to remember along with [FBI agent] Lon Horiuchi. We are treated to inquiries and investigations, but it seems very difficult to ask a straight question of a perpetrator. ‘Mr. Horiuchi, why did you shoot Vicki Weaver in the face? Ms. Slusser, why did you stomp on that kitten?’ ‘Self defense’ will not do.” The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms denied that the raid on Lamplugh’s home involved violence. Assistant Special Agent Robert Graham stated, “We are not picking on Mr. Lamplugh. I can't even tell you how many [media] shows he puts on. It really makes my blood boil to hear some nut and liar say that stuff.” Commenting on the animal stomping allegation, Graham said of Donna Slusser, “She's an animal-rights activist who has pets of her own. She won't even eat meat.” He went on to call Lamplugh “a chauvinist” for singling out the only female agent involved in the raid. The ATF conducted the raid with a valid search warrant based on suspicion that Lamplugh, who was a convicted felon, was in illegal possession of firearms because of his involvement in hosting numerous gun shows. Sixty firearms were recovered during the raid, and Lamplugh and his wife were later convicted on tax evasion charges. Lamplugh’s dubious account of the raid on his home was the impetus for a National Rifle Association fundraising letter that described federal law enforcement officers as “jack-booted thugs.”
In Vol. 3, No. 8 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in June 1995, Cooper wrote, “We are somewhat amused by the hysteria manifest in the press at the suggestion by Gordon Liddy that if one is menaced by bad guys (particularly the ninja [federal law enforcement agent]) one is wise to shoot for the head. That statement has got a whole bunch of journalists and commentators bleeding from the nose. One wonders why it should. Where else should you shoot a man if he is probably wearing an armored vest? If you decide to shoot you have made the big decision. Where you place your shot is merely a technical matter.” Cooper was referring to the following remark by infamous Watergate burglar Liddy: “If the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms insists upon a firefight, give them a firefight. Just remember, they're wearing flak jackets and you're better off shooting for the head.”
In Vol. 3, No. 7 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in May 1995, Cooper commented on the trial of former NFL running back O.J. Simpson—who was accused of murdering his ex-wife—by writing, “We should perhaps remember that when the peasantry become enraged they burn down cities, whereas no matter how exasperated the bourgeoisie may feel, they do not take to the streets.”
In Vol. 3, No. 6 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in April 1995, he wrote, “In view of this queasy multi−culturalism with which we are continually affronted, it occurs to us that Western Europeans gave the world to the human race and there is nothing harder to forgive than a favor.” Cooper also commented on then Attorney General Janet Reno, writing, “As you have doubtless heard, there is a bill now banging around in the House authorizing Butch Reno to recruit, train, arm and equip a federal force of 2,500 ninja, presumably to make war upon American citizens. It is up to your representatives in Congress to find out why this country needs a special force of civilian storm troopers in order to make war upon its own people.” He then shared a story that suggested that black children who beg for money should be threatened with a gun: “Herewith an interesting tactical ploy for our times. Late night shopper comes out of supermarket to be confronted by a hostile crowd of pickaninnies asking for money. The shopper greets hostiles in friendly fashion and raises a question, ‘Any of you brothers seen my speedloader?’ ‘Speedloader?’ ‘Yah, something like this,’ and he brings out his Detective Special, fishes around in his pockets and says, ‘A speedloader is something you use to load this piece. It's round and made of black rubber. I swear I dropped it around here someplace. Anybody see it?’ We have often noticed that one can frequently disconcert a goblin by asking him a question he is not prepared for. This would seem to be a good one.” “Pickaninny” is a racial slur for a black child. Cooper also added, “For those who wring their hands over the status of the poor, long−suffering Japanese, two questions should be posed about World War II in the Pacific. ‘Who started it?’ [and] ‘Who won?’ Whenever the Nips get uppity I reflect that those two questions should be engraved in bronze in prominent places throughout the now defunct Empire of the Rising Sun.”
In Vol. 3, No. 2 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in January 1995, Cooper wrote, “Our man in Saudi Arabia, whose name will remain private because of the possibility of his future employment there, tells us that the ragheads have really taken to the concept of spray−and−pray. Their idea of training is to acquire an enormous amount of the least powerful ammunition available and bum it up, preferably on full−auto. When one sheik, after going through several magazines with an MP5, noted that there were no holes in his target, he observed he needed more practice.”
In Vol. 3, No. 3 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in January 1995, he wrote, “The decay of the late, great country of South Africa is beginning to become apparent. The name of the Transvaal has been officially changed to ‘Gauteng.’ (One of our friends has suggested that in view of this its inhabitants in the future should be referred to as Oranggautengs.) … And now there is a move afoot to wreck the Kruger National Park, one of the wonders of the world, on the notion that a good bit of its land was ‘taken from the blacks.’ This idea is somewhat akin to giving Yellowstone Park back to the Blackfeet.” The “decay” Cooper was referring to was the end of the white supremacist Apartheid government in South Africa in May 1994.
In Vol. 2, No. 16 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in December 1994, he wrote, “I have been criticized by referring to our federal masked men as ‘ninja,’ when in the view of the critic the traditional role of the ninja in Japan was to fight against oppression and tyranny. Let us note that almost no one ever resorts to force and violence unless he is convinced that his cause is right, but without going into that let us reflect upon the fact that a man who covers his face shows reason to be ashamed of what he is doing. A man who takes it upon himself to shed blood while concealing his identity is a revolting perversion of the warrior ethic. It has long been my conviction that a masked man with a gun is a target. I see no reason to change that view.” He also wrote, “For the FBI to investigate [FBI sniper Lon] Horiuchi is somewhat like Hitler's investigating [Nazi SS leader Heinrich] Himmler. But no matter what [former Attorney General Janet] Reno and [former FBI director Louis] Freeh and [former FBI agent Richard] Rogers and Horiuchi may say, that case is not closed. Whether Horiuchi committed a procedural error at Ruby Ridge is not important. What he committed was a mortal sin, and that sin will find him out. The only appropriate demise for this man now would seem to be the traditional route of sepukku [suicide], with which he should be familiar. If he needs a proper knife I have one, which I will provide to him upon request.” Horiuchi received death threats from anti-government extremists after his role in a shooting during the Ruby Ridge standoff. While attempting to shoot armed extremist Kevin Harris, Horiuchi instead killed an unarmed woman, Randy Weaver’s wife Vicki.
In Vol. 2, No. 15 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in December 1994, Cooper wrote, “Recently in the waiting room of an office in Prescott we heard a customer, looking at us, remark, ‘The man has a pistol.’ My response was, ‘Yea, we just won the election!’ I do not know if the customer got the point, but I did enjoy the exchange.” In January 1995, the Republican Party took control of the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time since 1954. Cooper also called Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first “Grand Wizard” of the Ku Klux Klan, “an amazing man.”
In Vol. 2, No. 14 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in November 1994, Cooper shared a poem celebrating a 1994 incident where a man fired 29 rounds from an assault rifle at the White House. The poem, in part, read, “The White House, it was shot up/It was only tit for tat/Shame on the fellow with the SKS/He shot like a Democrat.” Cooper also listed several “humorous” made-up statistics, including, “71% of feminist agitators tend to be ugly.”
In Vol. 2, No. 13 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in October 1994, Cooper wrote, “Since we are informed that these black ninja [federal government] helicopters do not in fact exist, we may infer that if you shoot one down it does not count.” He also wrote, “A friend of ours stationed in Korea recently tried to get through the exit station at the airport in possession of his legally−owned personal weapons. Long ago we used to report an occasion of total administrative confusion as a ‘Chinese Fire Drill.’ The term was then replaced by ‘Father's Day in Harlem,’ which, in turn, was supplanted by ‘An Iranian Funeral.’ Now we have the latest in this series, which is ‘A Korean Security Check.’”
In Vol. 2, No. 11 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in September 1994, Cooper wrote, “I am simply not going to use the term ‘rifle person.’ As Churchill, master of the English language, once said, ‘Man’ embraces ‘Woman,’ which is exactly as it should be.” He also added, “The federal ninja seem to be building up their strength, and the black unmarked helicopters sneaked by Gunsite just today! Aircraft controllers tell us that these people regard themselves as above the law, and do not need clearance or authorization for any of their activities. This matter has to be explored, and I suggest that you actuate your legislators as soon as possible. We hear from a man who is in a position to know that one of the best uses for laser sights is the attack to the ground from a helicopter with a fully automatic rifle. Now who needs to know how to do this?”
In Vol. 2, No. 10 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in August 1994, Cooper wrote, “I once spent a couple of weeks in a hospital bed adjoining that of a Marine officer of distinguished record who told me, in confidence, that what he enjoyed more than anything else was killing Japs. This attitude may be improper in today's diminished society, but the gentleman concerned is now dead and his reputation is safe.”
In Vol. 2, No. 8 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in July 1994, Cooper wrote, “An informal poll conducted in the area of Harare (ex−Salisbury, Rhodesia) indicates that the great majority want Ian Smith back in place of Robert Mugaby. If Mugaby finds out about this, Mr. Smith's head rests very lightly on his shoulders.” Ian Smith was the white supremacist leader of Rhodesia who enforced white minority rule of the nation until 1980. Robert Mugabe became president when the country declared independence from the British and became Zimbabwe. Cooper also described a business deal gone sour involving the sale of Gunsite, his firearms training facility, as “the great lynch party of April Fool 1993.” Turning to the topic of the Vietnam War, Cooper described Vietnamese as “slant−eyed little fiends.” He then added that, “If Nicole Simpson had studied at Gunsite she would now be a wealthy widow.” Simpson was murdered in 1994 and her ex-husband former NFL star O.J. Simpson was eventually acquitted after being charged in connection with her death. Cooper then recommended that his readers purchase “Racism, Guilt and Self−Deceit" by M. Gedahlia Braun, stating “His work, which is very carefully researched and irreproachably objective, is not politically correct, which may be its strongest recommendation.” In the book’s forward, Braun writes, “It was obvious to [black Africans] that whites were ‘cleverer’ and they made no bones about it. It is whites who feel guilty about this and blame themselves for black failure. Shrewd blacks use this ‘guilt’ to blackmail, browbeat and bamboozle whites. This sham anger is a principal weapon of psychological warfare. It is used by women against men, blacks against whites, homosexuals against straights and islam [sic] against the West—though always with the help of the (alleged) wrong-doers … Blacks are deficient in abstract thinking and this leads to moral blindness … Blacks’ difficulty in thinking of the future explains, e.g., their high rate of criminality and HIV.”
In Vol. 2, No. 5 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in May 1994, Cooper wrote, “We see that the Bahutu [Hutu] and the Watutsi [Tutsi] have resumed their age−old hostilities. Truly they enjoy this sort of thing, and what they may lack in aptitude they make up in enthusiasm. This, of course, is one of the rewards of independence. The Belgian administration did not put up with it.” Later, he added, “How long do you suppose it will take Jesse Jackson to discover that the horror in Rwanda was caused by the French abandonment of their colonial policies and leaving these people to their own devices?” Cooper was referring to the genocide in Rwanda where up to 1,000,000 Tutsis were massacred by Hutus. He also wrote, “Let us all gather round to meet the New Woman of The Nineties. Her name is Tonya Rodham Bobbitt.” Cooper was referencing Tonya Harding (who was implicated in a violent attack on a rival figure skater), then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Lorena Bobbitt (who was famous for an incident where she severed her husband’s penis).
In Vol. 2, No. 3 of Jeff Cooper’s Comenntaries published in March 1994, Cooper wrote, “Major Robert Hines, of the DC Park Police, maintains that [Deputy Whitehouse Counsel for President Bill Clinton] Vincent Foster, who was found dead in the park, was in possession of a ‘38−caliber 1911 Colt army revolver.’ Now there is a collector's item for you!” He also added, “The newspaper accounts coming out of the Waco trials are quite unbelievable at this distance. It would appear that the attorneys for the FBI are talking about some other occurrence entirely. They are quoted as telling the jury that ‘These people (the Branch Davidians) wanted to destroy your country!’ Somehow I never got that impression. What I would like to find out, however, is what sort of wounds caused the death of the three BATmen [ATF agents] who entered the upper story first. Those men were buried before anyone got a good answer to that question, and evidently it was not raised at the trial. It matters, however, if the BATmen shot each other, as seems likely. That might well be verified by the nature of their wounds.” Cooper also quoted Howard McCord’s novel “The Coming Civil War in America,” stating, “What Clinton and his kind want to develop is a population which sees itself as a victim of violent crime, economic injustice, racial and sexual prejudice, and helpless to correct these wrongs without government assistance. People who see themselves as victims look to rescuers, look to those who will help, for a victim is one who is demonstrably incapable of doing things for himself. He wouldn't be a victim otherwise. And under no circumstances must a victim take action on his own to remedy the evil he suffers from. Never. He should call the government to help.” Cooper also wrote that “a woman who cannot cook, like a man who cannot shoot, is in important ways incomplete.” Finally, Cooper went on to share a quote: “Under the administration of [white supremacist Cecil] Rhodes there were the fewest laws, the widest freedom, the least crime, and the truest justice I have ever seen in any part of the world.” Rhodes, a British colonialist responsible for the founding of Rhodesia, said of the British people, “I contend that we are the first race in the world, and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race.”
In Vol. 2, No. 2 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in January 1994, Cooper wrote, “Now that the media are doing their best to cover up the Waco atrocity, they have been able to downrate the news with the forensic pornography surrounding the Bobbitt case [where a woman severed her husband’s penis]. In response to this, Dan Dennehy, the renowned knife maker who has long been one of the stalwarts of Orange Gunsite, will now offer a special instrument to be known as the ‘Dan Dennehy Dick Docker,’ featuring a serrated edge and a pink plastic hilt. He will have it on special order for uppity feminists as soon as it is available.” He also stated, “The Republic is in very bad shape−probably the worst since 1776−but it does us all well to remember that the principles of the Founding Fathers stand as sound and irrefutable today as yesterday. We must bear in mind that ‘they’ cannot disarm us. They do not have the legal power, of course, but neither do they have the physical power. An army may be defeated by another army, but the people of a nation cannot be, as long as they are aware of their principles and maintain their determination to observe them. We hope, of course, that ‘they’ never presume to try, because ‘they’ simply cannot do it. What the American people need is the viscera to tell ‘them’ No! God grant that we still have the courage!” Cooper also indicated that one of the awards he gave to his students while a firearm instructor was a Scharfschützenabzeichen, a badge awarded to Nazi soldiers who had great sniper proficiency.
In Vol. 1, No. 11 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in December 1993, Cooper wrote, “Pearl Harbor Day slipped by without much notice. I daresay a huge number of our population has never heard of Pearl Harbor and has no idea of what it is like to live in a nation of unified purpose. Apparently the Nips are playing it smart by entreating us to give up our guns. That would indeed be a proper revenge for their defeat. They could not destroy us in battle so they are now doing their best to destroy us politically by abrogating our constitution. They cannot accomplish this by themselves, but they are getting a lot of help from our own wimp culture.”
In Vol. 1, No. 10 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in November 1993, Cooper wrote, “Down at Whittington, we were shown a BATF [Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms] baseball cap crediting the wearer with attendance at ‘The Waco Siege.’ Though we cannot believe it, it appears that at least some people in the nefarious organization are actually proud of what took place in Waco. One wonders if the KGB ever issued uniforms commemorating the massacre of the Katyn Forest or if the guards at Dachau or Buchenwald [Nazi concentration camps] were issued commemorative T−shirts.” He also added, “We are sorry to report that two Oriental visitors to South Africa were killed by lions in a game park last month. Apparently these people had been taught to fear tigers, but they did not understand that lions are not to be trifled with either.”
In Vol. 1, No. 9 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in October 1993, Cooper wrote, “This ‘family values’ concept seems to be burgeoning amongst the counterculture. Just recently in Phoenix a professional burglar went about his business accompanied by his wife and children. (Was he perhaps thinking of the statement, ‘The family that preys together, stays together’?) In any case, when he was shot dead by one of his victims in broad daylight, his wife, who was driving the getaway car, and his children, who were interested observers, were much upset. One observer opined in the newspaper that you should not shoot people for stealing stuff. It gives one to wonder. Obviously, the constituted minions of the law are doing little about people who steal stuff. Perhaps it is indeed time for ‘the militia’ to take over. Remember that according to the Founding Fathers the militia is constituted of all the people, except for a few public servants.” He added, “Back in the Dark Ages, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation occupied a place of glory in the eyes of the young. The FBI under John Edgar Hoover was an organization to be held up as a goal for young men of sufficient ‘patriotism, valor, fidelity, and abilities.’ Now then, see what has happened! In addition to its various other transgressions, such as the Randy Weaver disaster in Idaho, the FBI has now come out for the disarmament of the American people, and has issued an official press release totally exonerating the Bureau for any sort of transgression in the Waco atrocity. I do not suppose there is anyone who has not seen the Linda Thompson tape of the action of the Federal ninja at Waco. The attempt to clear the Feds of any sort of misdemeanor in that episode completely destroys the credibility of the Bureau. Lo how the mighty are fallen!” Cooper also shared the following story: “It seems that a felon armed with a 357 revolver robbed a bank. As he left the bank, he was accosted by a policeman whom he murdered with one shot. Great excitement ensued, with the felon taking hostages and racing madly around from one store to another. When the forces of law and order had been mobilized and surrounded the goblin, a policeman volunteered to trade himself to the goblin for two hostages. This offer was accepted, at which time the felon fired at the policeman and seriously wounded him. The forces of law and order opened up with everything they had, which was mostly AUG and Glock fire. Shortly, the goblin killed himself with one round. He had fired three times and achieved three hits. The police, according to their official report, fired 1,261 rounds without drawing blood. At one time, we used to refer to an event of this sort as a ‘Chinese Fire Drill.’ Later we came to call if ‘Father's Day in Harlem.’ After the interment of the Ayatollah Khomeini, we began to call it ‘An Iranian Funeral.’ Now, I guess we can call it ‘A Viennese Bank Robbery.’ As I have often stated, if someone wants to shoot at me, I sure hope he does it on full−auto.”
In Vol. 1, No. 8 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in September 1993, Cooper blamed victims of rape for not successfully fighting off their attackers by writing, “We read in the Washington Times of some character in the vicinity of Washington, DC, who has raped three different women, always wearing black and armed with, of all things, a cross bow. Now how does one go about his sexual jollies when he is armed with a cross bow? Apparently the instinct to fight back has been all but bred out of the American people. Either that or the law of the survival of the fittest has been repealed.” He also wrote, “It would appear that the media are desperately attempting to sweep Waco [standoff] under the rug. Let us hope this takes more sweeping than they can handle. The success or failure of the National Health Plan or of NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement] are trivial considerations compared to the menace of the federal ninja making war upon American citizens on no stronger grounds than suspicion of bad behavior. We are thankful for the policies of [fellow NRA board member] Colonel Bob Brown, publisher of Soldier of Fortune, who is determined not to let the matter drop. We simply must do something about these fat men with face masks and MP5s who shoot down unarmed citizens. Personally, I would not think that the American people would stand for this, but then I am a member of an older generation which took the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution with more than a grain of salt … It has been suggested that the reason that our federal ninja wear face covering on raids is that they are not American citizens. The suggestion is that UN troops of other nationalities are being employed on these nefarious affairs so as not to be liable for prosecution in the United States. Now this may be a farfetched idea, but when the feds will not level with us we must be free to draw our own conclusions.”
In Vol. 1, No. 6 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in September 1993, he wrote, “I do not know who can speak for the ‘American People’−certainly not I−but street crime I can handle, whereas if I resist the ninja [federal law enforcement agents] I will almost certainly perish. No reasonably competent man need be afraid of crumby little punks in big cities, but those people in black masks breaking down your doors in the small hours of the morning and backed up by armored vehicles and helicopters are too much for the householder, even if they do tend to be overweight and bad shots. These are dark times indeed, and we bear up as best we may.” Cooper also added that in World War II, “The Germans gathered together ethnic divisions from all over Europe in which men of the same linguistic and cultural background could serve together. The Georgian SS division conducted itself with distinction in normal military action, but a good many people seem to think that anybody who was ever a member of the SS was automatically a war criminal.” The SS were the armed wing of the Nazi Party and were charged with implementing Adolf Hitler’s “final solution” to rid Europe of Jews and other groups of people the Nazi leader hated.
In Vol. 1, No. 5 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in August 1993, Cooper recommended his readers view the film “Waco: The Big Lie.” The film promotes several conspiracy theories related to the 1993 standoff between the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and a sect of anti-government Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, including a false claim that agents of the United States government, rather than Branch Davidians, were responsible for the shooting deaths of four ATF agents. Cooper wrote, “This is the unexpurgated record of the atrocity at Waco, and while it does not have all the answers, it certainly poses all the questions … But the big one, of course, is why the United States government, in its majesty, saw fit to declare war upon a group of citizens guilty of no offense. The only defense that the feds have suggested up to now is that the whole thing is a hoax. When you look at the tape, see if you think that it is.” The Waco standoff began in February 1993 after ATF agents attempting to serve a valid search warrant on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas were met with gunfire, and ended 50 days later in another violent incident. Commenting on the dismissal of FBI Director William Sessions for financial improprieties, Cooper wrote, “Now we need the [head] of [Attorney General Janet] Reno … Note that [NRA Board Member] Senator Larry Craig of Idaho is hard at work on that one.” Additionally, Cooper related an anecdote from a friend about a police officer shooting a criminal suspect and added, “See how lucky Rodney King was to escape with his life?”
In Vol. 1, No. 3 of Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries published in July 1993, Cooper wrote, “Nonetheless, it is the month in which we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence, in which it was set forth unmistakably for posterity that human rights are not granted by man but rather by God, and that when any government or institution threatens those rights it is the duty of the people to abolish it. That is an idea especially pungent at this stage of America's political devolution.” He also added, “It was interesting to observe the Attorney General [Janet Reno] coming forth to ‘accept full responsibility’ for the atrocity at Waco. One wonders what that means. When one accepts responsibility, one accepts appropriate punishment for one's transgression. The Japanese have a long tradition of the proper means of accepting responsibility. It is conducted by means of a short, sharp knife. I have such a piece in my armory and I would be glad to part with it in a good cause, such as appropriate use by the Attorney General.” Continuing to discuss standoffs at Ruby Ridge and Waco between anti-government extremists and federal law enforcement, Cooper wrote, “How long are the American people going to put up with this sort of thing? It is popular, at this time, to compare the behavior of our uncontrolled federal agents to that of the Nazis in the Third Reich. It may be that this is a valid comparison, but the Nazis are long ago and far away, whereas the ninja in the US are right now in full−cry and apparently without fear of any sort of control. They move mainly at night. They conceal their faces. They use overwhelming firepower and they make almost no effort to identify their targets. They are scarier than the Nazis − who at least never concealed their faces.”
In April 1991, Cooper wrote in Guns & Ammo magazine, “The consensus is that no more than five to ten people in a hundred who die by gunfire in Los Angeles are any loss to society. These people fight small wars amongst themselves. It would seem a valid social service to keep them well-supplied with ammunition.”
Chris Cox (Executive Director)
In a March 18, 2023 op-ed for The Hill, Cox wrote, “A mandate for truly ‘universal’ background checks would put the federal government squarely in the middle of every sale, loan or gift of a firearm between private individuals. In other words, it would criminalize all private firearms transfers, even between family members or friends who have known each other all of their lives.” In fact, Senator Chuck Schumer’s Fix Gun Checks Act of 2013, which Cox made reference to, exempts "bona fide gifts between spouses, between parents and their children, between siblings, or between grandparents and their grandchildren" from the background check requirement. The legislation also includes exemption from the background check requirement for temporary transfers for hunting and other sporting purposes.
In a January 25, 2023 press release from the NRA-ILA, Cox wrote about an article in The Hill that reported the NRA was working on a bill with Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) to implement universal background checks on all firearms purchases. The release stated, “NRA does NOT support universal background checks and is not working with Manchin to implement this type of legislation. NRA opposes, and will continue to oppose, universal background checks.” Several polls conducted in January 2013 in the wake of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary indicated overwhelming public support for universal background checks. A public opinion poll published by the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health found that 89% of Americans and 74% of NRA members supported requiring a background check for all gun sales. A poll conducted by the Pew Research Center found that 85% of Americans and gun owners favored making private gun sales subject to background checks. A CBS/New York Times poll found that 92% of Americans and 85% of respondents living in a household with an NRA member supported universal background checks. At one time, even the NRA supported expanding background checks. In May 1999, following the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre told Congress that the NRA supported background checks on all firearms purchases at gun shows. A 1999 NRA ad in USA Today read, “We believe it's reasonable to provide for instant background checks at gun shows, just like gun stores and pawn shops.”
In a November 15, 2023 op-ed for the Daily Caller, Cox wrote about the November 6 presidential election, stating, “As long as dedicated patriots continue to band together and fight as though freedom itself is on the line—because it is—we will defend the Second Amendment in [President Barack] Obama’s second term and save it for generations to come. For gun owners, the next four years won’t just be the fight of our lives, it will be a fight for the future of our nation. We’re ready to lead the charge.”
On October 5, 2012, Cox announced the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund’s endorsement of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in Fishersville, Virginia. Cox stated, “Friends, what we do between now and November 6th will determine the type of country our kids and our grandkids grow up in. The question is, will it be a country of more government, more spending, more debt, more government intrusion into our personal lives, and less freedom? It’s important because that’s [President] Barack Obama’s vision for the future of our country. It’s a country we’d hardly recognize, let alone wanna live in … There are a hundred reasons to deny Barack Obama four more years in office, but none are more important than defending the freedoms that make this country great. These are the freedoms that we have to fight for because these are the freedoms that are at stake in this election. So fight. Do everything you can between now and election day … Today, we live in an America that is getting harder to recognize every day led by a President who mocks our values, belittles our faith, and is threatened by our freedom. Barack Obama is just another Washington, D.C. politician who will say whatever it takes to get elected. But don’t believe him … Thankfully we have a choice and the choice could not be more clear.”
In a September 7, 2023 op-ed for the Daily Caller, Cox wrote, “So far this year, 369 people have been murdered in Chicago … [President Barack] Obama’s 2012 party platform makes it clear that if he wins re-election, he will work to bring the same, dangerous anti-gun policies that are destroying Chicago to cities and towns nationwide. For that reason, November’s election presents a clear choice between our Second Amendment freedoms and fundamental right to self-defense…and the murder and mayhem that Barack Obama helped bring to Chicago, but now wants us all to ignore.” The Democratic National Committee’s party platform states, “We recognize that the individual right to bear arms is an important part of the American tradition, and we will preserve Americans' Second Amendment right to own and use firearms. We believe that the right to own firearms is subject to reasonable regulation. We understand the terrible consequences of gun violence; it serves as a reminder that life is fragile, and our time here is limited and precious. We believe in an honest, open national conversation about firearms. We can focus on effective enforcement of existing laws, especially strengthening our background check system, and we can work together to enact commonsense improvements—like reinstating the assault weapons ban and closing the gun show loophole—so that guns do not fall into the hands of those irresponsible, law-breaking few." Most of the crime guns recovered in Chicago are originally bought in Illinois. According to a 2008 to 2012 study by the University of Chicago Crime Lab, 45% of Illinois’ crime guns come from one county within the state, Cook County. Chuck’s Gun Store, in Cook County, supplies approximately 20% of the crime guns in Illinois. Roseanna Ander, executive director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab, said that the data “suggests a key strategy in keep guns off the street is for law enforcement agencies to target the local gun stores most likely to sell firearms to straw purchasers.”
On July 12, 2012, Cox wrote a letter to U.S. Senators in opposition to the DISCLOSE Act of 2012, a bill that would require disclosure of the corporations and high-dollar individual donors paying for “independent expenditure” political ads. In the letter, Cox stated that the Act’s “provisions require organizations to turn membership and donor lists over to the government” and would violate the right of citizens “to speak and associate privately and anonymously.” Cox threatened, “Due to the importance of the fundamental speech and associational rights of the National Rifle Association’s four million members, and considering the blatant attack on those rights that S. 3369 represents, we strongly oppose the DISCLOSE Act and will consider votes on this legislation in future candidate evaluations.” In fact, groups such as the NRA would not be required to disclose their entire membership or donor list, only the names of those donors whose aggregate donation during the reporting cycle was $10,000 or more. Organizations like the NRA could keep the names of some of their high dollar donors private under the legislation by setting up a separate bank account for independent political spending. Groups would only have to disclose the names of their high dollar donors whose money funded such independent expenditures. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion in the controversial Citizens United decision endorsed this sort of disclosure as “the less-restrictive alternative to more comprehensive speech regulations.”
In a July 2, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Cox wrote, “Today begins the most important 26-day period for our Second Amendment freedoms in recent history. That’s because today, representatives from many of the world’s socialist, tyrannical and dictatorial regimes will gather at United Nations headquarters in New York for a month-long meeting, in which they’ll put the finishing touches on an international Arms Trade Treaty that could seriously restrict your freedom to own, purchase and carry a firearm.” Cox was referring to a U.N. Small Arms Treaty which would set only international standards for the import/export of conventional weapons—leaving it to individual countries to “regulate internal transfers of arms and national ownership, including through national constitutional protections on private ownership.” Cox added, “You might think that something so obviously menacing to one of our enumerated fundamental rights would receive a strong rebuke from our top government leaders. But you’d be wrong. This is President Barack Obama’s vision for America, and we’re expected to just go along with it. In fact, a group of anti-gun members of the U.S. House of Representatives, led by U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), went so far as to circulate a letter last week to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, in which they ‘strongly urge the United States to take a leadership role in pushing for a strong, verifiable Arms Trade Treaty’ … Since when did it become fashionable for sitting members of Congress to lobby international thugs, tyrants and dictators against our own U.S. Constitution?”
In a June 28, 2012, interview with NRA News, Cox spoke about a vote in the House of Representatives to hold U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in criminal contempt for refusing to comply with a Congressional subpoena for documents related to the “Fast and Furious” gun trafficking investigation on the southwest border. Cox stated, “The truth is, we’ve talked a lot about our dislike of Eric Holder. There’s no surprise that we think there’s something there … We believe, and have every reason to believe, that this was all part of their agenda to undermine the Second Amendment … I can assure you that Eric Holder’s contempt for the Second Amendment is the only thing that probably is stronger than Congress’ contempt for Eric Holder … We called for Eric Holder’s resignation over a year ago … But the best way to deal with Eric Holder, the best way to deal with these problems, is to defeat this president in November and to get some new people in there that have a little bit of common sense, a little bit of law enforcement background, that is legitimate, and that won’t be used to pursue a political agenda.” A report released by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General on September 19, 2023 found that there is no evidence that “Fast and Furious” was part of a broader conspiracy to advance new gun regulations. The report also found that there is no evidence that Attorney General Eric Holder was aware of the tactics used in the investigation until after it was concluded in 2011.
In the May 2012 issue of America’s 1st Freedom, Cox wrote, “If you’re like me…you’re disgusted by what has come out of the White House in the last three years. It’s not just [President Barack] Obama’s false claim of supporting the Second Amendment, whether to win election in 2008…or to dupe voters in electoral battleground states today. It’s also the repetitive, arrogant disregard for legal and traditional limits on presidential power.” Cox concluded, stating, “Together our ballots will help decide whether…election day 2012 goes down in history as the day we reaffirmed our belief that America is different, and ended the failed Obama experiment once and for all.”
In an April 17, 2012, interview with NRA News at the 2012 NRA Convention in St. Louis, Cox stated, “This is a different kind of election. This isn’t a normal election. This is going to be the toughest fight of our lives…losing is simply not an option … We know what [President Barack Obama’s] campaign strategy is. They’re gonna tell people for the next six months that nobody’s guns have been banned, that the president supports the Second Amendment. It’s a lie .” He continued, stating, “This is about economic freedom. It’s about religious freedom. It’s about constitutional freedom and the most fundamental of all of ‘em is your ability to defend the rest, which is the Second Amendment. And it’s at risk. It’s in play in this election. And we simply can’t afford to lose it.”
On April 14, 2012, in a speech at the NRA Convention in St. Louis, Cox stated, “Friends, I know why President [Barack] Obama pays so little attention to the law. He thinks he’s above the law … He seems to think he’s the king of all three branches. How’s that for arrogance, folks?” Later, Cox referred to a discussion President Obama had with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in which he told Medvedev he would have “more flexibility” to deal with contentious foreign policy issues, such as missile defense, following the November 2012 elections. Cox quipped, “In other words, ‘cut me some slack Dmitry. Once I con these annoying voters into reelecting me in November, I can do whatever I want.’” Cox then warned the audience, “The stakes of this year’s election couldn’t be higher … Freedom is what’s at stake and it’s what we’ll lose if we fail. Let us cling to our firearms…with every fiber of our being.”
In a November 15, 2023 op-ed for the Daily Caller, Cox wrote about the November 6 presidential election, stating, “As long as dedicated patriots continue to band together and fight as though freedom itself is on the line—because it is—we will defend the Second Amendment in [President Barack] Obama’s second term and save it for generations to come. For gun owners, the next four years won’t just be the fight of our lives, it will be a fight for the future of our nation. We’re ready to lead the charge.”
On October 5, 2012, Cox announced the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund’s endorsement of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in Fishersville, Virginia. Cox stated, “Friends, what we do between now and November 6th will determine the type of country our kids and our grandkids grow up in. The question is, will it be a country of more government, more spending, more debt, more government intrusion into our personal lives, and less freedom? It’s important because that’s [President] Barack Obama’s vision for the future of our country. It’s a country we’d hardly recognize, let alone wanna live in … There are a hundred reasons to deny Barack Obama four more years in office, but none are more important than defending the freedoms that make this country great. These are the freedoms that we have to fight for because these are the freedoms that are at stake in this election. So fight. Do everything you can between now and election day … Today, we live in an America that is getting harder to recognize every day led by a President who mocks our values, belittles our faith, and is threatened by our freedom. Barack Obama is just another Washington, D.C. politician who will say whatever it takes to get elected. But don’t believe him … Thankfully we have a choice and the choice could not be more clear.”
In a September 7, 2023 op-ed for the Daily Caller, Cox wrote, “So far this year, 369 people have been murdered in Chicago … [President Barack] Obama’s 2012 party platform makes it clear that if he wins re-election, he will work to bring the same, dangerous anti-gun policies that are destroying Chicago to cities and towns nationwide. For that reason, November’s election presents a clear choice between our Second Amendment freedoms and fundamental right to self-defense…and the murder and mayhem that Barack Obama helped bring to Chicago, but now wants us all to ignore.” The Democratic National Committee’s party platform states, “We recognize that the individual right to bear arms is an important part of the American tradition, and we will preserve Americans' Second Amendment right to own and use firearms. We believe that the right to own firearms is subject to reasonable regulation. We understand the terrible consequences of gun violence; it serves as a reminder that life is fragile, and our time here is limited and precious. We believe in an honest, open national conversation about firearms. We can focus on effective enforcement of existing laws, especially strengthening our background check system, and we can work together to enact commonsense improvements—like reinstating the assault weapons ban and closing the gun show loophole—so that guns do not fall into the hands of those irresponsible, law-breaking few.” Most of the crime guns recovered in Chicago are originally bought in Illinois. According to a 2008 to 2012 study by the University of Chicago Crime Lab, 45% of Illinois’ crime guns come from one county within the state, Cook County. Chuck’s Gun Store, in Cook County, supplies approximately 20% of the crime guns in Illinois. Roseanna Ander, executive director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab, said that the data “suggests a key strategy in keep guns off the street is for law enforcement agencies to target the local gun stores most likely to sell firearms to straw purchasers.”
On July 12, 2012, Cox wrote a letter to U.S. Senators in opposition to the DISCLOSE Act of 2012, a bill that would require disclosure of the corporations and high-dollar individual donors paying for “independent expenditure” political ads. In the letter, Cox stated that the Act’s “provisions require organizations to turn membership and donor lists over to the government” and would violate the right of citizens “to speak and associate privately and anonymously.” Cox threatened, “Due to the importance of the fundamental speech and associational rights of the National Rifle Association’s four million members, and considering the blatant attack on those rights that S. 3369 represents, we strongly oppose the DISCLOSE Act and will consider votes on this legislation in future candidate evaluations.” In fact, groups such as the NRA would not be required to disclose their entire membership or donor list, only the names of those donors whose aggregate donation during the reporting cycle was $10,000 or more. Organizations like the NRA could keep the names of some of their high dollar donors private under the legislation by setting up a separate bank account for independent political spending. Groups would only have to disclose the names of their high dollar donors whose money funded such independent expenditures. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion in the controversial Citizens United decision endorsed this sort of disclosure as “the less-restrictive alternative to more comprehensive speech regulations.”
In a July 2, 2023 op-ed for The Washington Times, Cox wrote, “Today begins the most important 26-day period for our Second Amendment freedoms in recent history. That’s because today, representatives from many of the world’s socialist, tyrannical and dictatorial regimes will gather at United Nations headquarters in New York for a month-long meeting, in which they’ll put the finishing touches on an international Arms Trade Treaty that could seriously restrict your freedom to own, purchase and carry a firearm.” Cox was referring to a U.N. Small Arms Treaty which would set only international standards for the import/export of conventional weapons—leaving it to individual countries to “regulate internal transfers of arms and national ownership, including through national constitutional protections on private ownership.” Cox added, “You might think that something so obviously menacing to one of our enumerated fundamental rights would receive a strong rebuke from our top government leaders. But you’d be wrong. This is President Barack Obama’s vision for America, and we’re expected to just go along with it. In fact, a group of anti-gun members of the U.S. House of Representatives, led by U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), went so far as to circulate a letter last week to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, in which they ‘strongly urge the United States to take a leadership role in pushing for a strong, verifiable Arms Trade Treaty’ … Since when did it become fashionable for sitting members of Congress to lobby international thugs, tyrants and dictators against our own U.S. Constitution?”
In the May 2012 issue of America’s 1st Freedom, Cox wrote, “If you’re like me…you’re disgusted by what has come out of the White House in the last three years. It’s not just [President Barack] Obama’s false claim of supporting the Second Amendment, whether to win election in 2008…or to dupe voters in electoral battleground states today. It’s also the repetitive, arrogant disregard for legal and traditional limits on presidential power.” Cox concluded, stating, “Together our ballots will help decide whether…election day 2012 goes down in history as the day we reaffirmed our belief that America is different, and ended the failed Obama experiment once and for all.”
In an April 17, 2012, interview with NRA News at the 2012 NRA Convention in St. Louis, Cox stated, “This is a different kind of election. This isn’t a normal election. This is going to be the toughest fight of our lives…losing is simply not an option … We know what [President Barack Obama’s] campaign strategy is. They’re gonna tell people for the next six months that nobody’s guns have been banned, that the president supports the Second Amendment. It’s a lie.” He continued, stating, “This is about economic freedom. It’s about religious freedom. It’s about constitutional freedom and the most fundamental of all of ‘em is your ability to defend the rest, which is the Second Amendment. And it’s at risk. It’s in play in this election. And we simply can’t afford to lose it.”
On April 14, 2012, in a speech at the NRA Convention in St. Louis, Cox stated, “Friends, I know why President [Barack] Obama pays so little attention to the law. He thinks he’s above the law … He seems to think he’s the king of all three branches. How’s that for arrogance, folks?” Later, Cox referred to a discussion President Obama had with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in which he told Medvedev he would have “more flexibility” to deal with contentious foreign policy issues, such as missile defense, following the November 2012 elections. Cox quipped, “In other words, ‘cut me some slack Dmitry. Once I con these annoying voters into reelecting me in November, I can do whatever I want.’” Cox then warned the audience, “The stakes of this year’s election couldn’t be higher … Freedom is what’s at stake and it’s what we’ll lose if we fail. Let us cling to our firearms…with every fiber of our being.”
On April 30, 2011, in a speech at the NRA Convention in Pittsburgh, Cox “revisit[ed] some words from [his] political dictionary.” The first of those words was “jack-ass,” which Cox attributed to HBO talk show host Bill Maher, stating, “We will never stop fighting for the Second Amendment or the Constitution which also protects his First Amendment right to be a complete jack-ass.” The second was “hypocrite,” which Cox attributed to filmmaker Spike Lee, who had criticized the NRA for their violent rhetoric following the attempted assassination of Gabby Giffords in Tuscon, Arizona. Cox noted that in May 1999 Lee stated that [Former NRA President] Charlton Heston should be shot. “It was Charlton Heston who opened up Hollywood so African Americans like you could become millionaires,” Cox said. “Instead of running your mouth, why don’t you just do the right thing and say, ‘Thank you Mr. Heston.'”
Turning to the topic of the United Nations, Cox warned, “At the United Nations, freedom-hating governments are working to eliminate firearms ownership around the world and here at home. You’ve seen it on our southern border. Narco-terrorist violence is being exploited. Corrupt government officials and gun ban groups are using Mexico’s problems as an excuse to ban guns. And if that’s not bad enough, Mexico just announced they want to sue American gun companies. Their drugs and violence are flowing across the border into our country, but they’re suin’ us? If anything, we should be suin’ them.” Cox was referring to a U.N. Small Arms Treaty which would set only international standards for the export of conventional weapons—leaving domestic laws regulating the possession of firearms untouched.
In the February 2011 issue of America’s 1st Freedom, Cox accused “anti-gun groups” of a “secretive…assault on the Second Amendment through [administrative agencies],” stating, “anti-gun forces will use any means at their disposal, no matter how undemocratic, to undermine the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.” Cox made reference to Mayors Against Illegal Guns’ “Blueprint for Federal Action,” a document which calls for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to promulgate or clarify certain regulations, including a regulation to require firearm manufacturers, distributors and dealers to report thefts of their products as soon as they are made aware of them; a regulation requiring gun manufacturers to put a second, hidden, serial number on every newly manufactured gun, and; a regulation requiring domestic manufacturers to use a standardized system for numbering firearms. Legislation that creates an administrative agency often authorizes the agency to promulgate rules through notice-and-comment rulemaking. The agency may also interpret the provisions of the legislation that created it, if the legislation is ambiguous and the agency interpretation is reasonable.
On April 30, 2011, in a speech at the NRA Convention in Pittsburgh, Cox “revisit[ed] some words from [his] political dictionary.” The first of those words was “jack-ass,” which Cox attributed to HBO talk show host Bill Maher, stating, “We will never stop fighting for the Second Amendment or the Constitution which also protects his First Amendment right to be a complete jack-ass.” The second was “hypocrite,” which Cox attributed to filmmaker Spike Lee, who had criticized the NRA for their violent rhetoric following the attempted assassination of Gabby Giffords in Tuscon, Arizona. Cox noted that in May 1999 Lee stated that [Former NRA President] Charlton Heston should be shot. “It was Charlton Heston who opened up Hollywood so African Americans like you could become millionaires,” Cox said. “Instead of running your mouth, why don’t you just do the right thing and say, ‘Thank you Mr. Heston.”
Turning to the topic of the United Nations, Cox warned, “At the United Nations, freedom-hating governments are working to eliminate firearms ownership around the world and here at home. You’ve seen it on our southern border. Narco-terrorist violence is being exploited. Corrupt government officials and gun ban groups are using Mexico’s problems as an excuse to ban guns. And if that’s not bad enough, Mexico just announced they want to sue American gun companies. Their drugs and violence are flowing across the border into our country, but they’re suin’ us? If anything, we should be suin’ them.” Cox was referring to a U.N. Small Arms Treaty which would set only international standards for the export of conventional weapons—leaving domestic laws regulating the possession of firearms untouched.
In the February 2011 issue of America’s 1st Freedom, Cox accused “anti-gun groups” of a “secretive…assault on the Second Amendment through [administrative agencies],” stating, “anti-gun forces will use any means at their disposal, no matter how undemocratic, to undermine the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.” Cox made reference to Mayors Against Illegal Guns’ “Blueprint for Federal Action,” a document which calls for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to promulgate or clarify certain regulations, including a regulation to require firearm manufacturers, distributors and dealers to report thefts of their products as soon as they are made aware of them; a regulation requiring gun manufacturers to put a second, hidden, serial number on every newly manufactured gun, and; a regulation requiring domestic manufacturers to use a standardized system for numbering firearms. Legislation that creates an administrative agency often authorizes the agency to promulgate rules through notice-and-comment rulemaking. The agency may also interpret the provisions of the legislation that created it, if the legislation is ambiguous and the agency interpretation is reasonable.
On May 15, 2023 in a speech at the NRA Convention in Charlotte, Cox asked the audience, “Ladies and gentlemen, did you ever have the memory of some event in your life sneak up on you out of nowhere, smack you in the face and make you cringe with regret because you wish you had done something different? Now, I’m not talking about college indiscretions. I’m talking about Election Day 2008 [when President Barack Obama was elected president]. I bet a lot of people look back on that day and wish they could turn back the clock.” He continued, stating, “Every pro-gun leader you elect and anti-gun politician you defeat means fewer bad laws and more good laws. Good laws that make us all safer and prove that we're right, the gun-haters are wrong, and they need to keep their hands off our safety and our freedom ... That’s important, because every time we reduce fees, extend the length of your permit, or expand where you can carry can mean the difference between life and death. Self-defense reform is real health care reform.” He warned, “Look at what these politicians are doing. To pay for things we didn't ask for, can't afford, and don't need...they're scrapping things we can't live without ... When all this hits the fan and the politicians want cheap, easy answers, guess whose guns they're gonna come after? Yours and mine.”
On May 15, 2023 in a speech at the NRA Convention in Charlotte, Cox asked the audience, “Ladies and gentlemen, did you ever have the memory of some event in your life sneak up on you out of nowhere, smack you in the face and make you cringe with regret because you wish you had done something different? Now, I’m not talking about college indiscretions. I’m talking about Election Day 2008 [when President Barack Obama was elected president]. I bet a lot of people look back on that day and wish they could turn back the clock.” He continued, stating, “Every pro-gun leader you elect and anti-gun politician you defeat means fewer bad laws and more good laws. Good laws that make us all safer and prove that we're right, the gun-haters are wrong, and they need to keep their hands off our safety and our freedom ... That’s important, because every time we reduce fees, extend the length of your permit, or expand where you can carry can mean the difference between life and death. Self-defense reform is real health care reform.” He warned, “Look at what these politicians are doing. To pay for things we didn't ask for, can't afford, and don't need...they're scrapping things we can't live without ... When all this hits the fan and the politicians want cheap, easy answers, guess whose guns they're gonna come after? Yours and mine.”
On May 16, 2009, in a speech at the NRA Convention in Phoenix, Cox stated, “The sanctity of the Second Amendment, all of our rights, all of our freedom, is in your hands. Freedom calls you to her defense now more than ever before because she's under attack like never before.” This was because of the appointments/confirmations of Rahm Emanuel as White House Chief-of-Staff, Eric Holder as U.S. Attorney General, and Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, Cox explained. “We all know what to expect from our opponents,” he said, “They exploit tragedies. But to be honest with you, I never thought they’d pick an international tragedy. And as you've seen— that's exactly what they're doing with Mexico ... It’s been estimated that 100,000 Mexican soldiers have deserted the military in recent years to go work for the cartels. This is Mexico's problem. But the media and anti-gun politicians want us to believe that one more American gun control law or some international agreement will turn these ruthless murderers into boy scouts. You have got to be kiddin' me! We need to find 'em, arrest em', and send em' with the rest of the terrorists to Guantanamo Bay. Oh yeah, I forgot, that would be too ‘cruel.’ We should welcome them with open arms into our neighborhoods.” Cox warned, “Friends, these threats are real. Americans are concerned, and they're buyin' guns. So let’s give credit where credit’s due: In these tough times, the Obama administration deserves credit for the only part of the economy that’s goin’ strong—gun sales.” Finally, Cox told a story that “sums up the sorry state of affairs in [Washington,] D.C.”: “It’s 2006. Melroy Cort [an Iraq War veteran who had both legs amputated] and his wife are driving from their home in Ohio to Maryland. They drive through Washington, D.C. to get there. Melroy has a valid Ohio [concealed handgun] permit and he's carrying his 9mm in the car for protection. While driving through D.C., they get a flat tire, and pull over to fix it. Concerned, he takes his gun from the car and puts it in his jacket. Someone sees it happen and dials 911. Within minutes, the police show up and arrest him ... Now let me tell you a little something about D.C. If neighbors call 911 about some crack deal in progress there’s a 50/50 chance they’ll even send someone. But when a Marine Corporal –confined to a wheelchair because of his service to our country—strays into D.C. with his legally owned firearm they can’t put him in jail fast enough. And that’s our nation’s capital for ya. If you’re a gun owner, they put you in jail. But if you’re Mayor, and get caught smoking crack, they put you on the City Council.” The latter reference was to former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, who went on to serve on the D.C. City Council.
On May 16, 2009, in a speech at the NRA Convention in Phoenix, Cox stated, “The sanctity of the Second Amendment, all of our rights, all of our freedom, is in your hands. Freedom calls you to her defense now more than ever before because she's under attack like never before.” This was because of the appointments/confirmations of Rahm Emanuel as White House Chief-of-Staff, Eric Holder as U.S. Attorney General, and Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, Cox explained. “We all know what to expect from our opponents,” he said, “They exploit tragedies. But to be honest with you, I never thought they’d pick an international tragedy. And as you've seen— that's exactly what they're doing with Mexico ... It’s been estimated that 100,000 Mexican soldiers have deserted the military in recent years to go work for the cartels. This is Mexico's problem. But the media and anti-gun politicians want us to believe that one more American gun control law or some international agreement will turn these ruthless murderers into boy scouts. You have got to be kiddin' me! We need to find 'em, arrest em', and send em' with the rest of the terrorists to Guantanamo Bay. Oh yeah, I forgot, that would be too ‘cruel.’ We should welcome them with open arms into our neighborhoods.” Cox warned, “Friends, these threats are real. Americans are concerned, and they're buyin' guns. So let’s give credit where credit’s due: In these tough times, the Obama administration deserves credit for the only part of the economy that’s goin’ strong—gun sales.” Finally, Cox told a story that “sums up the sorry state of affairs in [Washington,] D.C.”: “It’s 2006. Melroy Cort [an Iraq War veteran who had both legs amputated] and his wife are driving from their home in Ohio to Maryland. They drive through Washington, D.C. to get there. Melroy has a valid Ohio [concealed handgun] permit and he's carrying his 9mm in the car for protection. While driving through D.C., they get a flat tire, and pull over to fix it. Concerned, he takes his gun from the car and puts it in his jacket. Someone sees it happen and dials 911. Within minutes, the police show up and arrest him ... Now let me tell you a little something about D.C. If neighbors call 911 about some crack deal in progress there’s a 50/50 chance they’ll even send someone. But when a Marine Corporal –confined to a wheelchair because of his service to our country—strays into D.C. with his legally owned firearm they can’t put him in jail fast enough. And that’s our nation’s capital for ya. If you’re a gun owner, they put you in jail. But if you’re Mayor, and get caught smoking crack, they put you on the City Council.” The latter reference was to former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, who went on to serve on the D.C. City Council.
At the 2005 NRA Convention in Houston, Cox remarked, “When anyone said [Democratic U.S. Senator] John Kerry was America’s favorite ‘son’—we helped them finish that sentence.” Cox told the audience, “You won’t believe [the ‘gun ban crowd’s] latest ploy. Now they say they need a list of every gun owner's personal information to cross-check for known terrorists buying guns! … We will never, never tolerate government lists of law-abiding gun owners. They can't confiscate your guns as long as they don't know who's got guns.”
At the 2005 NRA Convention in Houston, Cox remarked, “When anyone said [Democratic U.S. Senator] John Kerry was America’s favorite ‘son’—we helped them finish that sentence.” Cox told the audience, “You won’t believe [the ‘gun ban crowd’s] latest ploy. Now they say they need a list of every gun owner's personal information to cross-check for known terrorists buying guns! … We will never, never tolerate government lists of law-abiding gun owners. They can't confiscate your guns as long as they don't know who's got guns.”
chris cox (Executive Director)
In a June 28, 2012, interview with NRA News, Cox spoke about a vote in the House of Representatives to hold U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in criminal contempt for refusing to comply with a Congressional subpoena for documents related to the “Fast and Furious” gun trafficking investigation on the southwest border. Cox stated, “The truth is, we’ve talked a lot about our dislike of Eric Holder. There’s no surprise that we think there’s something there … We believe, and have every reason to believe, that this was all part of their agenda to undermine the Second Amendment … I can assure you that Eric Holder’s contempt for the Second Amendment is the only thing that probably is stronger than Congress’ contempt for Eric Holder … We called for Eric Holder’s resignation over a year ago … But the best way to deal with Eric Holder, the best way to deal with these problems, is to defeat this president in November and to get some new people in there that have a little bit of common sense, a little bit of law enforcement background, that is legitimate, and that won’t be used to pursue a political agenda.” A report released by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General on September 19, 2023 found that there is no evidence that “Fast and Furious” was part of a broader conspiracy to advance new gun regulations. The report also found that there is no evidence that Attorney General Eric Holder was aware of the tactics used in the investigation until after it was concluded in 2011.
David Coy (Board Member)
In 2012, Coy testified in a suit filed against the National Rifle Association, NRA-certified firearms instructor Thomas Simpson, and others by Terry Gonser, a resident of Oakland Township, Michigan. Simpson shot Gonser in the face during a May 5, 2023 handgun training class. The suit alleges that Simpson, then 75 years old, was shaking so badly that he required an assistant to carry his materials to the class. Simpson and his assistant both failed to check a holstered .38 caliber Smith & Wesson handgun owned by Simpson to see if it was loaded. The weapon fired, sending a bullet ricocheting off a table and into the left side of Gonser's face. Nonetheless, the NRA renewed Simpson’s certification in January 2012. Coy testified under oath that the NRA does not certify instructors to teach the Michigan Concealed Pistol License course specifically. He added in a deposition that he did not know what the NRA does to monitor its instructors or if it requires any annual training of them. According to court documents, the NRA does not require testing of instructors for physical/mental soundness or firearms knowledge and safety. The NRA also neglects to run background checks on instructors to determine if they've been convicted of violent crimes or placed in a psychiatric institution.
Larry Craig (Board Member)
On August 3, 2012, the Associated Press reported that Craig, who is being sued by the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) for allegedly misusing more than $200,000 in campaign funds for his legal defense following his 2007 arrest in a bathroom sex sting, seeks to fend off the charges by arguing that the incident was part of his official Senate business. Craig asserts that he was travelling between Idaho and the nation's capital for work and cites a Senate rule which include all charges for meals, lodging, hotel fans, cleaning, pressing of clothing—and bathrooms—as reimbursable per diem expenses. "Not only was the trip itself constitutionally required, but Senate rules sanction reimbursement for any cost relating to a senator's use of a bathroom while on official travel," wrote Craig’s lawyer in documents filed on August 2, 2012.
On June 11, 2012, Craig was sued by the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) for allegedly misusing more than $200,000 in campaign funds for his legal defense following his 2007 arrest in a bathroom sex sting. Craig had been accused of soliciting sex in a bathroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The FEC claims that Craig for U.S. Senate, the U.S. senator’s campaign account, paid at least $139,952 to the law firm Sutherland, Asbill and Brennan in Washington, D.C., and $77,032 to Kelly & Jacobson in Minnesota for legal services related to his guilty plea. The FEC stated in their complaint that Craig should be required to repay the misused funds and a fine of up to $6,500.
In 2011, Craig lobbied Congress to remove the gray wolf from protection under the Endangered Species Act. The former U.S. Senator’s client, Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, wanted the gray wolf de-listed because of concern that a recovered wolf population would eat big game animals prized by hunters. Once common in throughout North America, the gray wolf is now extinct in all but a few locations in the United States.
In 2009, New West Strategies, a lobbying firm co-founded by Craig, lobbied the federal government on behalf of two Idaho counties who wanted a federal prison to be constructed within their borders. Representatives of the counties cancelled the $5,000-per-month lobbying contract after Craig’s firm failed to secure funding in the federal budget for the project.
In an August 2007 letter to a constituent who asked about the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy concerning homosexuality, Craig wrote, “It is unacceptable to risk the lives of American soldiers and sailors merely to accommodate the sexual lifestyles of certain individuals.”
In June 2007, Craig, a married man, was arrested in a Minneapolis airport bathroom and charged with lewd conduct after an undercover male police officer accused him of making sexual advances. Craig later pled guilty to disorderly conduct. The Idaho Statesman published a comprehensive investigative report alleging that Craig engaged in sex acts with men for decades. A number of men gave accounts of sexual encounters with Craig.
In a video appearance at a 2007 “Friends of the NRA” dinner, Craig suggested that it was plausible that total firearm confiscation could occur in the United States and said, “When the government is the sole owner of firearms, you and I then become the subjects of a government, or the victims of a government, and not the free citizen that this country has been built on.”
Craig supported a 2006 Idaho state constitution amendment that prohibits gay marriages and civil unions.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Craig was hesitant to provide federal funds to aid the recovery. Preferring instead that the damaged areas of New Orleans be abandoned, he said, “Fraud is in the culture of Iraqis. I believe that is true in the state of Louisiana as well.” Craig suggested that the Lower Ninth Ward be turned “back to what it was, a wetland.”
In 2004, the Human Rights Campaign Congressional Scorecard awarded Craig a score of 0 out of a possible 100 for his positions on gay rights. His low score stemmed from his vote for a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would have limited marriage to opposite sex partners and a vote against the “Local Law Enforcement Act,” which provides federal assistance in the prosecution of hate crimes.
In a 1999 appearance on Meet the Press, Craig criticized then-President Bill Clinton for having an extramarital affair, calling Clinton “a nasty, bad, naughty boy”.
Craig urged his sexual partners to keep quiet by using threats, reportedly telling one man in 1986, “I can buy and sell your ass a thousand times over. You were never here.”
In 1982 a former male Congressional page alleged that Members of Congress had encouraged pages to engage in sexual activity and drug and alcohol use. While no Members of Congress were specifically named, then-Representative Craig issued a preemptive statement denying involvement.
Cam Edwards (NRA News Radio Host)
On the November 14, 2023 broadcast of “Cam & Company,” Edwards claimed that Glamour magazine's 2013 Women of the Year Awards had an " anti-gun agenda" because the event honored victims of gun violence, including Pakistani education reformer Malala Yousafzai, who at age 15 was targeted for assassination by the Taliban for protesting a ban on female education. The event also honored former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ)—who was wounded during a 2011 mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona—and Sandy Hook Elementary School teacher Kaitlin Roig-Debellis, who saved the lives of 15 first-graders during the December 2012 mass shooting at her school in Newtown, Connecticut. Edwards stated that while Glamour "may have the very best of intentions in pushing an anti-gun agenda," the magazine's misguided views mean that "ultimately…the ideas that they're pushing prohibit people from protecting themselves, they prohibit people from exercising self-defense, they make the world a more dangerous place for women across this country."
On the June 20, 2023 broadcast of “Cam & Company,” Edwards hosted blogger Frank Borelli. Borelli likened police officers enforcing Maryland’s gun laws to German soldiers during the Nazi regime. Responding to a question by Edwards about an editorial criticizing sheriffs who refuse to enforce newly passed gun laws, Borelli said, “I'd like to ask Mr. [Maryland State Delegate Jon] Cardin one question: Does he feel that when Nazis working the death camps used the excuse of, ‘I was just following orders.’ Was that an acceptable excuse and did it exempt them for moral turpitude for their actions? And I'd like to hear him justify that.”
On the June 20, 2023 broadcast of “Cam & Company,” Edwards commented on a California law enforcement program that utilizes the Armed Prohibited Persons System (APPS), a database of individuals who are no longer legally allowed to possess guns. Edwards’ co-host Ginny Simone identified a case in which the system had “wrongly targeted” a California resident and Edwards added, “There are so many issues right now for the law-abiding in California because you got lawmakers going after their rights, meanwhile the criminals are getting put back out onto the streets, and it sounds like you've got a government that is in many ways just out of control.” In fact, the person in question was barred from owning a firearm under federal law because she had been subject to an involuntary commitment at a mental health facility.
On the March 15, 2023 broadcast of “Cam & Company,” Edwards spoke about the arrest of New York linen mogul George Bardwil on illegal gun possession charges after Bardwil brandished a firearm not registered in his name in his home during an attempted robbery. “You are still looking at three years in prison for acting in self-defense in your own home,” Edwards stated, adding that the situation was "pretty awful.” “I thought we lived in the United States of America,” said Edwards. “[New York City] Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg still has the, well I'll use the word tenacity, this is a family friendly show, still has the tenacity and the gall to say he is not anti-gun. If that is the case, why don't you call up your buddy the DA, chew him out, and get those charges dropped against George Bardwil?” In 2008, Bardwil pled guilty to assaulting a housemaid. In May 2012, Bardwil was arrested and subsequently charged with second degree assault, a class D felony in New York, after his ex-wife accused him of repeatedly slamming her head into the ground causing her to be hospitalized. (Criminal Activity, Women’s Rights)
On the March 15, 2023 broadcast of “Cam & Company,” Edwards spoke about the arrest of New York linen mogul George Bardwil on illegal gun possession charges after Bardwil brandished a firearm not registered in his name in his home during an attempted robbery. “You are still looking at three years in prison for acting in self-defense in your own home,” Edwards stated, adding that the situation was "pretty awful.” “I thought we lived in the United States of America,” said Edwards. “[New York City] Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg still has the, well I'll use the word tenacity, this is a family friendly show, still has the tenacity and the gall to say he is not anti-gun. If that is the case, why don't you call up your buddy the DA, chew him out, and get those charges dropped against George Bardwil?” In 2008, Bardwil pled guilty to assaulting a housemaid. In May 2012, Bardwil was arrested and subsequently charged with second degree assault, a class D felony in New York, after his ex-wife accused him of repeatedly slamming her head into the ground causing her to be hospitalized.
On the November 14, 2023 broadcast of “Cam & Company,” Edwards claimed that Glamour magazine's 2013 Women of the Year Awards had an "anti-gun agenda" because the event honored victims of gun violence, including Pakistani education reformer Malala Yousafzai, who at age 15 was targeted for assassination by the Taliban for protesting a ban on female education. The event also honored former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ)—who was wounded during a 2011 mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona—and Sandy Hook Elementary School teacher Kaitlin Roig-Debellis, who saved the lives of 15 first-graders during the December 2012 mass shooting at her school in Newtown, Connecticut. Edwards stated that while Glamour "may have the very best of intentions in pushing an anti-gun agenda," the magazine's misguided views mean that "ultimately…the ideas that they're pushing prohibit people from protecting themselves, they prohibit people from exercising self-defense, they make the world a more dangerous place for women across this country."
On the October 18, 2023 broadcast of “Cam & Company,” Edwards spoke to George Kollitides, CEO of Remington Arms. Discussing the 2012 presidential election, Kollitides stated, “I think this will be the most important election of our lifetime. The next president is going to be in an incredibly powerful position to appoint [U.S.] Supreme Court justices. It’s one thing to legislate a gun ban. That can always be overturned by a future president, a future Congress, and Congress can fight it, of course, and hope they don’t get vetoed and overruled. We’ve had the benefit of a strict interpretist Supreme Court which has been conservative and really held up the core traditional values of our country. So, I don’t necessarily just worry about the next four years of an [Barack] Obama presidency, I worry about my kids and my grandkids futures, because if we change face of the Supreme Court, we’re looking at a thirty-plus-year uphill battle.” Edwards replied, “Absolutely right … We are likely to see, over the next four years, whoever is president have the opportunity to put one perhaps as many as three or four justices on the Supreme Court and that will impact our lives for decades to come … We really can’t afford a court that is going to be hostile to gun owners.” Kollitides continued, stating, “Not only will the Second Amendment be under attack if we go to a liberal non-strict-interpretative court, but it’ll be the entire American way of life. When we appoint liberal judges, they take it upon themselves not to interpret the laws but to legislate the laws and there’s a lot of liberal courts doing that. So, the appeal needs to be not just to gun owners, although that’s obviously critically important…but I think many of the things we think about, all of our freedoms will be at risk. You know the liberal courts and the liberal politicians believe they know what’s best for Americans. They’re gonna tell us when we have to get health care. They’re gonna tell us what time we have to get out of bed every day. They’re gonna tell us where we have to go to work. They’re gonna take our money and redistribute it. This is an issue that every American needs to be worried about.” After Kollitides finished speaking, Edwards replied, “Absolutely.”
On the October 2, 2023 broadcast of “Cam & Company,” Edwards spoke about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney signing an Assault Weapons Ban into law in 2004, when he was governor of Massachusetts. Edwards stated, “This was actually a bill that the Gun Owners Action League (GOAL) in Massachusetts supported. The quote unquote ‘assault weapons bill,’ or excuse me, the quote unquote ‘assault weapons ban,’ was already law in Massachusetts. It was already permanent in Massachusetts. This bill actually provided some relief to gun owners in the state of Massachusetts. It was portrayed and it has been portrayed in the media as Governor Romney signed a bill to ban quote unquote assault weapons in the state of Massachusetts. But that's not the case. This was a bill, as I said, that was supported by the state gun owners' organization in Massachusetts because it actually undid some of the damage of that original legislation.” In fact, as Governor Romney’s press release announcing the signing of "An Act Furthering Regulating Certain Weapons" stated, “Like the federal assault weapons ban, the state ban, put in place in 1998, was scheduled to expire in September [2004]. The new law ensures these deadly weapons, including AK-47s, UZIs and Mac-10 rifles, are permanently prohibited in Massachusetts no matter what happens on the federal level.” While GOAL supported reforms to Massachusett’s gun licensing scheme contained in the legislation, the group stated in a July 2, 2023 press release, “Although the Governor did make mention of being a ‘sportsman’ and the reforms in the bill that would help other sportsmen, he spun the bill as a ban. ‘Deadly assault weapons have no place in Massachusetts,’ Romney said. ‘These guns are not made for recreation or self-defense. They are instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing people.’ When asked by a reporter if he supported the renewal of the federal ‘assault weapons’ ban and if he had spoken to the senators about it, Governor Romney replied that it was not really his job to lobby on federal legislation, but that he shared Senator [John] Kerry's and Senator [Ted] Kennedy's position on the issue!” Senator Kerry and Senator Kennedy supported renewing the federal assault weapons ban, which expired in September 2004.
On the August 17, 2023 broadcast of “Cam & Company,” Edwards spoke with James Manley, an attorney with the Mountain State Legal Foundation who represented a pro-gun group that brought suit against the University of Colorado for their policy prohibiting guns on campus. After the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the university could not prohibit students from carrying guns on campus, the university announced that gun-carrying students who wished to take advantage of on-campus housing would be required to live in a designated dorm. The University of Colorado cited concerns about “potentially dangerous living situation potentially dangerous living situations” as the rationale for its new policy. Edwards commented on the policy by stating, "Segregated dorms. Yes. How progressive. We are back to segregation now."
On the May 25, 2023 broadcast of “Cam & Company,” Edwards hosted Tim Graham of the conservative Media Research Center. During the interview, Edwards asked Graham, “[There are] books coming out about [President] Barack Obama. Have any of these been excerpted in the Washington Post or the New York Times?” Graham replied, “Here’s the irony, one of these books [Barack Obama: The Story] of course is by David Marannis who works at the Washington Post. These excerpts have yet to appear in the Washington Post. Where we have seen his excerpts are in the magazine Vanity Fair. This is apparently the deal he struck. That was where they talked about [Obama’s] white girlfriends in college. Which again you would think that would be a story that a news media that is so conscious about race seemed to not think that was an interesting development, that Obama had these white girlfriends. And how exactly would the black women feel about Obama having white girlfriends? Well they just weren’t really…again, suddenly they are race neutral. They’re colorblind.”
On the May 22, 2023 broadcast of “Cam & Company,” Edwards spoke with National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) adjunct fellow Horace Cooper. NCPRR was founded one day after the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) disbanded its Public Safety and Elections Task Force, which was responsible for model voter ID and “Stand Your Ground” legislation. NCPPR promotes the implementation of voter ID laws at the state level in order to “enhance integrity in voting.” On the show, Cooper claimed that voter fraud is “a real problem” and that “felons, illegal immigrants, or just people who are paid to show up...go from one voting site to the next and cast votes in the names of other people.” Edwards agreed with Cooper and displayed a graphic which claimed that newly enacted voter ID legislation in Virginia “will ensure that voters presenting themselves at the polls are who they say they are, and greatly reduce voter fraud.” Cooper expressed NCPPR’s preference for voter ID laws similar to those in Texas and South Carolina, stating that these laws contain “grade A voter ID requirements.” Those laws have been challenged in court by the Department of Justice over allegations that they disenfranchise minorities. Furthermore, research has shown that in-person voter fraud of the kind Cooper warns about is extremely rare in the United States. Finally, in 2010, Cooper, a former Department of Labor official, pled guilty to falsifying a document after he failed to report gifts worth thousands of dollars which he received from convicted Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
On the May 15, 2012, broadcast of “Cam & Company,” Edwards hosted conservative commentator and Pajamas Media contributor Bill Whittle to discuss “the demasculinization of men, the feminization of men, and the wimpification of men.” When Edwards asked Whittle whether the idea of a “strong man” owning a gun and hunting is obsolete, Whittle replied, “The great feminist line that just encapsulates this radical feminist philosophy in a nutshell is, they used to say, uh, you know, ‘women need men like a fish needs a bicycle.’ And there’s a lot of unhappy fish out there, if you haven’t been paying attention … I think in the case of the real out-there feminists, there’s something that really scares them about male strength.” Later in the broadcast, Edwards said, “One of the gun control groups, I think it’s the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, always says, you know, violence is never the answer. Well, Bill, I think that’s an absurd statement to make.” Whittle replied, laughing, “It is always the answer. This is the difference between liberals and conservatives. Liberals think that you can avoid violence, that violence can be bred out of the human animal. It’s not possible. What you can do is, is you can take a society where people are fundamentally good and convince them that defending themselves is somehow wrong and that does not mean that the rest of the world becomes civilized. It means that the savages kill all the good people. And this has happened all throughout history.” Finally, Whittle told Edwards, “One thing I am really genuinely disturbed about, you see this all over the place, are these kind of women butt-kickers in movies. Scarlett Johansson who is, you know, she's probably five foot four and maybe she weighs 110 pounds soaking wet taking down these 250 pound guys with karate chops and stuff … It's like bad things are going to happen if people think this is going to happen in the real world. Because number one, girls are going to get themselves badly hurt, and number two, when guys see movies about young girls, and young women doing all these physical moves in these wild kind of defense things, it takes away that fundamental inhibition that has been drilled into boys my age, and your age too, and that is you never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever hit a girl. Ever ever ever. When young boys go to movies and see girls doing all this butt-kicking and taking down all these guys, number one, girls think they are going to get away with that, there is not going to be an outcome where a 100 pound girl physically punches a 210 pound guy with a happy outcome for the girl. That's why you have guns.” Edwards replied, “Absolutely. Absolutely right.”
R. Lee Ermey (Board Member)
On November 11, 2013, Ermey appeared on “Cam & Company” to promote his new book “Gunny's Rules: How to Get Squared Away Like a Marine.” Ermey told host Cam Edwards his book "tells you how to take command of your life, get off welfare, unemployment, food stamps, and regain a little bit of your self-respect.” Ermey continued, stating "Welfare back in my time, back when I was a kid, I remember my parents voting for welfare and it was sold to us—like cripples. We got to look after our crippled people in this country. Crippled, those that can't work, and I guess nowadays lazy is our new cripple.” Ermey also complained about the entitlement of today’s youth because "everyone’s a winner, these kids today, everyone gets a trophy … These kids today can’t cope. There’s nothing earned, it’s always given.” Edwards suggested that kids learn when they lose. Ermey replied, "I know for a fact that the two greatest teaching tools in the world are, number one: pain, and the next greatest teaching tool is fear. And what message are we sending to our children nowadays is like, ‘Shut up, get in step, comrade.’ Because that’s where it’s going to and that’s what I see in this country. I am very disgusted and disappointed with the way this world’s—with the way this country has changed over the 70 years of my life."
On August 26, 2012, Ermey told TMZ that Geico fired him as a spokesperson because of comments Ermey had made about President Barack Obama at a “Toys for Tots” rally in 2010. At that rally, Ermey stated, “We’re having a big problem this year. The economy really sucks. Now I hate to point fingers at anybody, but the present administration probably has a lot to do with that. And the way I see it they’re not going to quit doing it until they bring this country to its knees. So I think we should rise all rise up and we should stop his administration from what they are doing because they are destroying this country. They’re driving us into bankruptcy so they can impose Socialism on us.” In the TMZ interview, Ermey said, “Yeah, I got fired. Geico fired me because I had uh, I wasn’t too kind ... about the administration … If you’re a conservative in this town, you’d better watch out.” Geico told Fox News that Ermey had not been fired, the company had simply moved on.
In the March 2012 issue of America’s 1st Freedom, Ermey was interviewed by NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris Cox. Ermey told him, “Some things I’ve said have ended up on Keith Olbermann’s show and I consider that a badge of honor. When he gets upset about something, it makes me happy. When it comes to politics and religion, you can’t please everyone. The people on the wrong side of the fence need to do a little more research.” When asked about his role in the NRA’s “Trigger the Vote” campaign, Ermey stated, “We need to take this country back and do it right now. I fought for this country, and now I’m watching these protesters and politicians destroy this country, so I have to consider them my enemies–just politically of course.”
Ermey is a spokesman for Glock Firearms.
In December 2010, while appearing at a “Toys for Tots” rally, Ermey said, “We’re having a big problem this year. The economy really sucks. Now I hate to point fingers at anybody, but the present administration probably has a lot to do with that. And the way I see it they’re not going to quit doing it until they bring this country to its knees. So I think we should rise all rise up and we should stop his administration from what they are doing because they are destroying this country. They’re driving us into bankruptcy so they can impose Socialism on us.”
Ermey discussed plans to repeal the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in a March 2010 interview with Marine Corps Times, saying, “Now all of a sudden, this illustrious leader of America decided he wants to put openly gay people in the military. But where are they going to live and take showers, and which bathrooms are they going to use? I liken it to putting me in the woman Marine barracks. I would have a great time, but I don’t think they would like it very much. If I’m taking a shower in an open shower bay, the last thing I want is some guy looking at me having sexual fantasies.” Asked in the same interview if he would ever run for elected office, he responded, “No. This old man has too many skeletons in the closet. I frequented a few too many whorehouses, tattoo parlors and places of ill repute in my time. Boy, could they have a ball with me, digging up bones.”
During a February 2012 appearance on the FOX News show “Hannity,” Ermey claimed, “[The] Second Amendment is the most important amendment in the Constitution. C’mon, I went down to New Orleans after the hurricane a couple of years ago after Katrina. People had food when they left their houses but they didn’t have the a means with which to protect that food and as soon as they got down to the football arena, that stadium down there, the bullies and the gangs took their doggone food and water away from them, and in some cases molested their children. You know every night when I go to bed I go to the safe, I take a 357 magnum out of my safe and put it on my night stand … We must protect our Second Amendment rights. I see it being nibbled away all the time, and one morning were going to wake up and were not gonna have Second Amendment rights. It’s gonna be gone, and it will be too late then.” Ermey’s claims echo a conspiracy theory promoted by the National Rifle Association arguing that there was widespread gun confiscation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The NRA hired private investigators to search for individuals who had a gun confiscated in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but only found 75 people (of New Orleans’ pre-storm population of 450,000) willing to make that claim.
Manny Fernandez (Board Member)
Commenting on the gun control debate, Fernandez said, “The only reason [the U.S. Government hasn’t] been able to defeat us, it's not a matter of money, it's a matter of people. Because we have what they don't have. We have the people, and in the end, we have the guns.”
Fernandez is the founder of the organization Californians Against Corruption (CAC). According to Mother Jones magazine, “In 1994, CAC lobbied for a recall vote of California State Sen. David Roberti, a longtime gun control advocate. The vote failed, but still cost taxpayers $500,000. Fernandez was ousted from CAC when he declared publicly that the recall effort had been the gun lobby's revenge for Roberti's sponsorship of a 1989 California law restricting assault weapons. In October, the California Fair Political Practices Commission found CAC guilty of 404 violations of campaign laws, including concealing contributions from the NRA and other gun groups and failing to file proper records. The commission fined CAC a record $808,000.”
In 1983, Fernandez was convicted of criminal possession of a machine gun.
Sandy Froman (Board Member)
In an October 25, 2023 appearance on the radio program “NRA News,” Froman said, “I think a lot of hunters don’t really realize what a serious threat that the Humane Society of the United States is to our hunting rights and our shooting rights as well.”
In the March 2007 edition of America’s 1st Freedom, stating, Froman wrote, “The U.N. forces believe that now is the time to advance their agenda to use international law and treaties to outlaw private firearm ownership in the United States.” She was referring to a United Nations treaty dealing with small arms trafficking. The treaty’s actual goal is to reduce the illicit international trade in small arms—it does not address the issue of private firearms ownership. In any case, foreign treaties require approval by two-thirds of the members of the U.S. Senate in order to be ratified.
Prior to the November 2006 Congressional elections, Froman urged NRA members to vote for Republican candidates in a column in America’s 1st Freedom, writing, “Disaster is looming on Nov. 7, and I need your help to save our freedom. I’m not exaggerating. We are at the edge of a dangerous political precipice. If we stumble, we will fall back to a pre-1994 [Democratic] anti-Second Amendment Congress. If we fail to act, out of apathy or because we want someone else to do our job, we betray not only ourselves but our children and grandchildren. We betray our country and Founding Fathers. Every gain we’ve made for the Second Amendment could be reversed unless we win this critical election.” Froman also added, “We are at war. Our freedom is at stake. The Second Amendment is America’s original homeland security and you, my fellow NRA members, are at the heart of our national defense. But Pelosi and her fellow extremists, who are hoping to take control, oppose our national security efforts and oppose your Right to Keep and Bear Arms.” Democrats did gain control of the House during the 2006 elections, and were the majority party until the Republicans retook the House in 2010.
In the August 2006 edition of America’s 1st Freedom, Froman claimed, “The United Nations is engaged in a global gun ban-scheme. It is well-organized and well funded by eccentric anti-gun billionaires. The goal of this movement is to get every nation to sign a treaty banning the private ownership of firearms worldwide and giving U.N. troops authority to enforce the treaty.” She was referring to a United Nations treaty dealing with small arms trafficking. The treaty’s actual goal is to reduce the illicit international trade in small arms—it does not address the issue of private firearms ownership. In any case, foreign treaties require approval by two-thirds of the members of the U.S. Senate in order to be ratified.
In a 2006 interview with her alma mater’s alumni magazine, Stanford Magazine, Froman said, “Everyone is safer when criminals don’t know who is armed. I’m this five-foot-two middle-aged lady, but they don’t know I’ll shoot their guts out.”
In the August 2005 edition of Americas 1st Freedom, Froman commented on NRA programs by stating, “I have never been a ‘women’s’ program person. I was never a women’s ‘libber.’ I don’t believe that women are second class citizens or that they need any special breaks.”
In a column in the August 2005 edition of America’s 1st Freedom, From an wrote, “Activist judges in some courtrooms have been ignoring—or in some cases rewriting—the Constitution as they push a radical agenda on the American people. The political left, unable to pass its extremist agenda at the ballot box and losing elections across the board, has turned to the courtroom to undermine our constitutional order, Bill of Rights and basic American institutions.”
In her “President’s Column” in the July 2005 issue of American Rifleman, Froman wrote, “President Bush may nominate as many as three new justices and, if they are like [Antonin] Scalia and [Clarence] Thomas, they will create a Supreme Court that would be the ultimate guardian of your Second Amendment rights.”
Jim Gilmore (Board Member)
In separate documents filed for his 2008 presidential and Virginia Senate campaigns, Gilmore failed to disclose that he sat on the board of Windmill International. At the time, Windmill International was facing allegations that the company’s president attempted to secure fraudulent government contracts in Iraq. The President of Windmill International, Douglas Combs, made tens of thousands of dollars in political donations to Gilmore during his political career.
The Free Congress Foundation (FCF), a think tank that promotes the far-right’s viewpoint in the “Culture War,” has courted a great deal of controversy. Gilmore effectively succeeded FCF President & CEO Paul Weyrich in 2009. On replacing Weyrich, Gilmore said, “Paul Weyrich blazed the trail for many conservative themes and I want to continue that leadership.” The “themes” advocated by FCF have included the following:
- In his manifesto, Anders Behring Breivik, the perpetrator of a July 2011 terrorist attack in Norway that left 77 dead, quoted extensively and at length from a FCF-published book about “Cultural Marxism” entitled “Political Correctness: A Short History of Ideology.” The book was written by the former head of the FCF’s Center for Cultural Conservatism William Lind. According to investigative journalist Chip Berlet, “Breivik's core thesis is borrowed from William S. Lind's antisemitic conspiracy theory about 'Cultural Marxism'.” The Southern Poverty Law Center has described Lind as “a key popularizer of the idea of cultural Marxism.”
- Lind, while serving as the head of FCF’s Center for Cultural Conservatism, gave a speech at a 2002 Holocaust denial convention. In his remarks, Lind blamed a group of Jewish philosophers for destroying Western culture by promoting an extreme form of political correctness termed “cultural Marxism.”
- In 2002, FCF published a mock interview between the FBI and a prospective Muslim recruit that disparaged the Islam faith by suggesting—amongst other things—that all Muslims are required to kill members of other faiths.
- In December 2001, FCF asked Congress to retract a stamp issued by the United States Postal Service that celebrated the Muslim Eid holiday.
- In 1999 Lind wrote that America would be a better place if the south had won the Civil War because “at least part of North America would still stand for Western culture, Christianity and an appreciation of the differences between ladies and gentlemen.” Lind predicted in 1994 that the next conflict on American soil would be a violent cultural war between cultural conservatives and multiculturalists.
- Free Congress Foundation provided office space to Laszlo Pasztor during the 1980s and 1990s. Pasztor served time in jail after World War II for representing the government of Nazi Hungary. Pasztor was reportedly Paul Weyrich’s “right-hand man” when Weyrich was president of FCF.
- In 1984, FCF hosted a dinner honoring Roberto D'Aubuisson, the fascist leader of right wing death squads in El Salvador, for being “a symbol of resistance to communists.” Known as “Blowtorch Bob” for his torture techniques, D’Aubuisson’s most high-profile victim was Bishop Óscar Romero, who was assassinated in 1980 after speaking out about human rights abuses in El Salvador. Former Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights in the Carter Administration, Pat Derain, called FCF’s dinner “bizarre and ludicrous. It would be intriguing to know what aspect of his person they are honoring. His efforts to overthrow his own government? His leadership of death squads?”
- During the 1980s, the foreign policy wing of FCF actively supported the Contra rebels in Nicaragua and the South African apartheid-backed RENAMO rebels in Mozambique, and even provided political training to the regime of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. RENAMO is accused of killing over 1,000,000 civilians in Mozambique.
- Free Congress Foundation was a supporter of rabid homophobe Dr. Paul Cameron. Cameron wrote that common gay sex practices include the insertion of gerbils into the rectum, the consumption of human feces and urine, and sex with minors. His false claims included an assertion that less than two-percent of gay men survive to old age. Free Congress Foundation began distributing Cameron’s literature as early as 1983.
- In 1976 FCF attempted (unsuccessfully) to merge with George Wallace’s racist American Independent Party.
Marion Hammer (Board Member)
In a January 27, 2023 op-ed in the Gainesville Sun, Hammer wrote, “The [President Barack] Obama administration's gun ban agenda and universal background check system are unconstitutional regulatory schemes to gut the Second Amendment. These proposals amount to universal gun registration and gun owner licensing … That's why NRA members and the nation's 100 million firearms owners will stand in solidarity and fight these misguided and diabolical proposals that have nothing whatsoever to do with curbing criminal violence but everything to do with stripping us of our guaranteed civil rights and our freedom.” In fact, President Obama’s universal background check proposal involves no registration of firearms, and merely expands the current system of background checks already required of federally licensed firearms dealers. Furthermore, under existing law, the federal government is required to destroy completed background check records after 24 hours.
In a January 7, 2024 interview with the Florida Current, Hammer was asked, “Do you think that ‘the people’ can remain ‘sovereign’ if a democratically elected government imposes strict regulations on gun ownerships?” Hammer replied, “No. Second Amendment rights are the means with which the people retain sovereignty. Give up your power to remain free and you are no longer free. Just because a government was ‘democratically’ elected does not mean it is a righteous government or that the electorate got the government they thought they were electing.”
In a January 2013 broadcast of NRA News, Hammer spoke about Senator Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) proposal to ban assault weapons, stating, “Well, you know, banning people and things because of the way they look went out a long time ago. But here they are again. The color of a gun. The way it looks. It's just bad politics."
In a December 28, 2023 op-ed for the Tallahassee Democrat, Hammer responded to an op-ed by Martin Dyckman, a retired associate editor of the newspaper formerly known as the St. Petersburg Times, in which he wrote that the NRA must reclaim its moderate voices. Hammer wrote, “The NRA never has been, and never will be, ‘moderate’ in its defense of the Second Amendment and freedom in America … When our constitutional rights came under threat from those like Dyckman who would disarm America, we took up the mission of protecting the Second Amendment, which is at the very heart of freedom and safety for the law-abiding … Instead of blaming poor parenting for producing gang-bangers, they blame guns.”
On October 16, 2012, Hammer spoke at a meeting of a Florida task force investigating the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law. Hammer told the task force, “We believe the law is doing what the legislature intended. It is protecting the rights of people who defend themselves against attackers and intruders. The NRA supported this law. We are proud to have been a part of the process. We are proud to say we worked with legislators from both sides of the aisle to protect self-defense rights. And although there may be other bodies of law that do not go far enough to protect the innocent and the righteous, we don't see any basic need to change the premise of this law.” Hammer previously acknowledged in an interview with Media Matters that the NRA helped draft the law. “Stand Your Ground” laws began to generate national controversy following the murder of unarmed, African-American teenager Trayvon Martin by concealed handgun permit holder George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida on February 26, 2012.
In July 2012, Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee sent Hammer a three-page letter in response to a survey she had sent to sheriff candidates around the state of Florida on behalf of the NRA and the United Sportsmen of Florida. One question asked, “Would you support legislation to restrict or ban the lawful manufacture, sale, transfer, ownership or possession of firearms?” Gee responded with examples of how courts have restricted the Second Amendment; including a prohibition on felons possessing firearms. Gee stated, “Since I am legally and morally bound to follow the law as defined by the Supreme Court of the United States, I freely accept their decision.” The survey also stated, “Businesses have been using off-duty law enforcement officers—in their official uniforms—as private security and have been SEARCHING private vehicles that are parked in business parking lots." Gee objected to the question, stating that it implies that when an officer asks for permission to search a vehicle, that officer is being "inherently coercive." He wrote, “Courts allow these consent searches.” The Florida Sheriff's Association drafted its own response to Hammer's questionnaire, writing, “The Sheriffs in our state have long defended a citizen's right to keep and bear arms as outlined in the Second Amendment of the Constitution. However, the Sheriffs also have a duty to oppose legislation that would reduce public safety and place citizens and law enforcement officers at greater risk. It is unfortunate that some would view this common sense approach as being anti-Second Amendment, as this is far from our position as our history has shown."
In June 2012, Hammer sent a survey on behalf of the NRA and the United Sportsmen of Florida to sheriffs candidates around the state of Florida. One question about Florida’s first-in-the-nation “Stand Your Ground” law asked, “Do you agree that no victim of crime should be required to surrender his life, health, safety, personal dignity, autonomy, or property to a criminal, nor should a victim be required to retreat in the face of attack from any place he or she has a right to be?” There were two possible answers: “Yes, I believe the ‘Castle Doctrine/Stand Your Ground’ is appropriate and victims have a right to fight back without a duty to retreat,” or “No, I oppose the ‘Castle Doctrine/Stand Your Ground’ and believe victims should surrender to criminals or retreat to avoid fighting back.” Another question asked whether candidates support a law that would allow someone with a concealed weapons permit to openly display a gun. Those in favor could answer, “Yes, I support open carry…as a means to stop harassment by those anti-gun law enforcement officers [who question or arrest individuals who openly carry guns in public].”
Several other survey questions addressed the NRA’s goal of prohibiting sheriffs from lobbying for gun safety legislation. One question asked, “Do you believe it is appropriate for a sheriff to lobby or use deputies and/or their deputies to lobby against the Second Amendment rights of the law-abiding citizens they are sworn to serve?” Another question asked, “Do you believe it is appropriate for a sheriff or any of his deputies or employees to lobby on issues against the constitutional rights of law-abiding firearms owners , in the name of the Sheriff, Sheriffs department or any Organization or Association in any official law enforcement capacity?” The two possible answers were: “No, I would not allow it. Our duty is to respect and serve our community and uphold the law and the Constitution,” or “Yes, I would allow it if it makes things more convenient for law enforcement.” Commenting on the issue, Hammer stated, “We don’t believe it’s appropriate for any law enforcement agency to be lobbying against the Second Amendment rights guaranteed by the constitution of the citizens they were elected to protect and represent.”
The cover sheet attached to the four-page survey warned in bold letters, “No endorsement or support will be provided to a candidate who fails to return the questionnaire.” Hammer said about the survey, “Voters have a right and a responsibility to know who they are voting for. I’m not apologetic if that offends the Florida Sheriffs Association and anti-gun sheriffs.” Florida Sheriffs Association Executive Director Steve Casey responded that sheriffs are neither “pro-gun” nor “anti-gun.” “They’re pro public safety,” he said.
In June 2012, Hammer sent a survey on behalf of the NRA and the United Sportsmen of Florida to sheriffs candidates around the state of Florida. One question about Florida’s first-in-the-nation “Stand Your Ground” law asked, “Do you agree that no victim of crime should be required to surrender his life, health, safety, personal dignity, autonomy, or property to a criminal, nor should a victim be required to retreat in the face of attack from any place he or she has a right to be?” There were two possible answers: “Yes, I believe the ‘Castle Doctrine/Stand Your Ground’ is appropriate and victims have a right to fight back without a duty to retreat,” or “No, I oppose the ‘Castle Doctrine/Stand Your Ground’ and believe victims should surrender to criminals or retreat to avoid fighting back.” Another question asked whether candidates support a law that would allow someone with a concealed weapons permit to openly display a gun. Those in favor could answer, “Yes, I support open carry…as a means to stop harassment by those anti-gun law enforcement officers [who question or arrest individuals who openly carry guns in public].”
Several other survey questions addressed the NRA’s goal of prohibiting sheriffs from lobbying for gun safety legislation. One question asked, “Do you believe it is appropriate for a sheriff to lobby or use deputies and/or their deputies to lobby against the Second Amendment rights of the law-abiding citizens they are sworn to serve?” Another question asked, “Do you believe it is appropriate for a sheriff or any of his deputies or employees to lobby on issues against the constitutional rights of law-abiding firearms owners , in the name of the Sheriff, Sheriffs department or any Organization or Association in any official law enforcement capacity?” The two possible answers were: “No, I would not allow it. Our duty is to respect and serve our community and uphold the law and the Constitution,” or “Yes, I would allow it if it makes things more convenient for law enforcement.” Commenting on the issue, Hammer stated, “We don’t believe it’s appropriate for any law enforcement agency to be lobbying against the Second Amendment rights guaranteed by the constitution of the citizens they were elected to protect and represent.”
The cover sheet attached to the four-page survey warned in bold letters, “No endorsement or support will be provided to a candidate who fails to return the questionnaire.” Hammer said about the survey, “Voters have a right and a responsibility to know who they are voting for. I’m not apologetic if that offends the Florida Sheriffs Association and anti-gun sheriffs.” Florida Sheriffs Association Executive Director Steve Casey responded that sheriffs are neither “pro-gun” nor “anti-gun.” “They’re pro public safety,” he said. Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson stated that the NRA “doesn't want the sheriffs to be in Tallahassee to work on any kind of legislation, which we have taken for years...to try and work for good laws for the state of Florida such as narcotics laws, pill laws, traffic safety.” Johnson, a longtime NRA member, added that it is “sad to see [the NRA] take such a hard line on it.”
A Bloomberg News article from May 11, 2023 provided several interesting anecdotes about Hammer, including:
On March 20, 2012, Hammer responded to the controversial shooting of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin by concealed handgun permit holder George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida. The shooter, who was not arrested, claimed that he acted in self-defense under Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law. Hammer, the NRA lobbyist who championed the law in the Florida state legislature, stated, “So for law enforcement to rush to judgment just because they are being stampeded by emotionalism would be a violation of law. This law is not about one incident. It's about protecting the right of law-abiding people to protect themselves when they are attacked. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the law. And if the [Republican] governor [Rick Scott] wants to waste time looking at it he can knock himself out.” Since its enactment in 2005, the “Stand Your Ground Law” has been tied to a number of shootings that involved the questionable use of deadly force.
In January 2012, Hammer renewed her opposition to an effort by the South Florida Hospital and Healthcare Association to ban the carrying of firearms in hospitals and nursing homes, claiming that it "panders to the anti-gun political agenda of South Florida organizations." According to Hammer, doctors, nurses and other medical staff have a "constitutional right" to carry loaded guns in these places.
During the 2011 legislative session, Hammer lobbied for a bill to force Florida’s cities and counties to repeal local rules regulating firearms that are stricter than state law. The legislation instituted fines for local officials who fail to comply, and gave gun owners a right to sue for damages if they believe their rights have been violated.
Municipal leaders stood in strong opposition to the bill. “This probably passed because of someone from the NRA, someone who doesn’t care about urban conditions,” said Aaron Campbell, vice mayor of Miami Gardens. “It’s sad that a piece of legislation can pass like this.” Elaine H. Black of the Liberty City Trust stated, “I’m concerned about some deranged person who doesn’t like what our government is doing coming in and shooting someone. If I can go now into the Miami Riverside Center, the main operating office of Miami, or any municipal building—and there’s always someone who’s walking into that door who’s not happy with government. Maybe you put a lien on my property, and I think that’s not right—I can walk in with a gun and shoot you.” The Florida League of Cities was concerned that the bill changed a longstanding common law practice of shielding elected and appointed officials from civil lawsuits relating to their job function.
Hammer dismissed these concerns, saying, “You’re not going to have every Tom, Dick and Harry carrying a firearm on their person up and down the streets and into buildings because it’s a felony [unless the person has a license to carry a concealed weapon].” When asked why it why it was OK for municipal leaders to beef up local laws on a host of other issues, such as where sex offenders can live, Hammer replied, “Sex offenders are not protected by the Constitution.” She added, “The right to keep and bear arms has Constitutional protection and ocal governments have been violating the Constitutional rights with no punishment.”
Hammer described elected officials who wish to regulate guns on the local level as “gun hating-Liberals.” “The legislature...made it clear in [1987] legislation that no future ordinances regulating firearms and ammunition could be adopted," she said. "And through that 24 years, there have been a number of counties that have arrogantly done it anyhow because there were no penalties in that bill.”
The legislation was signed into law by Republican Governor Rick Scott and went into effect on October 1, 2011.
During the 2011 legislative session in Florida, Hammer lobbied for a bill to prevent Florida doctors from asking their patients if they own a gun and counseling them about firearms safety. Hammer claimed that such questions violate the privacy of gun owners and “offend common decency.” "They are entering that information into medical records on laptop computers which greatly concerns parents because anything you put in a medical record they fear can be accessed by insurance companies or the government and used against ‘em," she explained. "Doctors should not ask you how much money you have in your checking account, whether or not you own diamond cufflinks or your wife owns a diamond necklace. They should not be asking whether or not you own guns."
Hammer said that gun-owning parents in Florida had complained to her for many years about pediatricians’ inquiries about firearms; but could only produce one specific example of this occurring.
She also drew broader theories about doctors' motives: “This is a campaign that started eight to ten years ago by the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics and they decided to join the gun ban crowd," Hammer said. "They give pediatricians advice to give to parents and that’s not to buy a gun and if they own guns to get rid of ‘em. So when they start giving that advice to pediatricians and your very Liberal, anti-gun pediatricians start taking that advice, then we have problems ... We don’t want to pay to sit there and be lectured by a pediatrician or a GP telling us that guns are bad and giving erroneous statistics like they have on their website that if you have a gun in the home it’s 43 times more likely to be used on you than not. I mean, this is nonsense ... It’s about carrying out a gun ban campaign and it has to stop.” Hammer decried: "It's about politics. Pure, raw, anti-gun politics being imposed on patients when they are most vulnerable, when they are sick or hurt and need help."
The Florida Medical Association strongly opposed the bill, telling their members: “This legislation criminalizes doctors who ask their patients about gun ownership to ascertain accurate and complete patient history as well as advise patients on gun safety ... This is an inappropriate intrusion of government into the bond that exists between doctors and their patients ... Legal measures are already in place to ensure that the information patients share with physicians will be kept confidential.”
The bill, which originally fined doctors $5 million for asking patients about gun ownership, was amended to create a tiered fine system for violators. An offending doctor would be charged $10,000 for the first offense, at least $25,000 for the second offense, and a minimum of $100,000 for the third offense.
After the legislation was passed by the Florida state legislature, the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics and other groups sent Republican Governor Rick Scott a letter asking him to veto it. Hammer accused them of an intimidation campaign, saying, “They sent a letter that was a blatant threat. They attempted to intimidate and coerce the governor by telling him that they would sue him and other state officials if the bill became law. Now, that tells you the type of people you’re dealing with. To threaten a governor in that manner is just uncalled for.” In June 2011, Governor Scott signed the legislation into law.
On September 14, 2011, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction on the law. U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke reasoned that the law "chilled" free speech and wrote in her decision: "The law curtails practitioners' ability to inquire about whether patients own firearms and burdens their ability to deliver a firearm safety message to patients ... Information regarding firearm ownership is not sacrosanct. Federal and state statues heavily regulate firearm ownership, possession and sale and require firearm owners to provide personal information in certain circumstances."
During the 2011 legislative session in Florida, the Florida Sheriff’s Association opposed a bill that sought to allow people to openly carry firearms in public without storing them in safety holsters. Seminole Sheriff Don Eslinger, speaking on behalf of the association, testified that the legislation was a bad idea in a tourist state, and pointed out that visible weapons are ripe targets for thieves—especially if a gun isn't properly secured. "Many officers are killed with their own guns," Eslinger noted. "And keep in mind, these are skilled practitioners."
Hammer, who was the primary lobbyist for the bill, explained that an Open Carry law was needed because, “Silly as it may sound, if a license holder is carrying a concealed firearm and the wind blows open a jacket or a shirt exposing the firearm, the person can be charged with a crime for violating the Open Carry law ... This is Florida. It gets really hot here in the summer. A lot of times folks might go into a restaurant or into, you know, a meeting and they have on a suit with a coat and it’s hot and they want to take off their jacket, if they’re carrying in a shoulder holster or in a pants holster they can’t take a jacket off and expose the firearm because then they would be violating the Open Carry law." She was unable to provide any specific examples of permit holders being arrested for such violations.
Speaking about opponents of the bill, Hammer said, "Open Carry was one of those things that we lost here in Florida when we passed concealed carry because the gun haters said that carrying openly would scare people so we ended up with Open Carry being banned in Florida 24 years ago ...
When she was asked about the Florida sheriffs who lobbied against Open Carry, Hammer accused them of "bullying" legislators and said, "a lot of 'em are [anti-gun radicals]." "In my 34 years, I’ve not seen anything this egregious," Hammer added.
Republican Governor Rick Scott eventually signed a watered-down version of the bill into law on June 17, 2011.
In an interview with the South Florida Sun Sentinel on April 24, 2011, Hammer discussed the 1968 Gun Control Act, a federal law which (for the first time) established a class of prohibited gun purchasers (i.e., convicted felons, substance abusers, those under restraining orders, those adjudicated mentally ill, etc.), a licensing system for gun dealers, and safeguards intended to reduce interstate gun trafficking. "In 1968 my way of life changed because the 68 Gun Control Act imposed restrictions on law-abiding people who had done absolutely nothing," Hammer said. "The Congress stampeded into taking that action because of the heinous acts of criminals, assassinations. And so for the acts of a handful of people an entire nation has suffered ever since. I got angry that I was being punished and I hadn’t done anything wrong."
Hammer was the primary lobbyist for a bill introduced in the Florida state legislature in January 2011 that sought to force the state’s colleges and universities to allow guns on campus. Under SB 234, anyone with a concealed handgun permit recognized by Florida would have been able to carry a loaded gun onto a college campus—including into classrooms and dormitories.
The bill was introduced just days after Florida State University sophomore Ashley Cowie, 20, was accidentally shot and killed at a fraternity party by fellow student Ryan Wilhelm, who discharged his semiautomatic AK-74 assault rifle while showing it off. Wilhelm had a blood alcohol level of approximately .10 at the time of the shooting and had also been smoking marijuana.
Commenting about the shooting, Hammer emphasized it happened off-campus in a fraternity house where guns are banned. “With shootings on campus, they are essentially a gun-free zone and in a gun-free zone the good guys don’t have a chance,” she said.
When asked why SB 234 was necessary, Hammer replied, “There’s a lot of safety by allowing guns on campus. That’s how a lot of us protect ourselves because law enforcement can’t be there when we need them. Law enforcement is not stopping rapes on campus, and not stopping a lot of crimes ... "Nothing about a university or college campus should take away an individual's right of self-defense."”
In response to those who questioned the wisdom of arming young people in an academic environment often characterized by stress and heated debate, Hammer made the following argument: “In order to qualify for a license, a person has to be 21 years of age or older. We’re not talking about teenage freshmen or underclassmen, so folks shouldn’t let anybody put that false image in your head However, we need to remember that this country asks 18 year olds to go to war and die for this country but we don’t let ‘em carry firearms until they’re 21 years of age or older and the reality is when we do let ‘em carry, we currently are denying that right if they decide to go to college and get a better education and make a better life for themselves.”
The police chiefs of Florida’s states universities came out in unanimous opposition to SB 234. The Florida Police Chiefs Association also opposed SB 234.
SB 234 was amended to remove the guns on campus provision on March 9, 2023 after Dr. Robert Cowie—the father of slain student Ashley Cowie and a registered Republican—testified against the bill in front of the Senate Florida Criminal Justice Committee. “Allowing guns in an atmosphere of college parties puts everyone involved at increased and undue risk,” he told committee members. "I challenge anyone present today in this room who is a parent—or for that matter any voter in this state that is a parent—to come forward to meet me eye to eye and comfort me with the thought that our campuses will be better and safer places if the possession of firearms is permitted by anyone other than a law enforcement officer ... If you wish to see further evidence of what a weapon on campuses can do, I invite you to attend my daughter's memorial service. " After the bill was amended, Dr. Cowie commented, “If my making a statement would possibly prevent another family from going through what we did, I knew I'd make the effort. I think Ashley would be proud of me."
In a radio interview with NRA News on January 11, 2011, Hammer expressed outrage that Florida residents would be denied the ability to bring guns into cemeteries to mourn their lost loved ones. “The case that outraged legislators and us involved a cemetery that last summer decided to ban guns on cemetery property," Hammer stated. "And there was a father who had already buried his son who had been killed in a car crash in that cemetery. And that father always carries his gun in his truck and frequently he would visit his son’s grave on his way home or going to and from.”
A 2010 IRS Form 990 filed by Hammer’s United Sportsmen of Florida (USF) organization revealed that the organization loaned Hammer over $50,000 to assist her in purchasing a home (to be repaid at 2% interest). This loan is in addition to the $110,000 in compensation Hammer, the only paid employee of USF, received that year.
While lobbying for legislation that sought to ban adoption agencies from asking would-be parents questions about firearms ownership, Hammer claimed that any request about gun ownership from an agency connected with government was tantamount to establishing a private gun registry. “Gun registration is illegal in Florida,” said Hammer. “An adoption agency has no right to subvert the privacy rights of gun owners.'' Hammer never specified exactly how gun owners’ rights would be subverted either by questions about gun ownership or registration.
While lobbying for an NRA-drafted bill that sought to prevent Florida’s private businesses from prohibiting employees from keeping guns locked in their cars in company parking lots, Hammer commented, "The Constitution begins, 'We the people,' not ‘we the Chamber,’ not ‘we the Retail Federation,’ not ‘we the Disney.’ It's 'we the people.'" David Daniel, the chief lobbyist for the Florida Chamber of Commerce—which strongly opposed the legislation—dismissed the bill as a “big government solution looking for a problem.”
The legislation was eventually signed into law by then-Republican Governor Charlie Crist and became effective July 1, 2008.
During the 2007 legislative session, a bill was introduced in the Florida state legislature to prevent private businesses from prohibiting employees from keeping guns locked in their cars in company parking lots. While lobbying for the bill, Hammer commented to the Associated Press: “[Private businesses] ought to be tickled to death for getting immunity from things that are happening in their parking lots. This bill codifies longstanding public policy and constitutional guarantees. It could not be simpler.” She did not provide an explanation, however, of where in the Second Amendment a right to take guns to one’s workplace is granted. Hammer also added, Big corporations want property rights for themselves but not for their customers or employees. “This bill is about people. And people are more important than a chunk of asphalt in a parking lot.”
Mark Wilson, the vice president of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, had a different take on the legislation, saying, “This is the biggest assault on private property rights and the employer-employee relationship that this Legislature has ever heard ... Some of our members are dumbfounded that you can be smart enough to be in the legislature and still consider this bill seriously.”
In April 2007, a survey was released by Tel Opinion Research. The survey indicated that “80% of Floridians [thought] businesses and homeowners should decide what things are brought onto their property” and “56%...said business owners should be able to expressly bar their workers from having guns in the vehicles.”
In response to an independent investigation that revealed Florida had issued concealed handgun permits to more than 1,400 people who plead guilty or no contest to felonies; 216 people with outstanding warrants, including for murder; 28 people with active domestic violence restraining orders against them; and 6 registered sex offenders, Hammer said, “We do not participate in legislation that gratuitously takes away the rights of people, because when you begin taking away the rights of people that you don’t like, that’s the slippery slope." She then explained, “When people plead guilty or no contest in these cases frequently, very frequently, these are people who have not committed any crime, but their lawyer advises them to take a plea bargain.” Hammer lobbied successfully against the efforts of three major police organizations—the Florida Sheriff’s Association, the Florida Fraternal Order of Police, and the Florida Police Chiefs Association—to tighten the eligibility rules for permit holders and prevent dangerous people from legally carrying guns in public.
During the 2006 legislative session in Florida, Hammer lobbied for a bill that sought to create a public records exemption for concealed handgun permits and rejected permit applications—thereby barring Florida residents from knowing which individuals in their communities had obtained permits, and preventing them from independently auditing the permitting process to ensure public safety. When the legislation was signed into law by then-Florida Governor Jeb Bush in June 2006, Barbara Petersen, the president of the Florida First Amendment Foundation, commented, “I think this exemption makes a mockery of the constitutional right of access. The stated purpose of this bill is protect sensitive information. What is sensitive about your name? These are a privileged class of people who are allowed to carry a concealed weapon. They have to jump through some hoops. [But] we have absolutely no opportunity for oversight.” [Source: Palm Beach Post, “Bush Signs Gun-Related Bills into Law,” June 8, 2023]
On May 8, 2006, Hammer accused business leaders of deceiving her and lying to Florida state legislators. She was upset that a bill that she had lobbied for— which sought to prevent companies from prohibiting employees from keeping guns locked in their cars in company parking lots—had died on the last day of the legislative session. "They can interpret this any way they want to,” said Hammer. “I'm interpreting it as another opportunity to work this issue because it's not over until I say it's over. We intend to work until we pass legislation that protects the existing right of law-abiding gun owners in Florida to keep a lawful product in their car whether they go to buy groceries, visit an amusement center, stop at a doctor's office or anywhere else that people commonly go."
Florida Chamber of Commerce spokeswoman Jennifer Krell Davis commented that, “It was clear to most people this was bad policy, and you can’t take a basic property right away from thousands of Floridians without a fight.”
Hammer was the primary lobbyist behind a “Castle Doctrine/Stand Your Ground” bill that aimed to eliminate Florida’s common law duty to use every reasonable means available to retreat from a conflict prior to using deadly force, which the state's Supreme Court had legitimized by explaining, “Human life is precious, and deadly combat should be avoided if at all possible when imminent danger to oneself can be avoided.” The bill, SB 436, stated that any individual who is in a place where he/she has a legal right to be, and who is “not engaged in an unlawful activity...has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force, if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.” Individuals using lethal force in this manner were to be granted immunity from both criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits. Critics labeled SB 436 “Shoot First” legislation.
Hammer explained her reason for pushing the bill as follows: “Through time, in this country, what I like to call bleeding heart criminal coddlers want you to give a criminal an even break, so that when you're attacked, you're supposed to turn around and run, rather than standing your ground and protecting yourself and your family and your property. [I] started thinking then that the day will come when we will have to do some serious thinking about changing this … Taking away the rights of law-abiding people and putting them in jeopardy of being prosecuted and then sued by criminals who were injured when they were committing crimes against victims is wrong.”
She also claimed that during hurricane seasons in Florida, “In a lot of these devastated areas, law enforcement would tell communities, ‘You're on your own, we can't get to you.’ So, we needed to be sure that when people protected themselves, their families and their property, that they weren't gonna be prosecuted by some criminal coddling prosecutor.” Responding to criticism that the "Stand Your Ground" law could be invoked by the perpetrators of violent crime to avoid criminal prosecution, Hammer stated, "We saw a parade of hypotheticals by those who opposed this... What's important is the message it sends, and that's, 'don't attack me.'"
Furthermore, Hammer was unable to produce even a single example of a law-abiding gun owner being prosecuted for using a firearm for legitimate self-defense in the home prior to 2005.
Among those who opposed the “Stand Your Ground” bill were the National District Attorneys Association, the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association, and police chiefs from cities including Miami and St. Petersburg. Palm Beach State Attorney Barry Krischer commented, “I dislike the law because it encourages people to stand their ground…when they could just as easily walk away. To me, that’s not a civilized society.” Paul Logli, president of the National District Attorneys Association, pointed out that the law “give[s] citizens more rights to use deadly force than we give police officers, and with less review.”
Regarding these concerns posed by critics of the legislation, Hammer said, “It’s nothing but emotional hysterics … Those who like to ban guns attempted to say that this law would allow street gangs because they were legally in the street.”
The Castle Doctrine bill was signed into law on April 26, 2023 by Republican Governor Jeb Bush.
Jeannie Suk, a professor at Harvard Law School, published an analysis of Florida’s Castle Doctrine law and has described it in the following terms: “There is an important change in this law. Even the traditional castle doctrine, which was very protective of people in their homes, and allowed them to shoot in their home without retreating, it still meant that you had to be reasonably afraid of death or serious bodily harm. This was a very important requirement. You don't just let people kill in self-defense and say, oh, you were afraid of being attacked. You actually have to show that your fear was reasonable. And now…you don't have to do that because you don't have to prove that in court. But more importantly, even before the trial stage, what happens is that police officers and prosecutors, it affects their decisions about whether to bring cases, whether to make arrests or to bring a prosecution. I think it's a very big deal.” Duval County State Attorney Harry Shorstein has cited “a lesser sensitivity to gun violence and death” after the law was passed.
The New York Times and others have identified numerous cases of questionable (and unnecessary) homicides where shooters invoked the Castle Doctrine defense. A 2011 analysis by the South Florida Sun Sentinel found that “several…accused murderers have successfully used [Florida’s] 2005 ‘Stand Your Ground’ law to prove they were the real victims.” Bradford Cohen, the president of the Broward County chapter of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, has described the law as “one more tool we can use.”
In 1996, Hammer told the New York Times that the solution to ending the gun control debate in the United States was to “get rid of all Liberals.”
In 1988, Hammer distributed a newsletter to members of the Unified Sportsmen of Florida—an NRA affiliate organization—accusing state legislators who favored closing loopholes in a concealed carry law of supporting “a modern-day Gestapo movement.” One of the loopholes the legislation sought to correct allowed violent individuals to possess firearms pending a criminal judgment. Republican State Senator John Grant called for Hammer’s resignation and said, “I think Marion Hammer has lost any effectiveness that she might have or any credibility she might have with legislators on both sides of the issue.” Republican State Senator Malcolm Beard added, “I never have been for gun control. But this letter from a lobbyist is filled with half-truths.” The Republican Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Criminal Committee, Bob Johnson, said Hammer possessed, “the lowest standard of integrity I have ever seen for a lobbyist in Tallahassee.”
Maria Heil (Board Member)
On September 29, 2012, Heil spoke at the 27th Annual Gun Rights Policy Conference in Orlando, Florida on a panel entitled “The Most Dangerous Election of Our Lifetime.” Heil spoke about the November 2012 presidential election, stating, “I contend that this is the most dangerous election of our lifetime … Let’s talk about judges. I’ve got a thing to say about them: they’re getting old. The Supreme Court and the Circuit Court of Appeals … During the next presidential term, three of the Supremes will turn eighty. We’ve had Second Amendment victories on the Supreme Court by one vote. One vote. Can you imagine what [President Barack] Obama will do if he’s unchained, if he gets a second term? Appoint radicals to the Supreme Court. Can you imagine two more of [Justice Sonia] Sotomayor and ]Justice Elena] Kagen? Or possibly three more? What else is he gonna do, do you think? Executive Order the Small Arms Treaty … He’s gonna try to push having guns as a health issue. He’ll ban them through Obamacare. I have no doubt about it … What I would like to happen is, when we all wake up on November 7th, assuming we can actually go to sleep that Tuesday night, I want to hear that Americans have overwhelmingly chosen the pro-Second Amendment candidate, the one that’s always been proud to be an American. And I also want to hear that the American people have spoken loudly and clearly and have said, ‘Mr. Obama, you’re fired.’” Heil was referring to a U.N. Small Arms Treaty which would set only international standards for the import/export of conventional weapons—leaving it to individual countries to “regulate internal transfers of arms and national ownership, including through national constitutional protections on private ownership.”
On June 8, 2012, Heil spoke at a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) event in Chicago on a panel entitled “Defending Self-Defense: The Liberal’s Shadow War on the Second Amendment.” According to Heil, there isn’t just a “shadow war” on the Second Amendment. “There’s a shadow war on SUVs, too. ‘The SUV went off the road and killed people,’ not the truck,” she mocked. Heil added, “I’d…like to thank the American Conservative Union for holding CPAC Chicago here in Chicago in Obama’s state of residence. I know a lot of you who are Illinoisans cringe at that, but you know what? That’s OK, because Illinois is the birthplace of Ronald Reagan.” Heil also spoke about her roots in Illinois, stating, “I hope that it really makes some people in Oak Park cringe that one of their home-born people is on the NRA Board of Directors … And also with [Northern Illinois University], they’ve turned anti-gun, of course, because of the tragedy there. But I graduated from NIU. I hope that makes some of those people cringe as well.” The tragedy Heil was referring to was a 2008 mass shooting at the school in which a mentally ill student (who was a legal gun purchaser) shot and killed five students, wounding 21 others, before killing himself. Heil also told the following story: “When I was a kid in Oak Park, that’s actually when they started their anti-gun nonsense because I vividly remember as a kid the Sinclair station on, is it Austin, and the Eisenhower … My dad used to get the gas tank filled up there and I vividly remember one of the workers there, after some of this anti-gun stuff started, having a gun on his hip while he was pumping the gas. That stuck with me. I wasn’t pro- or anti- as a kid, I didn’t know anything, but that’s a vivid memory. That’s one thing that that gentleman did that stuck with me and now I’m a member of the NRA board of directors. You never know what kind of impact just a little bit is going to have.” Referring to the 2000 “so-called” Million Mom March on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., which was attended by approximately 750,000 people, Heil said, “Who would be against a bunch of moms wanting to protect their children? You know, that’s what they portray it. Well, they wanted to take away guns is their ultimate goal. And, you know, to counter that you would think of that young mother…just after New Year’s, she was a new widow and young baby. She had to use a gun to protect herself and she did everything she could to not do that, but in the end she had to use a gun to protect herself. The Million Moms would have disarmed her. They would have disarmed her.” In fact, there is nothing in the reform proposals advocated by the Million Mom March that would prevent law-abiding mothers from owning firearms. Heil also identified the following movies as “anti-gun”: “The Lorax,” “Lethal Weapon 3,” and “Lethal Weapon 4.” Finally, Heil warned, “You know and we know if the Second Amendment goes, the rest of everything else that we hold dear is going to go as well.”
On June 8, 2012, in an interview at a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) event in Chicago with Cameron Gray of NRA News, Heil stated, “There’s not enough women involved [in the pro-gun community]. Yes, women want to protect themselves because; after all, think about it, it is self defense. It’s not waiting for a boyfriend or a husband to protect you, or calling the police. Because they can’t be there, they would love to be there to protect you, but they can’t. So, it’s self defense. More women need to really realize that what they have to do is get involved, be educated, and find out what they need to do to be able to defend themselves. And a firearm–Sam Colt said it best–it’s the great equalizer. Talk about equal rights.” When asked why it is important to defeat President Barack Obama in the 2012 elections, Heil replied, laughing, “That’s a question that goes without answer, isn’t it? We all know. We all know. We need to get him out because he does have an anti-gun agenda … You hear it every four years: this is the most important election of your lifetime. Well, guess what? It really is the most important election in this country, in the history of this country.”
In an October 3, 2023 video in which the owners of the shooting range Freedom Armory endorsed Heil for the NRA board of directors, she stated, “Now is a very important time because we have a threat to the United States of America and that threat is the United Nations. And they have the Small Arms Treaty coming up … It is actually an attack on our Second Amendment rights. And once they shred that, they are going to be shredding the rest of the Constitution.” In fact, the U.N. Small Arms Treaty would set only international standards for the export of conventional weapons—leaving domestic laws regulating the possession of firearms untouched.
In a February 19, 2023 op-ed for World Net Daily, Heil expressed concerns about the “anti-gun-biased public-education system,” stating, “Showing children pictures of what a 9 mm round actually does to human flesh at point blank range is not the same as showing the mangled bodies of drunk drivers, or the lungs of smokers. Drinking and smoking are choices people make for themselves. Being a victim of a criminal is something that is done to you.”
In a July 1, 2001, during a speech at a United Nations protest in New York City, Heil stated, “Waiting periods for guns are killing women … A woman has to depend upon herself for protection. The police cannot be there; her father, her brother, her boyfriend, or husband all cannot always be there to protect her. Are we willing to trade the right every women should have to self-defense in exchange for so-called governmental security? Are you willing to subject your wives, daughters, mothers, and aunts, to the mercy of rapists? Because that's what it boils down to.”
In a July 29, 2023 interview on C-Span, Heil stated, “Licensing and registration has time and time and time again led to confiscation. And it is. Licensing and registration is a restriction on gun ownership and it is not something that should happen.” When asked what other gun laws she opposed, Heil responded, “Three day waiting period can kill people. It's simple as that, it can kill people … And background checks, I can see their point, but it is an infringement." Heil also stated, “First of all, the entire Bill of Rights protects all of our rights whether they are enumerated there or not. What the Second Amendment does, it protects us from a corrupt government. And everybody needs to realize that. It's the threat—if you want to call it that—it's the threat to keep the government in line.”
At a seminar held by the NRA’s “Women on Target” program in May 2000, Heil stated “I choose to own a gun because I am a good mother.”
Charlton Heston (Former President)
In the 2002 documentary “Bowling for Columbine,” when Heston was asked by filmmaker Michael Moore why the United States has such a high rate of gun violence compared to other developed nations, Heston responded, “Well, we have probably a more mixed ethnicity than other countries.”
During a 1999 appearance at Harvard Law School, Heston delivered a speech entitled, “Winning The Culture War.” In his remarks, he referenced a controversial speech he delivered at the Free Congress Foundation in 1997, stating, “I’ve to come to understand that a cultural war is raging across our land … I marched for civil rights with Dr. King in 1963, long before Hollywood found it acceptable, I may say. But when I told an audience last year that ‘white pride’ is just as valid as ‘black pride’ or ‘red pride’ or anyone else’s pride they called me a racist. I’ve worked with brilliantly talented homosexuals all my life, throughout my whole career. But when I told an audience that gay rights should extend no further than your rights or my rights, I was called a homophobe. I served in World War II against the Axis powers, but during the speech when I drew an analogy between singling out the innocent Jews and singling out innocent gun owners, I was called an anti-Semite.” Heston also complained, “At Antioch College in Ohio, young men seeking intimacy with a co-ed must get verbal permission that each step of the process, from kissing, to petting, to finally at last copulation—all clearly spelled out in a printed college directive. In New Jersey, despite the death of several patients nationwide who had been infected by dentists who had concealed their own AIDs, the state commissioner announced that health providers, who are HIV positive, need-not tell their patients that they are infected. At William and Mary, students tried to change the name of the school team, ‘The Tribe,’ because it was supposedly insulting to local Indians, only to learn that authentic Virginia chiefs really liked the name ‘The Tribe.’ In San Francisco, city fathers passed an ordinance protecting the rights of transvestites to cross-dress on the job and for transsexuals to have separate toilet facilities while undergoing sex change surgery. In New York City, kids who didn’t speak a word of Spanish have been placed in bilingual classes to learn their three hours in Spanish, solely because their own names sound Hispanic. At the University of Pennsylvania, in a state where thousands died at Gettysburg opposing slavery, the president of that college officially set up segregated dormitory space for black students. Yeah I know that’s out of bounds now. Dr. King said ‘Negros’, Jim Baldwin and most of us on the march said ‘black,’ but it’s a no-no now. For me hyphenated identities are awkward, particularly Native American. I am a Native American for God’s sake.” Heston went on to compare the struggles of white conservative America to those who participated in the Civil Rights Movement, stating, “You must be willing to be humiliated, to endure the modern-day equivalent of the police dogs at Montgomery and the water cannons at Selma. You must be willing to experience discomfort.” He concluded by saying, “If Dr. King were here, I think he would agree.”
During a December 7, 2023 speech before the Free Congress Foundation, a controversial think tank that promotes the far-right’s viewpoint in “The Culture War,” Heston compared the perceived plight of white conservative Americans to “European Jews … The Nazis forced them to wear six-pointed yellow stars sewn on their chests as identity badges. It worked. So what color star will they pin on our coats? How will the self-styled elite tag us? There may not be a Gestapo officer on every street corner yet, but the influence on our culture is just as pervasive.” He went on to say, “Heaven help the God-fearing, law-abiding, Caucasian, middle class, Protestant, or even worse Evangelical Christian, Midwest, or Southern, or even worse rural, apparently straight, or even worse admittedly heterosexual, gun-owning or even worse NRA-card-carrying, average working stiff, or even worse male working stiff, because not only don't you count, you're a downright obstacle to social progress … The Constitution was handed down to guide us by a bunch of those wise old dead white guys who invented this country. Now, some flinch when I say that. Why? It's true...they were white guys. So were most of the guys who died in Lincoln's name opposing slavery in the 1860s. So why should I be ashamed of white guys? Why is ‘Hispanic pride’ or ‘black pride’ a good thing, while ‘white pride’ conjures up shaved heads and white hoods? Why was the Million Man March on Washington celebrated in the media as progress, while the Promise Keepers March on Washington was greeted with suspicion and ridicule? I'll tell you why: cultural warfare.” Heston also declared, “I find my blood pressure rising when Clinton's cultural shock troops participate in homosexual-rights fund-raisers but boycott gun rights fund-raisers...and then claim it's time to place homosexual men in tents with Boy Scouts, and suggest that sperm donor babies born into lesbian relationships are somehow better served and more loved … Mainstream America is depending on you counting on you to draw your sword and fight for them. These people have precious little time or resources to battle misguided Cinderella attitudes, the fringe propaganda of the homosexual coalition, the feminists who preach that it's a divine duty for women to hate men, [and] blacks who raise a militant fist with one hand while they seek preference with the other.” Heston’s speech is still featured on the website of white supremacist David Duke, who lauds the remarks by stating, “A few years ago I was astounded to read these courageous remarks by Charlton Heston. I am thankful to hear a man with such high esteem say essentially the same things for which I have been reviled by the liberal media. His words should be reproduced and put into the hands of every American.” Julian Bond, then-Board Chairman of the NAACP, reacted to the speech by saying, “Charlton Heston's civil rights credentials are seriously sullied by his bigoted and homophobic remarks and his attacks on racial minorities. The endorsement by white supremacist David Duke further threatens to erode the considerable respect many Americans felt toward Heston for his years-ago commitment to human rights.”
In 1995, Heston appeared on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show and paraphrased a section of the Michael Crichton novel “Jurassic Park” to express opposition to the idea of climate change. He said, “You think man can destroy the planet? What intoxicating vanity … Earth has survived everything in its time. It will certainly survive us … If the ozone layer gets thinner, ultra-violent radiation sears the Earth, so what? Ultra-violent radiation is good for life. It’s powerful energy. It promotes mutation and change. Many forms of life will thrive with more UV radiation, and the others will die out.”
Graham Hill (Board Member)
Graham is part of the “revolving door” culture in Washington. Prior to founding Ice Miller Strategies, LLC to lobby on transportation issues, Graham worked for Representative Charles Pickering, Jr. (R - MS) and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. One prominent Ice Miller client is Vulcan Materials, which paid Ice Miller $350,000 between 2007 and 2011 to lobby on transportation issues.
One of Graham’s principal Ice Miller clients is General Atomic, which paid Ice Miller $510,000 in lobbying fees between 2007 and 2011. General Atomics has courted controversy for the large amount of money it spends underwriting trips for members of Congress and their families.
Roy Innis (Board Member)
On October 31, 2011, the Washington Post reported that Prosperity USA, a private charity run by two top aides to 2012 Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, gave $100,000 to Innis’ Congress of Racial Equality Organization (CORE) shortly before Cain spoke at CORE’s annual “Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Celebration” dinner. Speaking about Cain at the event, Innis said, “In this case we are even more pleased to bring the Tea Party people to our dinner as they have exemplified the spirit of Dr. King and are living the legacy that he helped establish in American politics.” Prosperity USA is facing scrutiny for a $37,372 donation to the Cain campaign that may have violated campaign finance laws (under federal law, non-profit charities are not allowed to donate to political campaigns).
On October 25, 2011, Innis described 2012 Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain as “an idea that was trying to be expressed for a long time by black America but was stifled by the left-wing establishment.”
In August 2011, Reverend Eric Rapaglia apologized to the public for hiring white supremacist Frank Borzellieri as the principal at a
Bronx Catholic school. Rapaglia said, "Neither myself, nor any of the members of the search committee knew of Mr. Borzelleri’s political writings at the time of his hiring. In addition, it is my understanding that Mr. Borzelleri had the support of many minorities including Roy Innis, the national chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a black civil rights organization." Borzellieri—who believes that African Americans and Latinos are genetically inferior to whites—claimed that Innis has said, “I am proud to call Frank Borzellieri my friend.”
On January 25, 2011, Innis rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange “to highlight the 25th anniversary of the observance of the Martin Luther King holiday.” Innis was joined by FOX Business News Anchor Charles Payne.
Then-American Conservative Union Chairman David Keene presented Innis with the John M. Ashbrook Award at the 2010 Conservative Political Action Conference and said, “There is no living American I admire more than Roy Innis.” The award is named after one of the founders of the ACU who served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 21 years as a Republican from Ohio. In his remarks, Innis warned of “a growing tyranny in our country” and said the candidates for the 2008 presidential election were “some of the most dangerous people to ever run for the presidency of the United States.” Speaking on the influence of CPAC, Innis said, “We have developed some skills. We are able to influence the Republican Party, and nudge it, and push it in certain directions. Let us teach those skills to our young brothers in the Tea Party.”
On March 18, 2008, Innis spoke at a press conference held by the Wisconsin chapter of Americans for Prosperity prior to testifying before the Wisconsin state legislature on climate change. Innis said, “The economic crisis we are in now, can be solved with just letting people know the facts. Let them know that the right thing to do is not what they have been doing, which is going along with the environmentalist radicals … Ordinary people are good people, they want to do the right thing. Unfortunately we have sat idly by and have allowed them to think the right thing is to follow the radical environmentalists … It is crazy that we have environmental policies that prevent us from using some of the best resources we have. We have, on a per capita basis, more coal than anyone else in the world. We have a lot of gas. And we have a lot of petroleum too—up in ANWR [Artic National Wildlife Refuge] and the coastal areas. We are a rich country, rich in resources, rich in energy, potential energy, and we have laws that prevent us from maximizing it.” Americans for Prosperity is a corporate-backed “astroturf” organization that promotes Republican and corporate interests. President Obama has criticized the group by saying, “Right now all around this country there are groups with harmless-sounding names like Americans for Prosperity, who are running millions of dollars of ads against Democratic candidates all across the country. And they don't have to say who exactly the Americans for Prosperity are. You don't know if it’s a foreign-controlled corporation. You don't know if it’s a big oil company, or a big bank.”
In 2008, oil and gas interests recruited Innis to serve as the lead plaintiff in a legal challenge to listing the polar bear as a threatened species. Innis claimed the listing would "result in higher energy prices across the board which will disproportionately be borne by minorities," causing "countless families in our country in winters ahead to choose between food on the table and fuel in the furnace."
In 2007, Duane Chapman (aka Dog the Bounty Hunter) courted controversy after a racist voicemail he left on his son’s answering machine became public. Referring to son Tucker’s girlfriend, Dog said, “It's not because she's black, it's because we use the word nigger sometimes here. I'm not gonna take a chance ever in life of losing everything I've worked for for 30 years because some fucking nigger heard us say nigger and turned us in to the Enquirer magazine. Our career is over! I'm not taking that chance at all! Never in life! Never! Never! If Lyssa [Dog's daughter] was dating a nigger, we would all say 'fuck you!' And you know that.” Innis first called for Dog’s show to be taken off the air, but then told the New York Sun, “Like many that heard the comments made by Duane 'the Dog' Chapman without the proper context, I was offended and outraged. After meeting with him and his wife, Beth, and hearing his side of the story, we realized that the controversy had unjustly spiraled out of control without context.” Chapman later attended CORE’s 2008 Martin Luther King Dinner and presented Innis with a portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Chapman has called Innis a “good friend”
In 2006 Innis—whose CORE organization has taken money from original DDT manufacturer Monsanto—said, “We are fighting the same battle, for the liberation of black people. In the past that meant taking on old racists and colonialists—now it means challenging environmentalists too.” Innis also claimed that European Union restrictions on the use of DDT are “killing black babies.” Medical research has linked human exposure to DDT to diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and reproductive problems, including miscarriages, developmental disabilities, and premature births. DDT is also a “probable human carcinogen,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
A former CORE fundraiser said that the organization raised money under Innis’ direction in 2002 under the pretense of “welfare reform” and used it to support conservative causes. The fundraiser called this development scheme a “racial hustle.”
A CORE dinner to celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday on January 17, 2024 featured far right wing Austrian politician Jörg Haider as an honored guest. Before his death in 2008, Haider was criticized for frequent remarks in defense of the Nazi party and Wafen SS.
Innis called conservative radio host Bob Grant personally to invite him to attend a 1998 dinner honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. Grant is infamous for his racist statements, which include the following remark: “They're not satisfied with every third street being M.L. King Boulevard, you know, named after that scumbag Marty." Grant has said he and Innis “have been good friends for many years.”
In a 1989 appearance with Rev. Al Sharpton on “The Morton Downey, Jr. Show,” Innis became enraged and physically assaulted Sharpton.
1n 1988, Innis defended sports commentator Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder, who was fired from a number of jobs after claiming that African Americans were better athletes because of slave breeding. "Jimmy the Greek spoke the truth," Innis said.
In 1986, Innis was forced to pay $56,000 in back taxes as well as $28,000 in civil fraud penalties after the IRS discovered that he had used unreported income from CORE for personal expenses including travel, rent, jewelry and entertainment.
Innis offered to fund the legal defense of the then-fugitive “Death Wish” gunman, a white man who shot four black teenagers who tried to rob him of $5 on a subway train on December 22, 1984. The gunman was later to be revealed to be Bernard Goetz, who Innis called, “the avenger for all of us.” Innis also called for a "volunteer peace officer" force of armed civilians to roam the streets of New York City. “After enough criminals get blasted, they will conclude that crime does not pay, he said. "Some black man ought to have done what [Goetz] did long before. I wish it had been me.
In 1984 Innis testified as a character witness for political activist Lyndon LaRouche in his slander lawsuit against the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), defending LaRouche against charges of racism and anti-Semitism.
Innis utilized the CORE infrastructure to falsely accuse a man of being responsible for the “Atlanta Child Murders” in April 1981. Innis threatened his supporters would “make the collar” if the police did not detain the man, who was later dismissed as a possible suspect. An editorial published in The Bulletin, an Oregon newspaper, accused Innis of using his claim to have broken the serial killer case as a ploy to “solidify himself as the head of CORE” during a “serious leadership fight and membership fight.”
In 1981, CORE paid $35,000 to settle allegations of illegal fundraising techniques.
In 1976, Innis recruited a 600-man “peace brigade” to support the forces of Jonas Savimbi’s apartheid-backed UNITA rebel organization in Angola. U.S. intelligence sources indicated that Innis’ men—most of whom were combat veterans—were actually mercenaries recruited to fight in the Angolan civil war. The brigade was to work under the mandate of the Organization of African Unity, which was led by Ugandan dictator and UNITA supporter Idi Amin. Human Rights Watch described UNITA as “a rebel group led by Jonas Savimbi, [that] killed, abducted, and terrorized civilians with impunity.” The United States Institute of Peace wrote that “Savimbi is indeed responsible for a litany of crimes against humanity.” UNITA employed child soldiers throughout the Angolan Civil War, which lasted from 1975 to 2002.
Innis was a "supporter" of Idi Amin, the Ugandan dictator accused by human rights groups of being responsible for the deaths of up to 500,000 people. Innis awarded Amin a lifetime CORE membership and claimed, “Ugandans are happy under General Amin’s rule of Africa for black Africans.” “He has the ability to make decisions, unlike other leaders who theorize but do not execute,” Innis said of Amin. He was also supportive of Amin’s decision to expel 50,000 Asians from Uganda. Asked how he could support Amin, a known admirer of Adolf Hitler, Innis said, “We have no records to prove if Hitler was a friend or an enemy of black people.” In return, Amin awarded Innis Ugandan citizenship in 1973.
In 1971, on the topic of integration, Innis said, “In America today, there are two kinds of black people—the field hand blacks and the house niggers. We of CORE, the nationalists—are the field hand blacks. The integrationists are house niggers.”
In 1970, Innis embraced the doctrine of “Separate But Equal,” proposing to divide integrated school districts into pairs of schools districts; one which would be predominantly white, the other predominantly black.
Joaquin Jackson (Board Member)
Jackson once conducted an interview with Texas Monthly where he suggested that civilian assault rifles be limited to a five-round capacity. After receiving angry criticism from gun rights activists, Jackson backpedalled and claimed that he was referring to fully automatic rifles (i.e., machine guns) as opposed to the semiautomatic assault rifles available on the civilian market in the U.S.
David Keene (Former President)
Speaking at the NRA’s annual convention on May 5, 2013, Keene portrayed pro-gun advocates as victims of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. Keene stated, “We’ve all been under attack since the Connecticut tragedy by those who would exploit the victims of a madman to advance their own anti-Second Amendment agenda. We’ve been under attack because they realized that to win they’d have to take down the NRA, demonize gun owners, and convince the majority of our fellow citizens that we are the real problem, rather than mass shooters and gun criminals the federal government refuses to prosecute.”
David Keene (Board Member)
In a March 1, 2023 interview with conservative radio host Fred Dicker, Keene defended pro-gun activists’ use of signs depicting New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler at a February 28, 2023 rally in Albany, New York. Keene stated, “Folks that are cognizant of the history not just in Germany but elsewhere look back to that history and say we can’t let that sort of thing happen here.” Five weeks earlier, Abraham Foxman, the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League and a Holocaust survivor, had issued the following statement: “We know that the national debate over gun control is one of the most divisive issues in the land, and while Americans are entitled to have strong opinions, there is also language that is inappropriate and offensive in any such discussion. The idea that supporters of gun control are doing something akin to what Hitler’s Germany did to strip citizens of guns in the run-up to the Second World War is historically inaccurate and offensive, especially to Holocaust survivors and their families.”
On February 20, 2013, Keene spoke at Harvard University about gun violence prevention legislation which had been proposed in the wake of a mass shooting on December 14, 2023 at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in which 20 first-graders and six adults were killed. When asked what kinds of weapons he thought should be illegal, Keene responded, “fully automatic weapons.” The NRA has not always supported tough regulations on fully automatic weapons. In 1986, an amendment banning the manufacture of new fully automatic machine guns for civilian sale was added to the NRA-drafted “Firearm Owner’s Protection Act” (more commonly known as “McClure-Volkmer,” for its Senate and House sponsors, Jim McClure and Howard Volkmer). Wayne LaPierre, then the head of the NRA's lobbying arm, the Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), announced, "Repealing the machine gun ban amendment tacked on to the McClure-Volkmer bill will be a high priority." James Jay Baker, then the NRA Governmental Affairs Director, promised that legislation had been drafted to repeal the amendment and was "expected to be introduced this session." Keene also joked that he’s stopped saying the NRA’s approval rating is higher than that of Congress since, “We could be serial rapists and have a higher favorable rating than Congress.”
In a February 4, 2023 interview with the Daily Caller, Keene stated, “The armed citizenry is the final bulwark against tyranny … That’s why the Second Amendment was written. It was not written to protect squirrel hunters.”
In a February 2, 2023 interview with the Daily Caller, Keene stated, “You know, when you go back in our history…the initial wave of [gun violence prevention laws] was instituted after the Civil War to deny blacks the ability to defend themselves.” According to a Pew Research Center Poll, conducted in December 2012, an overwhelming majority of African Americans, 68%, said it was more important to control gun ownership than to protect the right to own guns
In a January 14, 2024 interview with Lou Dobbs on Fox News, Keene spoke about President Barack Obama’s upcoming recommendations on gun violence prevention, scheduled to be revealed at a press conference on January 16, 2013. Keene stated, “What Newton gave [the Obama administration] was an excuse to do what they’ve wanted to do for some time, which is to launch a full-breadth attack on the Second Amendment and that’s what they’re doing regardless of what the President claims.” Keene was referring to a mass shooting on December 14, 2023 at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in which 20 first-graders and six adults were killed.
In a January 9, 2024 interview on Brooklyn GOP radio, Keene spoke about President Barack Obama’s gun violence prevention task force. The task force, headed by Vice President Joe Biden, was formed in the wake of a mass shooting on December 14 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut in where 20 first-graders and six adults were shot and killed. Keene stated, “I think they're being disingenuous. I think that they've seen this as an opportunity to go after the Second Amendment, which they've wanted to do for years, if not decades, and I think they're going to do everything they can to strip Americans of their right to keep and bear arms … The whole battle over the Second Amendment has little to do with crime or any of these things. It has to do with culture and the view that different people have about what kind of a country this ought to be … It wasn’t until the culture wars of the late 1960′s, 70′s and 80′s that, all of a sudden, the Second Amendment became anathema to liberals who viewed it, really I think culturally, as a as symbol of an America they didn’t like, an America in which people took responsibility for themselves and for the protection of their families, an America which didn’t look to the state for the answer to all of its problems.”
In a December 28, 2023 interview on CNN, Keene stated, “This country does not keep and should not keep a national gun registry…because history shows that nations that register guns are in a position then to take the guns away from the citizens.” When asked if there was any measure he would support, Keene responded, “You know, if you expect me to say, ‘Yeah, let’s jettison the Second Amendment,’ then there’s no middle ground … If you’re asking me, ‘Are there things that can be done,’ for example, if the proposal is to include those who are adjudicated mentally unfit to own a firearm to be put into the registry so that they can be denied the right to purchase firearms, I can find a middle ground on that.“
In a December 23, 2023 interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Keene spoke with host Bob Schieffer about the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut in which 20 first-grade students and six adults were shot and killed. He stated, “The question on everybody's minds that we were trying to address is what do you do to prevent this from happening in the future? You know, it was interesting, Bob, because…that week I was in Israel. And they had a spate of school shootings in the 70s and on, and then they decided that they needed to have security at their schools. They started out with volunteers. They eventually institutionalized it and now they have armed security at the schools, and they've stopped the problem.” In fact, Yigal Palmor, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said following the Newtown tragedy that the situation in Israel was “fundamentally different.” He added, “We didn’t have a series of school shootings, and they had nothing to do with the issue at hand in the United States. We had to deal with terrorism. What removed the danger was not the armed guards but an overall anti-terror policy and anti-terror operations which brought street terrorism down to nearly zero over a number of years.” Reuven Berko, a retired Israeli Army colonel and senior police officer explained that, in recent years, restrictions on gun ownership have been tightened, stating, “Israeli citizens are not allowed to carry guns unless they are serving in the army or working in security-related jobs that require them to use a weapon.” Keene also spoke about background checks for firearms purchases, stating, “We have for, since the late 1960s, have been urging that those people who were adjudicated to be mentally ill be included in the national database. When you buy a gun, Bob, you go to the store and there's an instant check. Twenty-three states have not put any of that data in there, in many cases … When you go to buy a gun, you have to fill out a whole form. You're checked with the FBI and others through the instant check system. And then what the law is, that after a period of time, they can't maintain that [in] a federal gun registry. But they check you when you purchase that firearm, and they should.” In fact, current federal law requires criminal background checks only for guns sold through licensed firearm dealers. These sales account for just 60% of all gun sales in the United States. A loophole in the law allows individuals not “engaged in the business” of selling firearms to sell guns without a license—and without conducting background checks.
On October 4, 2012, in a speech at a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) event in Colorado, Keene spoke about the 2012 presidential election, stating, “This is indeed an important election, a crucial election. We’ve said at the NRA that it may well be the most important election of our lifetime … There are…many reasons this President [Barack Obama] needs to be retired. There are many reasons why it’s so important that we elect conservatives to the Congress and the Senate this year … There’s the willingness of this administration, in unprecedented ways, to flout the laws and, indeed, the constitution of this country … If this president is reelected, he will have the opportunity to appoint one, two, maybe three justices of the United States Supreme Court. What will happen to the [District of Columbia v.] Heller decision, which ratifies the constitutional right of Americans as individuals to keep and bear, arms if he does that? It will vanish. What will happen to that decision and other decisions guaranteeing our rights, not just on Second Amendment grounds, but think recently of the attacks on the First Amendment by this administration? … Much of what our forbears fought for, much of what we inherited, many of the values that we share will vanish … Let’s face it, this is not about guns. It’s about freedom. The Second Amendment is crucial to the nature of this society … Americans know that it’s not just about guns, it’s about values. It’s about an America that the elites today wish was passé … It’s up to us to defend those values and defend those rights … We’ve got a strong ticket [in Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romeny and vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan] … We’ve got believers in our values.” Keene offered no examples of ways in which President Obama has restricted First Amendment free speech. Keene also referred to the Supreme Court’s 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which held for the first time in U.S. history that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to firearm ownership for self defense in the home; striking down D.C.’s handgun ban.
In an October 4, 2023 interview with NRA News, Keene spoke about the administration of President Barack Obama, stating, “This is an administration that on many fronts and over many issues has committed many sins. Perhaps the worst, in a general sense, is their willingness to flaunt the law and the Constitution. You see it in little ways and in big ways. This is an administration where, if you don’t agree with them, if you don’t like President [Obama]’s position, then your rights are suspect anyway. They’re now doing it on the First Amendment, for Lord’s sake. They view the First Amendment and the Second Amendment in [the] very same way. These aren’t rights. These are privileges granted by government that can be restricted or taken away by government. So, now in the area of free speech, maybe you should only be free to say things that the Obama Administration agrees with or that our enemies agree with or that don’t offend anyone … This is perhaps the most institutionally dangerous tenancy that we’ve seen on the part of the administration—its willingness to flaunt the Constitution, ignore the law and then govern unilaterally through executive order and harassment of people they don’t like without any reference to what they should be doing in their proper role within a federal structure … This election is the most important of our lifetime because if this man is given four more years in the White House, he will do frontally what he’s been trying to do behind the scenes. Without the fear of having to face an electorate again, Barack Obama will come after the Second Amendment in many ways. There will be, if he’s reelected, a small arms treaty signed at the United Nations. He will have the opportunity to appoint one, two, three justices of the Supreme Court. Lord knows how many lower court judges. Combined, they can either restrict the [District of Columbia v.]Heller and McDonald [v. Chicago] decisions in such a way that they become meaningless or they can outright reverse them at the Supreme Court level. If that happens … America’s gun rights are at risk … If they have their way, those rights which you think are not only sacrosanct and which are sacrosanct, but which you think you’ll never lose could indeed be lost.” Keene offered no examples of ways in which President Obama is restricting freedom of speech. Keene also referred to a U.N. Small Arms Treaty which would set only international standards for the import/export of conventional weapons—leaving it to individual countries to “regulate internal transfers of arms and national ownership, including through national constitutional protections on private ownership.” Furthermore, such a treaty would require approval by two thirds of the U.S. Senate. Finally, Keene referred to the Heller and McDonald decisions. The Supreme Court, in District of Columbia v. Heller, held for the first time in U.S. history that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to firearm ownership for self defense in the home; striking down D.C.’s handgun ban. In McDonald v. Chicago, the Court held that the Second Amendment, as interpreted in Heller, applied to the states through the Due Process Clause.
In an October 4, 2023 interview with Newsmax TV, Keene stated, “The greatest accomplishment of the believers of the Second Amendment today over a decade ago or more is that guns are cool. That wasn’t the case before … We came to a sort of consensus in this country that Americans do have the right to keep and bear arms that good people should not be denied access to firearms, that the shooting sports are important and that bad people, we should try to prevent them from getting guns. ... The problem is you can’t prevent evil and you can’t prevent insanity, and that’s a difficulty that a modern society has to contend with in a whole lot of different areas. But there is a consensus. There is no need to have a debate.”
On October 3, 2012, Keene made a stop in Great Falls, Montana to endorse Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Hill. Keene also stated, "If [President Barack Obama]’s reelected, the next time the UN considers a Small Arms Treaty, he will sign it.” The President’s goal is clear, he added: “To restrict and contract the number of people who engage in shooting sports that own firearms looking forward to the day when none of us have that right.” Keene was referring to a U.N. Small Arms Treaty which would set only international standards for the import/export of conventional weapons—leaving it to individual countries to “regulate internal transfers of arms and national ownership, including through national constitutional protections on private ownership.” Furthermore, such a treaty would require approval by two thirds of the U.S. Senate.
In the September 2012 issue of America’s 1st Freedom, Keene wrote, “Governor Mitt Romney is the Republican Party’s presidential nominee and the one man capable of denying President Barack Obama another four years in the White House … Gun owners in Massachusetts fared well under Romney … During his speech at NRA’s 2012 Annual Meetings, Romney, an NRA Life Member, championed the U.S. Constitution. Romney commended the NRA for calling for the resignation of Attorney General Eric Holder, who continued to be defiant before Congress’ demand for answers in the so-called ‘Fast and Furious’ scandal … The choice is clear: if President Obama wins a second term in November, he will go after America’s gun owners, our freedoms and the values we cherish.” Keene was referring to the discontinued “Fast and Furious” gun trafficking investigation on the southwest border and Attorney General Eric Holder’s failure to comply with a congressional subpoena for documents related to the operation. A report released by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General on September 19, 2023 found that there is no evidence that Attorney General Eric Holder was aware of the tactics used in the investigation until after it was concluded in 2011.
In an August 29, 2023 interview with the Washington Examiner, Keene stated, “[The NRA] sees [President Barack Obama] as the most anti-gun president in modern times … We're fearful of a second Obama administration. That's why for the last year we've been saying that the prime political goal of the National Rifle Association, this year, is to replace Barack Obama in the White House.” Keene admitted that “[Obama] has not accomplished very much in terms of his anti-gun agenda,” but chalked that up to Republican opposition in Congress. In the wake of mass shootings in Arizona, Colorado, Wisconsin and New York in 2011-2012, President Obama did not call for new gun violence prevention legislation. White House spokesman Jay Carney stated in an August 7, 2023 press briefing, “The President believes we have a violence challenge in this country, a violence problem that we need to address and come at from a variety of fronts, because it is not a problem that is just related to gun laws.”
In an August 27, 2023 interview with NRA News, Keene stated, “Don’t hesitate for a moment to realize that if [President Barack Obama] gets a second term, if he appoints people to the [U.S.] Supreme Court and to the lower courts, and if he has a chance by regulation and executive order or an opportunity to go back to the U.N. to get the gun treaty…he’ll do all these things and we’ll suffer." When asked what he thought of Vice President Joe Biden’s plan to attend the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, Keene replied, “Maybe nobody else will have him … This guy is a joke … I think [the convention] is very important because of what’s at stake. The fact is, that this is probably the most important election of our lifetime. It’s certainly true for believers in the Second Amendment and that makes this convention incredibly important because of the stakes.” Keene was referring to a U.N. Small Arms Treaty which would set only international standards for the import/export of conventional weapons—leaving it to individual countries to “regulate internal transfers of arms and national ownership, including through national constitutional protections on private ownership.”
In the August 2012 issue of America’s 1st Freedom, Keene wrote, “The hostility of most leftists in regard to the very notion that their fellow citizens might have a right to own firearms or to engage in the shooting sports is difficult for many of us to understand, until we realize it’s not just about guns. It’s about freedom and traditional American values … What they really object to goes far beyond firearm our ownership of firearms. They believe the traditional American individualist values that drove the nation’s founders to limit the power of government and protect our right to defend ourselves must give way to a new set of values that cedes governance to the state. In a very real sense, their hostility to firearms and the Second Amendment isn’t about guns or violence or crime; it’s about values. They see those who adhere to the values of the founders as a continuing threat to the new world they dream of creating.”
On June 8, 2012, Keene spoke at a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) event in Chicago on a panel entitled “President Obama’s Fast and Furious Disregard for the Rule of Law.” Keene stated, “The Obama administration has played loose with the rule of law since this president’s first day in office. Sadly, he and his principal advisors seem to me to come from a generation that sincerely believes that the ends in almost all circumstances justify the means. Thus they enforce laws that further their goals, they ignore those that do not. They interpret the laws and the Constitution itself in light of what they want them to say rather than either the intent of Congress or the words of the Founders. And when anyone, including the Supreme Court itself, disagrees, they go on the attack.” He added, “It goes far beyond gun questions. Consider their current assault on the various states’ attempts to protect the integrity of the democratic process itself. I think we’ll have some discussion of what’s going on in Florida right now where the Justice Department, without any basis that most experts can see, are trying to stop the state of Florida from purging non-citizens and the dead and others from their voting rolls prior to the next election on the ground that it’s unfair, I guess, to the dead and the non-eligible voters.” One week prior to Keene’s remarks, 67 Florida election supervisors stated they were going to stop removing names from county rolls because the state's data is flawed—and because the U.S. Department of Justice says the process violates federal voting laws.
Keene also criticized the administration's support for the "DISCLOSE Act," observing, "Consider the president's personal disdain for the democratic process. While spending more than any of his predecessors on fundraising and bragging that he's going to have a billion dollars in the upcoming campaign to bury his opponents, he publicly attacks his opponents because they spend money to get their message out to the public." The DISCLOSE Act would ban U.S. corporations controlled by foreign governments from influencing election outcomes through the use of campaign contributions; prevent Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) recipients from making political contributions; give shareholders, organization members, and the general public access to information regarding corporate and interest group campaign expenditures; and create transparency mechanisms for organizations with more than 500,000 members to publicly identify themselves in their political ads. The NRA has publicly opposed the “DISCLOSE Act.”
At a second panel, entitled “Defending Self-Defense: The Liberal’s Shadow War on the Second Amendment.” Keene stated, “In 1968, the Johnson administration forced through what was known as the ‘Gun Control Act of 1968,’ a bill that Senator Edward Kennedy said was a good first step toward eliminating firearms in the United States. Richard Nixon’s attorney general, two years later, proposed a plan that would have eliminated the private ownership of handguns by 1983.” The Gun Control Act of 1968 was, in fact, the product of a compromise between the bill’s sponsors—including Senator Thomas Dodd—and the NRA, who supported the final version of the legislation. The Gun Control Act created a list of individuals prohibited from purchasing weapons; including, felons, drug abusers, and individuals adjudicated mentally defective. The law did not ban any firearms. In addition, Elliot Richardson, Nixon’s attorney general, never publicly proposed a plan to eliminate private handgun ownership. Keene added, “When it was decided that this new challenge faced us, the old board decided they wanted to move the organization to the Midwest and make it into a conservation group because they thought that politics was tacky… By 2000, the NRA’s influence was such that Bill Clinton would say that gun owners cost Al Gore the electoral vote of five states and the presidency of the United States and in a overt sense, at least, most Liberal politicians decided it was time to take guns off the table and do what Barack Obama is trying to do, which is to say, as he promised Sarah Brady, to proceed to deliver on his anti-gun promises, but to do so under the radar if possible because the electorate is not exactly friendly.”
Keene also spoke about the 2012 Wisconsin recall election of Governor Scott Walker, stating, “The NRA spent a lot of effort in Wisconsin targeting of different groups, but particularly targeting union members who are gun owners and hunters and in the recall election earlier this week I believe that Scott Walker in facing a recall generated by union bosses received more labor votes than he had when he ran for election in the first instance.”
In a May 16, 2023 interview with NRA News, Keene discussed his May 15, 2023 editorial in the Washington Times in which he accused the administration of President Barack Obama of “calling out, investigating and doing their level best to demonize major Romney contributors.” Keene told hosts Cameron Gray and John Popp, “The Kennedys realized that, even then, as mean as they could be, that you couldn’t as president, or speaking for the president, pick out individual citizens and attack them because you had more power to demonize and destroy a life than almost anybody in the country. And it’s clear that that’s what the Obama campaign is trying to do.” Keene further accused the Obama Administration of “trying to stifle dissent, trying to shut up those who disagree with it, and then to bully people.” Keene accused the mainstream media of being complicit, stating that it was “unforgivable [for the media to have] taken this case and gone after the contributor [Iowa businessman Frank Vandersloot] … Politico may be able to smear you, and they’ve smeared almost everyone we know at one point or another. They have not a high regard for the truth.”
Keene defended the practice of blocking access to the identity of political donors, saying, “It was decided that in the name of campaign reform that while you couldn’t limit people’s speech by denying them the right to speak, that perhaps disclosure was the lesser of all evils, that everybody should know who was paying for the speech and all of that and that was sort of generally considered the lesser of evils by all parties involved. But what’s happened is that this disclosure has been taken by people as a way of taking the lists and then trying to intimidate the people who get involved by demonizing them and preventing other people from getting involved.” Keene also defended “voter security” legislation, comparing it to President Obama publicizing the names of PAC donors. He observed, “If [voter security] is a violation of anybody’s civil rights, what is the president of the United States and his campaign doing about the civil rights of those people who don’t support him? He would use anything in his power to deprive those folks of their right to have a voice in the most important democratic process that goes on in this country.”
During the course of the interview, Keene also claimed that President Barack Obama “went after the Catholic Church,” a reference to a January 2012 Obama Administration announcement that the health care reform law requires employers to provide health insurance which covers contraception for women free of charge. President Obama subsequently rejected an exemption for religiously affiliated private employers. Keene portrayed the Obama administration as out of touch with average Americans, saying, “He and his buddies, all of whom sort of come from the same place if you will, they don’t hold jobs, they never held jobs in the private sector, they’ve been in colleges or think tanks. They sit around and talk with each other and none of ‘em disagree with anything.”
Finally, Keene spoke fondly of former U.S. Senator Jesse Helms, who opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the creation of the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday. Keene bragged to NRA News, “Jesse had a been a friend of mine since before he was elected to public office.”
In a May 15, 2023 editorial for the Washington Times, Keene accused President Barack Obama of having a plan to “crucify” political opponents. He made specific reference to an Obama campaign blog that sought to foster transparency about donors to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s political action committee (PAC). “By calling out, investigating and doing their level best to demonize major Romney contributors, [President Obama and his “managers”] clearly are hoping to make others pause before opening their checkbooks to the former Massachusetts governor,” Keene wrote. “These threats are aimed… at the hundreds and perhaps thousands of potential Romney contributors who will slink away lest they, too, become targets of the Obama attack machine.” The previous evening, Idaho businessman and Romney finance co-chair Frank Vandersloot, who was listed on the blog, had made an additional donation of $100,000 to Romney’s PAC on the “Bill O’Reilly Show.” “I think the only response is to make another donation,” Vandersloot noted.
In the April 2012 issue of America’s 1st Freedom, Keene wrote about the 2012 presidential election, saying, “Everything we believe in is at risk this year.” He accused “[President Barack Obama] and his minions” of “operating under the radar right now,” warning, “If we don’t make every vote count this year, we are going to find ourselves targets of a government dedicated to stripping us of our rights. The future is in our hands and will be determined by what we do.”
In the March 2012 issue of America’s 1st Freedom, Keene accused New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg of being a “gun-hating politician…willing to ignore the law, the Supreme Court and due process to harass those…who believe in the Right to Keep and Bear Arms or who engage in shooting sports.” Keene also complained that “an anti-gun jurisdiction ruled by someone like New York’s Michael Bloomberg can have a legal firearm owner transiting his fiefdom arrested.”
In the January 2012 issue of America’s 1st Freedom, Keene accused President Barack Obama of “working overtime to gut the Second Amendment,” stating, “This is a president who has signaled to the international anti-gun community that the United Nations should go ahead with its plan to develop a treaty that could severely restrict or eliminate our Second Amendment rights.” He warned, “We are facing the most crucial election of our lifetimes in terms of the Second Amendment … The bottom line is that our rights are truly in danger. We cannot rely exclusively on the courts or even Congress to protect them. We are the final line of defense of the Second Amendment. We all have to be prepared to fight as never before.”
During the February 2012 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Keene awarded Ken Cuccinelli, Virginia’s Republican Attorney General, the “Defender of Freedom Award” on behalf of the American Conservative Union and the National Rifle Association. In his remarks, Keene described Cuccinelli as “a man who has never turned his back on his values, has never turned his back on his beliefs, and has never refused to stand up when principle demanded that he do so.” Cuccinelli thanked the NRA for the award, and remarked, “James Monroe voted against the U.S. Constitution because he didn’t think it was cautious enough with respect to federal power. Seems like he had a crystal ball, one might think. But that’s the role of states when the federal government oversteps its boundaries. And the worst example of course is the health care bill [The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act]…signed by the president on March 23, 2010. And about 34 minutes later, give or take, we filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia … We filed suit in the Eastern District of Virginia … Seventeen blocks to the east, 235 years to the day…Patrick Henry gave his ‘Give Me Liberty, Or Give Me Death’ speech … And that seemed very appropriate, given that that legislation represents one of the greatest legislative invasions of liberty in the lifetime of anyone in this room.” Turning to the topic of the environment, Cuccinelli said, “We sued the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency]—which I have taken to calling the Employment Prevention Agency, because they are so good at that—for their greenhouse gas endangerment finding ... And when the EPA said that the CO2 that you are exhaling right now, let’s all annoy [EPA Administrator] Lisa Jackson together [exhales loudly], ‘Hi, Lisa.’ When they passed that regulation in violation of the law they brought on enormous consequences … The only science behind that regulation is political science ... They relied on a U.N. associated scientist; we now know them as the ‘Climate-gate’ scientist.” He also added, “You all are familiar with the National Labor Relations Board’s assault on South Carolina and Boeing. Make no mistake about it, that is an assault on the right to work…the right to hold a job without being coerced into joining a union … We have never seen such an across the board assault on the rule of law by any administration in the lifetime of anyone in this room. It has never happened.”
During the February 2012 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Keene was asked by a female veteran of Afghanistan why the National Rifle Association had lobbied for an amendment to the Department of Defense appropriations bill that prevents commanders from talking to suicidal service members about firearms they have in the home. Keene stated that service members "have to deal with their problems, not with the group of tools that they have ... If you have depression and depression creates a suicidal situation if you don't have a gun, you'll use something else. And there are a million ways to commit suicide." Keene's statement about methods of suicide is erroneous. According to research conducted at the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, "A suicide attempt with a firearm rarely affords a second chance. Attempts involving drugs or cutting, which account for more than 90% of all suicidal acts, prove fatal far less often." In 2010, 175 military service members committed suicide used a firearm, which represented 62% of the total number of suicides.
In the October 2011 issue of America’s 1st Freedom, Keene suggested that Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents purposefully armed criminals during their botched “Fast and Furious” operation. “What [gun dealers] perhaps didn’t fully appreciate is that the [ATF] agents wanted [guns] in the wrong hands and were hoping they would later show up at crime scenes in Mexico to perhaps prove that many of the firearms used there were coming from this country,” Keene wrote.
In September 2011, Diana Hubbard Carr—David Keene’s ex-wife—was convicted of mail fraud and sentenced to a year in prison for her role in embezzling over $300,000 from the American Conservative Union (ACU). Keene chaired ACU during the period that the embezzlement occurred, before resigning in May 2011.
In a September 2011 column for America’s 1st Freedom, Keene suggested that, “Gun control advocates from this country have joined literally hundreds of like-minded Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOS) to work with international anti-gun delegates to develop a treaty that could destroy private gun ownership in this country.” He also warned that “friends of the Second Amendment must be prepared to defend our rights against international as well as domestic enemies.”
In his address to the NRA’s annual meeting on April 30, 2011, Keene said, “Make no mistake about it. Barack Obama, his minions in the Justice Department, his allies in the Congress, and his friends in the media would take our guns if they could, and they will if they can.”
In a February 28, 2023 op-ed for The Hill, Keene compared Wisconsin public school teachers who opposed anti-union legislation to University of Wisconsin-Madison students who spent their “waking hours doing drugs, demonstrating, occupying campus buildings and dreaming of revolution” during the 1960s. Commenting on Wisconsin legislation that would largely eliminate collective bargaining rights for state employees, Keene wrote, “[Republican Governor Scott] Walker is doing exactly what he said during his campaign would have to be done to save the Badger State from bankruptcy … That doesn’t make Walker an extremist, but a governor whose state books won’t balance because those who preceded him ignored those warnings and ultimately governed as if the ’60s would never end.”
During an address to NRA members at the organization’s annual meeting in May 2010, Keene said, “I remember those days well. Many of us would take our shotguns to school so that we wouldn’t have to waste time going home for our gear before rushing out after class for a few hours in the field before supper. I can’t for the life of me remember anyone objecting. Firearms and the joy of using them was part of life back then. Oh, I’m sure there were a few spoil sports who couldn’t understand why anyone would want to hunt and a few more who found guns abhorrent for one unexplainable reason or another, but frankly, I’d never heard of PETA. The Humane Society hadn’t been completely taken over by lunatics.”
Keene presented Roy Innis, the controversial director of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), with the John M. Ashbrook Award at the 2010 Conservative Political Action Conference and said, “There is no living American I admire more than Roy Innis.” The award is named after one of the founders of the ACU who served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 21 years as a Republican from Ohio. In his remarks, Innis warned of “a growing tyranny in our country” and said the candidates for the 2008 presidential election were “some of the most dangerous people to ever run for the presidency of the United States.” Speaking on the influence of CPAC, Innis said, “We have developed some skills. We are able to influence the Republican Party, and nudge it, and push it in certain directions. Let us teach those skills to our young brothers in the Tea Party.”
In an August 3, 2023 op-ed for The Hill, Keene expressed his opposition to federal legislation to ban fetish videos that depicted women crushing small animals. He wrote, “I suspect that the problem, its solution and the language that eventually became part of the federal criminal code were brought to the congressman’s attention by one of the so-called animal rights organizations with a far grander agenda than saving the mice or spiders or whatever other small animals had been crushed by whoever stars in such bizarre videos.”
In June 2009, when FedEx and rival UPS were embroiled in a legislative dispute, ACU sent a letter to FedEx offering to go to bat for the company at the price of $1.39 per grassroots activist contacted ($2 to $3 million for the entire project). One of the services offered to FedEx was op-ed pieces written by Keene. In the letter to FedEx, ACU expressed support for FedEx’s attempt to kill a piece of legislation that would have allowed nearly 100,000 FedEx workers to unionize. After FedEx declined ACU’s offer, the organization switched sides and supported UPS’s position in the dispute. In a letter in support of UPS signed by Keene, he called FedEx’s allegations against UPS “a disinformation campaign...that should be stopped.” The letter was also signed by fellow NRA Board Member Grover Norquist. The reversal in ACU’s position was widely seen as representative of the “pay- to-play” nature of Washington politics.
In a June 1, 2023 op-ed for The Hill entitled “Injustice Against Whites,” Keene claimed that during the 2008 presidential election “three” New Black Panther Party “thugs, dressed in paramilitary garb, were caught on camera wielding nightsticks to intimidate white voters who they suspected might not be prepared to vote for their candidate.” In fact, the video referenced by Keene showed only two members of the New Black Panther Party, and they were not interacting with any voters. One of the men was holding a nightstick and was later removed by police. Police received no complaints from voters at the site.
In a May 5, 2023 op-ed for The Hill, Keene wrote, “President Obama and his advisers are determined to turn control of Chrysler Corp. over to the United Auto Workers in spite of the fact that concessions to the union are largely responsible for the automaker’s inability to make a profit.”
Keene tried to free up speaking time for Dutch politician Geert Wilders at CPAC in February 2009. Wilders has openly talked about his hatred of Islam, said that a contemporary Muhammad would “be hunted down as a terrorist,” and called the Muslim prophet “the devil.” Wilders also believes that the Koran should be banned in the Netherlands. Contemporaneous with the CPAC controversy, Wilders was barred from entering the United Kingdom because of his inflammatory comments about Islam. Anders Behring Breivik, the perpetrator of a July 2011 terrorist attack in Norway that left 77 dead, cited Wilders as an inspiration in his manifesto.
On February 29, 2008, Keene registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act as a lobbyist for the government of Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Between 2006 and 2007, the Bayelsa government paid Carmen Group—the lobbying firm that employed Keene—over $900,000. The contract stipulated that lobbyists from Carmen were to “gain support for Bayelsa and the Niger Delta from the U.S. government.” The primary focus of Nigeria’s economy is the trade of oil, which account’s for 90% of the country’s exports. A February 2007 report by National Geographic stated, “Oil fouls everything in southern Nigeria [the Niger Delta]. It spills from the pipelines, poisoning soil and water. It stains the hands of politicians and generals, who siphon off its profits … The cruelest twist is that half a century of oil extraction in the delta has failed to make the lives of the people better. Instead, they are poorer still, and hopeless … Where does all the oil money go? That question is asked in every village, town, and city in the Niger Delta. The blame spreads, moving from the oil companies to a bigger, more elusive, target: the Nigerian government … On paper, a mechanism does exist for distributing oil revenues somewhat fairly. The federal government retains roughly half and gives out the rest each month, on a sliding scale, to the 36 state governments. The core oil producers—Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, and Akwa Ibom—receive the most.” The Nigerian government’s conduct towards oil profits has also been called, “the institutionalized looting of national wealth.” According to the Nigerian government, over 7,000 oil spills occurred in the region between 1970 and 2000 (although some analysts believe the true figure is ten times higher) resulting in an estimated spillage of 1.5 million tons of oil (50 times more than the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster). Williams Mkpa, an Ibeno, Nigeria community leader lamented, “Oil companies do not value our life; they want us to all die. In the past two years, we have experienced 10 oil spills and fishermen can no longer sustain their families. It is not tolerable.” In a high profile incident in the 1990s, the Nigerian government executed a number of anti-oil activists that had protested against Shell’s incursion into their homeland, after convicting the men of murder in a sham trial.
Keene authored a November 20, 2023 op-ed for The Hill entitled “Iraq is Dems Tar-Baby.” The phrase “tar baby” is considered by some to have a negative racial connotation and its use by Mitt Romney in July 2006 received widespread media scrutiny.
In a September 18, 2023 op-ed for The Hill, Keene wrote that in response to controversial statements about Islam made by Pope Benedict, “Islamic spokesmen reacted quickly, asserting that theirs is a religion of peace, condemning the Pope and blaming him as their followers began a new round of torching Christian churches around the world and killing those who attend them.” Keene could not “fathom why a religion’s leaders claim to be peaceful while so often encouraging or at least condoning violence against all who dare to disagree with them. I know there are moderate Muslims out there, but I must say that they are difficult to find when Muslim extremists take to the airwaves or streets.”
Documents filed in compliance with the Foreign Agents Registration Act on January 17, 2024 indicate that Keene managed a lobbying contract between the government of Algeria and the consulting firm, Carmen Group, where he was employed. Keene was tasked with projecting “an up-to-date image of Algeria, her government and her role in regional and world affairs,” while promoting “Congressional, non-governmental organizational, public and media support for Algeria’s legitimate interests and policy goals.” The lobbying contract also required Keene to facilitate “official and unofficial visits to Algeria for elected officials.” The government of Algeria paid Carmen Group $25,000 per month plus additional expenses for each month of lobbying work. In December 2010, Keene wrote a column for The Hill taking the side of the Algerian-based Polisario Front in that group’s conflict with the government of Morocco. In response, a column written by Robert M. Holley, executive director of the Moroccan American Center for Policy, stated, “The Dec. 7 commentary, ‘Our friends in the desert’ by David Keene, distorts the history and current realities of the Western Sahara conflict. It is also important to know that, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, Mr. Keene and his consulting firm received tens of thousands of dollars in lobbying fees from Algeria, the Polisario Front’s ideological and financial supporter—a fact Mr. Keene fails to disclose. Mr. Keene seriously misrepresents the position of the United Nations on the Western Sahara conflict … As well, Mr. Keene egregiously mischaracterizes the position of the U.S. government in the Western Sahara conflict. The Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations, and bipartisan majorities of the U.S. House and Senate, support a resolution of the conflict based on autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty. Furthermore, the author’s description of life in the Polisario-run refugee camps in Algeria is the writer’s fantasy. In the tightly controlled camps—where the refugees are denied the most basic freedoms—there is only one permitted political party, the Polisario Front. Its appointed ‘president’ for more than three decades hails from a dubious class of Cold War leaders including their continuing ally, Fidel Castro. Mr. Keene’s distortions dishonor the lives of the 11 Moroccan police officers savagely killed by violent, pro-Polisario militants who infiltrated what began as a peaceful social protest over economic issues near Laayoune [Algeria].” The Polisario refuge camps are not the only place that human rights violations are alleged against Algeria. According to a 2008 report by the U.S. Department of State, Algeria’s human rights problems include “failure to account for persons who disappeared in detention during the 1990s, reports of abuse and torture, official impunity, abuse of pretrial detention, poor prison conditions, limited judicial independence, and restrictions on freedom of speech, press, and assembly. There were also increased limitations on religious freedom and problems with security-based restrictions on movement, corruption and lack of government transparency, discrimination and violence against women, and restrictions on workers' rights.”
In May 2005, Keene spoke at an ACU dinner celebrating and defending then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who was embroiled in a number of ethics scandals (DeLay has since been convicted of money laundering). NRA Board Member Cleta Mitchell served as M.C. for the event. Attendees at the event included DeLay himself, then-House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R – MO), then-RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman, NRA Board Members Grover Norquist and Governor Jim Gilmore (R – VA), and approximately 30 members of Congress. The NRA purchased a table at the dinner for $2,000. In an interview with NPR a day after the event, Keene announced that “conservatives will protect their own” and called ethics investigations against DeLay “an attack on the conservative agenda” and “each and every” one of the 800 attendees of the dinner.
In a March 14, 2023 op-ed for The Hill, Keene claimed that former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan “facilitated a genocidal uprising in Rwanda.” Annan, who was the director of U.N. Peacekeeping Operations during the Rwanda genocide, has said, “I believed at that time that I was doing my best. But I realized after the genocide that there was more that I could and should have done to sound the alarm and rally support.”
Keene’s son, David Michael Keene, was charged with attempted first degree murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison for firing a gun at another vehicle during a 2002 road rage incident. At the time of the incident, Keene was working with his father at ACU as an online communications director. Between the ages of 8 and 13, David Michael Keene was institutionalized seven times for “severe emotional problems,” including “a continuing problem with impulse control.”
Tom King (Board Member)
In a December 25, 2023 interview on the Hofstra University radio station, King spoke about why Americans need firearms. He stated, “Put simply, people are worried about protecting themselves … You know, in [Newtown,] Connecticut, this insane massacre, the police did just a magnificent job of responding to this. The response time was four minutes. But in four minutes, a crazy individual killed 26 people. That in itself is the reason that a lot of people are buying firearms to protect themselves and why the Second Amendment is so important.” When asked if semi-automatic assault weapons should be limited to law enforcement, King said, “No … A semi-automatic weapon is not any more dangerous than any other rifle … The fact is, without anyone in the schools to stop these perpetrators, you could go in there with a single shot firearm and you could kill just as many people. It’s a fact that if somebody has decided they’re going out to do it, they’re going to do it. Just like when somebody decides that they’re going to commit suicide. Ask the psychiatrists, ask the psychologists, you usually cannot stop someone from committing suicide if they really wanna do it. And that is exactly the mind set of these people that are going in and committing these atrocities … Unfortunately, you can’t stop that unless there is a coordination between the medical profession and the [National Instant Criminal Background Check System] people…and the individual states. That’s the only way to stop it.” According to the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, suicidal acts with firearms are fatal in 85% of cases, while those with poison or overdose are fatal in only 2% of cases. Attempts by cutting are fatal in only 1% of cases.
On September 9, 2011, King posted the following status update to his Facebook Wall: “How to find out if yor [sic] spouse or your dog loves more. Lock them both in the car trunk for one hour and, when you open it, see which one is glad to see you.” When asked how that worked for him, King responded, “The dog is still happy to see me.”
On July 13, 2023 King posted the following status update on Facebook: “The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a living are outnumbered by those who vote for a living.”
King suggested that President Barack Obama should be indicted on murder charges as a result of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ botched “Fast and Furious” operation that allowed guns to “walk” into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. In a July 7, 2023 blog for the Albany Times-Union, King wrote: “Ladies and Gentlemen if you or I were involved in a crime that resulted in the death of a police officer we would be indicted for Murder I; maybe that is the course we should demand be taken for Attorney General Holder and anyone else involved in this illegal conspiracy including President Obama if he had prior knowledge of the operation. There can be no excuses; this was a deliberate lie to the American people to cover up a conspiracy (sic) intended to take away or severely limit our Second Amendment Rights but instead it resulted in the death of a Border Patrol Agent. The criminals must be punished…All of them!” “Fast and Furious” resulted in the resignations of ATF Acting Director Ken Melson and U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke but, to date, no evidence has been produced to indicate that either President Obama or Attorney General Holder knew about the operation before CBS News broke the story in February 2011.
On July 7, 2011, King posted a photo on his Facebook Wall that reads, “Now just why in the HELL do I have to press ‘1’ for English.” King then commented below the photo, “A question that should be asked more often!”
King posted an image of a bumper sticker on Facebook on July 7, 2023 that reads, “White Straight Republican Male. How else can I piss you off today?”
In an April 19, 2023 editorial for the Albany Times-Union, King expressed fears about “Muslim extremist literature and the occasional lost Koran” that are found on the U.S.-Mexico border—despite a total lack of evidence indicating that such material is actually being recovered. King then complained, “The Obama administration continues to ignore or down play the border threat while continuing his stealth campaign to take our firearms.”
King posted an image of President Barack Obama on Facebook on November 2, 2023 that includes the text, “SUCKA! Drank the kool-aid didn’t ya!” Below the image, King wrote, “No further comment is needed.”
“A random but important thought for the day” posted by King on his Facebook Wall on October 29, 2023 was an image that reads, “If You Can’t Read This [Arabic writing] Thank A Soldier.”
“A random but important thought for the day” posted by King on his Facebook Wall on October 29, 2023 was an image that reads, “If You Can’t Read This [Arabic writing] Thank A Soldier.”
On October 21, 2010, King posted a photo on his Facebook Wall reminding viewers to “Take out the trash” on Election Day 2010. Below the image he commented, “Just a friendly reminder.”
On September 3, 2023 King posted a photo to his Facebook Wall that depicts President Barack Obama saying, “The term ‘illegal aliens’ will no longer be allowed. Henceforth they will be referred to as ‘Undocumented Democrats’.” Below the photo, King commented, “For my friends in Arizona.” He was likely referring to the Obama administration’s legal challenge to a controversial immigration bill, SB 1070, that was signed into law in Arizona in April 2010.
In February 2010, King wrote an editorial for the Albany Times-Union in which he announced his opposition a bill in the New York State legislature that sought to prohibit the carrying of firearms in public by individuals who are intoxicated. King said the legislation was “about the persecution of the legal and lawful gun owners of New York state and [the New York state government’s] attempts to control [them].”
Speculating about the upcoming November 2010 elections in December of 2009, King wrote, “Much like December 7, 2023 and September 11, 2023 Election Day November 2, 2023 may live in infamy but for very different reasons. Why? Because Election Day 2010 may be the day the United States of America dies. Currently the Country is on life support provided by concerned groups like the NRA, the Heritage Society, the American Conservative Union, Tea Party Groups and statewide Rifle & Pistol Associations like the NYSRPA.” King then explained that, “Our losses on Election Day 2008 were largely the result of George W. Bush being unjustly vilified in the media, his party and the electorate.” Finally, King added, “The holding action is about to come to an end we must put differences aside and unite as the patriots of the revolution did over 200 years ago. We must fight with the same conviction and energy to insure victory … Election Day 2010 is our bridge at Concord and it must be the vote that is heard around the world ... If we fail the end is near.”
King criticized the lifestyle and ancestry of “downstate” New Yorkers (people from New York City) in a February 7, 2023 blog for the Albany Times-Union, writing, “We are not Downstate sheeple that need to be protected from violence, the weather or ourselves. We are descended from strong stock that came to this country to escape oppression. We choose to live here because of the weather rather than in spite of it. The cold, the mountains, the lakes and the ocean provide opportunities to hunt, fish, shoot and enjoy the activities that have become part of our culture maybe even a part of our DNA. This proclivity for the blood sports is a part of our nature that the downstate sheeple are unable and unwilling to understand.”
In a July 25, 2023 blog for the Albany Times-Union, King defended the actions of Gabriel Razzanno, who lost his pistol permit after a confrontation with U.S. Representative Caroyln McCarthy (D-NY). According to the Congresswoman’s staff, Razzanno—a member of the hardline anti-immigrant Minuteman organization—called McCarthy’s New York office over 100 times and made six visits culminating in an incident at the office where he was “rude, frightening, and threatening to the staff members.” Police confiscated 15 handguns and nine long guns from the home of Razzanno (who police described as “mentally unstable”). While at Razzanno’s home, police were troubled by a rope tied into a noose hanging in the back window of his minivan, accompanied by a bumper sticker stating, “Vote for Rope.” Police also took note of a David Duke book in the home entitled “Jewish Supremicism.” Commenting on the revocation of Razzanno’s pistol license, King wrote, “Congresswomen McCarthy should resign, the police chief should be prosecuted for a civil rights or RiCo [the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act] violation, the entire Nassau County Board should apologize and the residents of Nassau County should hang their heads in shame for not immediately coming to the aid of Mr. Razzano.”
In a September 24, 2023 blog for the Albany Times-Union entitled "Loosely Organized Young Men and Women," King wrote, "Have you noticed the increase in this activity lately. Must be a lot of competitive neighborhood groups competing for the lucrative corners to sell Kool Aid. Ask the kids better yet ask the residents of those neighborhoods; they will tell you what is really happening. That will not happen it is easier to blame the gun rather than the real cause of violence in Albany. Any news on the Common Council’s picks for the Gang oops… I meant Gun Violence Task Force?"
In a September 20, 2023 blog for the Albany Times-Union, King wrote, “Much to my surprise I found out that our own New York City is a sanctuary city. That’s right, the same city that will not let you or I carry our legally licensed firearms is ignoring federal law and refusing to disclose or ask immigration status on those arrested. What is wrong with the leaders of New York City? [New York City] Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly should be arrested, tried, found guilty and sent to jail.”
George Kollitides (Nominating Committee Member)
On the October 18, 2023 broadcast of “Cam & Company,” Cam Edwards spoke to George Kollitides, CEO of Remington Arms. Discussing the upcoming 2012 presidential election, Kollitides stated, “I think this will be the most important election of our lifetime. The next president is going to be in an incredibly powerful position to appoint {U.S.] Supreme Court justices. It’s one thing to legislate a gun ban. That can always be overturned by a future president, a future Congress, and Congress can fight it, of course, and hope they don’t get vetoed and overruled. We’ve had the benefit of a strict interpretist Supreme Court which has been conservative and really held up the core traditional values of our country. So, I don’t necessarily just worry about the next four years of an Obama presidency, I worry about my kids’ and my grandkids’ futures, because if we change face of the Supreme Court, we’re looking at a 30-plus-year uphill battle … Not only will the Second Amendment be under attack if we go to a liberal non-strict-interpretative court, but it’ll be the entire American way of life. When we appoint liberal judges, they take it upon themselves not to interpret the laws but to legislate the laws and there’s a lot of liberal courts doing that. So, the appeal needs to be not just to gun owners, although that’s obviously critically important…but I think many of the things we think about, all of our freedoms will be at risk. You know the liberal courts and the liberal politicians believe they know what’s best for Americans. They’re gonna tell us when we have to get health care. They’re gonna tell us what time we have to get out of bed every day. They’re gonna tell us where we have to go to work. They’re gonna take our money and redistribute it. This is an issue that every American needs to be worried about.”
Herbert Lanford (Board Member)
Lanford once falsely claimed that, “domestic murders out of passion…are often committed with household items such as axes” while opposing a South Carolina bill that would have placed a waiting period on handgun purchases. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 69% of all murders in the United States in 2007 were committed with firearms. Only 11% were committed with cutting or piercing weapons.
Wayne LaPierre (Executive Vice President and CEO)
In an October 8, 2023 op-ed for the Daily Caller, LaPierre wrote, “The tyrants and dictators at the United Nations will stop at nothing to register, ban and, eventually, confiscate firearms owned by law-abiding Americans like you and me … By signing the U.N. gun-ban treaty our government will be placing a ticking time bomb at every American gun owners’ front door … Despite the half-truths and outright lies coming from the Obama administration, the U.N. and its gun-ban allies in the media, the [Arms Trade Treaty] ATT would potentially create an international gun registration system that could eventually pave the way for the full-blown confiscation of firearms owned by American gun owners … The U.N.’s driving mission is to accumulate power at the expense of the sovereignity[sic] of individual nations and fundamental individual rights, and its gun-ban treaty proves it. After all, no human right known to mankind is more essential to a free and just society than the individual right of law-abiding citizens to protect themselves and their loved ones in the face of criminal violence. That’s why our Founding Fathers enshrined this freedom in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.” LaPierre was referring to a U.N. Small Arms Treaty that would set only international standards for the import/export of conventional weapons—leaving it to individual countries to “regulate internal transfers of arms and national ownership, including through national constitutional protections on private ownership.”
On March 15, 2013, during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), LaPierre stated, “The Second Amendment is not just words on parchment. It’s not some frivolous suggestion from our Founding Fathers to be interpreted by whim. It lies at the heart of what this country was founded upon. Our Founding Fathers knew that without Second Amendment freedom, all of our freedoms could be in jeopardy … If you aren’t free to protect yourself—when government puts its thumb on that freedom—then you aren’t free at all.”
LaPierre also spoke about universal background checks on gun purchasers, a measure supported by President Barack Obama and the subject of proposed legislation, stating, “A background check. A check that will always be far from universal, will never make our schools or streets safer, and will only serve as universal registration of lawful gun owners—the real goal they’ve been pushing for decade …. Their check only includes good, law-abiding people like you and me. That’s what they’re after—the names of good, decent people who happen to own a firearm to go into a federal database for universal registration of every lawful gun owner in America … What’s the point of registering lawful gun owners anyway? So newspapers can print those names and addresses for criminals and gangs to access? So that list can be hacked by foreign entities like the Chinese, who recently hacked Pentagon computers? So that list can be handed over to the Mexican government that, oh by the way, has already requested it. In the end, there are only two reasons for government to create that federal registry of gun owners—to tax them and to take them.”
In reality, existing federal lawprohibits the creation of a national gun registry and none of the proposed gun violence prevention legislation referred to by LaPierre sought to change that. LaPierre continued, stating, “No gun owner, no rational thinking American, believes that will have any effect on violent criminals and they’re right.” In fact, several polls conducted in January 2013 in the wake of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary indicated overwhelming public support for universal background checks. A public opinion poll published by the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health found that http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/01/31/nra-leadership... of Americans and 74% of NRA members supported requiring a background check for all gun sales. A poll conducted by the Pew Research Center found that 85% of Americans and gun owners favored making private gun sales subject to background checks. (Conspiracy Theory).
In a February 23, 2023 speech at the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo in Salt Lake City, LaPierre spoke about universal background checks, stating, “It’s aimed at registering your guns. And when another tragic opportunity presents itself, that registry will be used to confiscate your guns … Picture this: your name, your address on a map giving directions to your home that could include a list of all the specific firearms you own. That’s a pretty handy list if you’re a seasoned criminal or a drug dealer or a gang member, isn’t it? How safe do you think that government list would be?" In fact, throughout U.S. history, federal and state laws have required registration of certain firearms, and such measures have never led to any confiscation of firearms from those in compliance with the law. Additionally, existing federal law prohibits the creation of a national gun registry and none of the proposed gun violence prevention legislation referred to by LaPierre sought to change that.
In a February 13, 2023 op-ed for the Daily Caller, LaPierre wrote, “It has always been sensible for good citizens to own and carry firearms for lawful protection against violent criminals who prey on decent people. During the second [President Barack] Obama term, however, additional threats are growing. Latin American drug gangs have invaded every city of significant size in the United States … After Hurricane Sandy, we saw the hellish world that the gun prohibitionists see as their utopia. Looters ran wild in south Brooklyn. There was no food, water or electricity. And if you wanted to walk several miles to get supplies, you better get back before dark, or you might not get home at all … Tornadoes. Riots. Terrorists. Gangs. Lone criminals. These are perils we are sure to face—not just maybe. It’s not paranoia to buy a gun. It’s survival. It’s responsible behavior, and it’s time we encourage law-abiding Americans to do just that.” In fact, according to the New York City Police Department's CompStat (Computer Statistics/ Comparative Statistics) Unit, for five days after Hurricane Sandy, at all. NYPD spokesman Paul Browne told the NY Daily News, "[In] the 60th Precinct in Coney Island, it was hardly hell week. There were no murders, no rapes and no shootings. The same was true in the neighboring 61st Precinct."
On January 22, 2013, in a speech at the Weatherby Foundation International Hunting and Conservation Awards in Reno, Nevada, LaPierre stated, “[President Barack] Obama wants to turn the idea of absolutism into a dirty word. Just another word for extremism. He wants you, all of you, and Americans throughout all of this country, to accept the idea of principles as he sees fit. It’s a way of redefining words so that common sense is turned upside down and that nobody knows the difference.” LaPierre was referring to President Obama’s second inaugural address, in which he stated, “We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate.” LaPierre also addressed President Obama’s January 2013 proposals to reduce gun violence, stating, “He wants to put every private, personal firearms transaction right under the thumb of the federal government. He wants to keep all of those names in a massive federal registry. There’s only two reasons for a federal list on gun owners: to either tax ‘em or take ‘em. That’s the only reasons. And anyone who says that’s excessive, President Obama says that’s an absolutist.” In fact, the Obama administration had never proposed the creation of a universal list of gun owners. “Absolutes do exist,” added LaPierre. “Words do have specific meaning in language and in law. It’s the basis of all civilization. Without those absolutes, without those protections, democracy decays into nothing more than two wolves and one lamb voting on, well, who to eat for lunch.”
In an October 17, 2023 interview with NRA News, LaPierre stated, "We’ll go to our graves mourning the freedoms we’ve lost in this country if we don’t step up between now and election time and make the difference in this election and make sure President [Barack] Obama’s defeated on election day."
On October 5, 2012, LaPierre announced the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund’s endorsement of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in Fishersville, Virginia. LaPierre stated, “The dream is to save America and our freedom … You’re sure not free if you can’t defend yourself and everyone knows that. And I also know something else about ya. You’re not gonna surrender submit, succumb, or be marginalized. You’re ready to make a difference for freedom in this country. And we have to do that, because we’re standin’ on the edge of a [President Barack] Obama cliff with our freedom. If President Obama gets reelected, he’s gonna have one to three Supreme Court appointments and I guarantee you this, if that happens, one to three more [Justice Sonia] Sotomayors and [Justice Elena] Kagans and we can kiss our constitutional right to own a firearm in the United States goodbye, along with a lot of the rest of our freedoms. And we can’t let that happen … Does anybody trust an Obama Administration in the second term to be anywhere near negotiating with a club of governments called the United Nations on our freedom? Their gun plan is: Turn over your firearms and your protection to the government. The government will protect ya… That U.N. plan is about global agencies monitoring, surveillance, supervision, lists, all institutionalized within the bureaucracy of the United Nations … I guarantee this, if your glass breaks at 2:00 a.m. at night somewhere from some criminal, you all know that those baby blue helmets of the U.N. aren’t gonna be there to protect ya and neither is President Obama or [U.S. Attorney General] Eric Holder. What will protect ya is our freedom that we have here in the United States under the Second Amendment to the Constitution. And there’s not a government or authority on the planet that can match that if you’re ever in that situation.” LaPierre was referring to a U.N. Small Arms Treaty that would set only international standards for the import/export of conventional weapons—leaving it to individual countries to “regulate internal transfers of arms and national ownership, including through national constitutional protections on private ownership.” Finally, LaPierre added, “We’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg on what’s in store if President Obama is reelected … It’s the most dangerous election of our lifetime … All of our freedoms, all of our rights, all of our way of life, all of the Second Amendment is on the line.”
In the October 2012 issue of America’s 1st Freedom, LaPierre wrote, “Of all the threats to American liberty posed by the [President Barack] Obama administration, the most dangerous is the corruption of the U.S. Department of Justice where high-level misfeasance, malfeasance, and nonfeasance have become the norm. The U.S. Department of Justice is supposed to be a neutral guardian of the rule of law and protector of our national order. It is supposed to uphold the United States Constitution. Instead, under President Barack Obama’s Attorney General, Eric Holder, it has become the national enforcer of Chicago-style thuggery on the national scene … Under operation ‘Fast and Furious,’ Holder’s Justice Department has abetted federal felony gun-law violations and international gun running—resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Mexican nationals and the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in Arizona.” LaPierre was referring to the discontinued “Fast and Furious” gun trafficking investigation on the southwest border. A report released by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General on September 19, 2023 found that there is no evidence that Attorney General Eric Holder was aware of the tactics used in “Fast and Furious” until after it was concluded in 2011. LaPierre then turned to the topic of Voter ID legislation, stating, “But no clearer example exists of the deep corruption at Justice than its efforts to vacate state laws preventing election fraud … The Obama/Holder Justice Department is running a vote fraud protection racket by jamming the courts with lawsuits opposing state mandates that provide a simple solution to election cheating–Voter ID … Now connect the dots to another key assault on our freedom. Aligned with the Department of Homeland Security, Obama’s top federal law enforcement leaders are refusing to enforce immigration laws to stem the tide of hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens, potential illegal voters.” Voter ID laws in Texas, North Carolina, and Florida have been challenged in court by the Department of Justice over allegations that they disenfranchise minorities. In July of 2012, the DOJ began investigating Pennsylvania’s Voter ID law to determine whether it discriminates against minorities. Furthermore, research has shown that in-person voter fraud of the kind LaPierre warns about is extremely rare in the United States.
In the August 2012 issue of America’s 1st Freedom, LaPierre wrote, “For months I’ve warned you of the grave consequences our freedoms will face if [President Barack] Obama, his administration and its Capitol Hill enablers are reelected on Nov. 6 [2012] … Now Obama’s allies on Capitol Hill want to deny the right to political free speech to you, me and groups like the NRA completely and forever–even if they have to amend the U.S. Constitution.” LaPierre was referring to the “People’s Rights Amendment” introduced by Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA) in response to the controversial Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. In Citizens United, the Court ruled that the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent political expenditures by corporations and unions. Rep. McGovern’s amendment to the U.S. Constitution would clarify the meaning of ‘people,’ ‘person’ or ‘citizen,’ defining them not as “corporations, limited liability companies, or other corporate entities established by the laws of any State, the United States, or any foreign state,” but as individual human beings. The amendment would also subject corporate entities to “such regulation as the people, through their elected State and Federal representatives, deem reasonable and are otherwise consistent with the powers of Congress and the States under this Constitution.”
In an NRA fundraising letter dated July 23, 2012, LaPierre wrote the following about the 2012 presidential election: “The night of November 6, 2012, you and I will lose more on the election battlefield than our nation has lost in any battle, anytime, anywhere. Or, we will win our greatest victory as NRA members and freedom-loving Americans … The future of your Second Amendment rights will be at stake. And nothing less than the future of our country and our freedom will be at stake.” Lapierre stated that Obama’s re-election would result in the “confiscation of our firearms” and potentially a “ban on semi-automatic weapons.” The letter was sent to NRA supporters just three days after a mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado. In that shooting, severely mentally ill gunman James Holmes killed 12 people and wounded 58 others in a span of two minutes. Holmes wore full body armor during the attack and was armed with three semiautomatic firearms. LaPierre made no mention whatsoever of the shooting in his letter.
In a July 5, 2023 interview with Megyn Kelly on Fox News, LaPierre spoke about a proposed U.N. Small Arms Treaty, stating, “The fact is the U.N. doesn’t protect people. It doesn’t save the innocent. You could stack to the ceiling the bodies of the innocent a thousand times over that the U.N has failed to protect. The dead people don’t get to vote on this U.N treaty. And Americans don’t want to be added to that pile of dead people that have been left defenseless by the U.N. policies … The U.N. gun control plan is the most extreme imaginable. It says people in the United States turn over your personal protection and your firearms to the government and the government will protect you.” In fact, the U.N. Small Arms Treaty would set only international standards for the import/export of conventional weapons—leaving it to individual countries to “regulate internal transfers of arms and national ownership, including through national constitutional protections on private ownership.” When pressed on this by Kelly, LaPierre responded by saying, “Right now it would affect every handgun, rifle, and shotgun American citizens own … It sets up global agencies, data centers, tracking, monitoring, surveillance, supervision, it institutionalizes the whole U.N. gun plan within the bureaucracy of the United Nations with a permanent funding mechanism. And included in this gun plan is implementation legislation that they are going to press for the United States to adopt.” Treaties must be ratified by a two-thirds vote of the U.S. Senate.
In the July 2012 issue of America’s 1st Freedom, LaPierre wrote, “We have been enormously successful in restoring Second Amendment freedom to honest Americans. But those hard-earned victories are vulnerable so long as Barack Obama is president. Despite his claims to the contrary, the threats we face today are as real and dangerous as any we’ve face before … Americans have had enough of this administration’s elitist contempt for our freedoms and our way of life … We can’t wait. If we sit back and count on a victory in 2016, we will face four long years under an emboldened anti-gun president. With no more elections to worry about, Obama will finally be free to launch an open assault on the Second Amendment. Now is the time to stop that from happening. It’s up to each of us to ask ourselves one simple question every day from now until November: am I doing everything I can to win this election?”
On June 29, 2012, in a speech at the Western Conservative Summit in Denver, Colorado, LaPierre stated, “If you don’t remember anything else I say tonight, mark this down: this is the most dangerous election in our lifetimes ... It’s a fight for our country, it's a fight for our values, it's a fight for the freedoms we believe in, all of our Second Amendment liberty, all of the rights we’ve worked so hard to defend, all of what we know is good, and what we know is right about America. All of it could be lost if [President] Barack Obama is reelected ... The fight is on. Everything we believe in’s at stake and at risk ... Never has American freedom been more disregarded, denigrated, diminished, and often destroyed ... Almost every way you look at it, almost every aspect of American freedom is in some state of decline. Just think about it. Our right to speak out, our right to assemble, our right to practice our religion, our right to seek the kind of health care we want for our families, the economic freedom to earn and spend and save, to own our own homes, to buy the kind of food we want to feed our children, to raise and discipline our kids, even the simple right to fly the American flag. The increasing collapse of American freedom is becoming staggering. Because, by almost every measure, we are less free today than we were a short decade ago. President Obama? He won’t tell you that ... Never has honest leadership been so lacking as in the Barack Obama White House.” LaPierre also spoke about the discontinued “Fast and Furious” gun trafficking investigation on the southwest border and President Obama’s decision to invoke executive privilege over documents subpoenaed by Congress, stating, “I guarantee you that there’s somethin’ that stinks to high heaven in those papers in order for this administration to be willin’ to walk into this briar patch. Executive privilege really is the last gasp of a cover-up ... [Barack Obama] chose the Richard Nixon option to cover it up until after the coming election. No one died as a result of Watergate, yet several members of Nixon’s cabinet and staff went to prison ... Just like Nixon, this president has put his administration in the same state of vulnerability, at the edge of a federal penitentiary.” A report released by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General on September 19, 2023 found that there is no evidence that Attorney General Eric Holder was aware of the tactics used in “Fast and Furious” until after it was concluded in 2011.
In a June 28, 2023 interview with NRA News, LaPierre spoke about the “Fast and Furious” gun trafficking investigation on the southwest border and a vote in the House of Representatives to hold U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in criminal contempt for failure to comply with a congressional subpoena for documents related to the operation. NRA News co-host Ginny Simone asked LaPierre to respond to D.C. Delegate to the House of Representatives Eleanor Holmes Norton’s assertion that the vote was partisan and motivated by NRA lobbying of legislators. LaPierre replied, “Well, that’s all a bunch of garbage to tell you the truth … I mean, all the enablers in the media that are trying to justify what went on here and refuse to ask any of the Watergate questions: who knew, when they knew, how high it goes … Watergate was a third-rate burglary. No one was killed.” A report released by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General on September 19, 2023 found that there is no evidence that Attorney General Eric Holder was aware of the tactics used in the investigation until after it was concluded in 2011.
In a June 25, 2023 interview with Lou Dobbs on Fox News, LaPierre stated, “So much of the national media oughta just take down their logo and put an Obama bumper sticker on because they’re so tied to reelecting this president. I mean, the Washington Post writes the other day, I mean, they’re still writing stories patting themselves on the backs for Watergate, which was a third-rate burglary. I mean, even Bill Clinton was a dalliance with an intern. This is hundreds of peoples dead, federal agent dead. And the Washington Post writes the other day, ‘it was an honest bureaucratic mistake.’ I mean, there’s all kinds of double standards, political dishonesty, duplicity here that make the American public sick of what the political class does.”
In a June 12, 2023 interview with Fox News, LaPierre stated, “You know, I don’t know the facts in this whole Zimmerman-Trayvon Martin case, and I’ve learned to hold my tongue until I do.” LaPierre was referencing the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by concealed carry permit holder George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida on February 26, 2012—an event which generated national controversy. LaPierre also spoke about Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, which the NRA helped to author and promoted aggressively in the state legislature: “But what I do know the facts on, and that’s the Florida law. And there’s a shocking ignorance of the law, what it says in Florida. Or it’s being done for political purposes to seek political advantage. All that law says in Florida is, if you’re in your home, and your glass breaks in the middle of the night, there is a presumption that that person is there to cause you imminent fear of death or bodily harm. If you’re in your car and someone assaults you and tries to pull you out there’s a presumption that that person is there to cause you imminent fear of death or bodily harm. If you are on the street in Florida it is a completely different section of the law. It’s [Florida statute section] 776.012 as opposed to 776.013. And if you’re on the street in Florida, what the law says is if someone assaults you or you’re attacked, you can meet force with force. The law even says ‘not deadly’ in parentheses.” In fact, “Stand Your Ground” expressly allows an individual on the street to meet force with deadly force. The law states, “A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force, if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.” LaPierre continued, “But, gosh there’s been so much distortion as to what this law says, with ‘shoot first’ and everything else completely misinforming the American public … I think a lot of it is by some these politicians who want to impose a duty to retreat on the American public, where if your glass breaks in the middle of the night and there’s some criminal coming into your house, they want to impose a duty to retreat on the crime victim with a long complicated checklist rather than do what’s natural at the most terrifying moment of that person’s life when they’re in a state of overwhelming reactive panic which is to protect your life and your family from those who would destroy it. And they want to impose that duty to retreat all over the country and it’s mainly politicians and newspapers…that really don’t want the American public protecting themselves… so they’re willing to distort this to assert their political agenda.” When asked if the request of Sybrina Fulton [Trayvon Martin’s mother] for state lawmakers to amend or review “Stand Your Ground” laws was reasonable, LaPierre responded, “You know it’s a tragedy, and our heart goes out to the family, but have you ever been threatened? I mean you talk to crime victims in the country, and I’m not talking about this case, but you talk to crime victims; it’s the most terrifying moment of their life. They really are in a state of overwhelming reactive panic, instinctively they’ll do anything at that point to save themselves. They’ve done nothing wrong, they’re going about their business and yet someone is trying to destroy their whole life. And the whole idea that you’re gonna twist this Florida case into some national movement to try to impose a duty to retreat on the American public at their most terrifying moment of their life rather than let them protect themself and save themself. And then open the crime victim up to civil lawsuits by a criminal that will bankrupt them is crazy. This duty to retreat may sound fine at an Ivy League cocktail party, it doesn’t work very well in the real world.”
In the June 2012 issue of America’s 1st Freedom, LaPierre warned, “American freedom as we know it is in jeopardy.” He wrote, “There is no greater freedom than the ability to own a firearm to protect yourself, your family, your community and your country. That freedom is the heart and soul of our nation. And that soul is at stake in this election … If [President Barack] Obama wins this year, he will wage an all-out assault on America’s heart and soul. This isn’t just the most important election of our lifetimes–it’s the most important election for our children’s, grandchildren’s and great-grandchildren’s lifetimes.”
In the May 2012 issue of America’s 1st Freedom, LaPierre wrote, “All our freedoms are on the line [in the 2012 presidential election].” He accused President Barack Obama of being connected to a political “web of Chicago thug[s],” and having spun a “web of lies…about [his] phony, claimed support of the Second Amendment.”
On April 14, 2012, in his keynote speech at the NRA Convention in St. Louis, LaPierre stated, “we live in the most dangerous of times.” “We will never surrender our guns,” LaPierre declared. “The Second Amendment has never been more relevant as it is today. When all is said and done, we may have nothing left but our gun rights, but that’s the one right that gives us a fighting chance to reclaim freedoms lost.” LaPierre made almost no mention of the national controversy surrounding the killing of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin by concealed handgun permit holder George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida on February 26, 2012. The NRA was one of the authors of the “Stand Your Ground” law in Florida that significantly liberalized the use of lethal force in public. LaPierre spoke of the tragedy only to accuse the media of “sensational[izing]” it, claiming they “manufacture controversy for ratings.”
In his opening remarks at the 2012 NRA Convention in St. Louis on April 13, 2012, LaPierre warned, “If President Obama gets a second term, America as we know it will be on its way to being lost forever.”
In the March 2012 issue of America’s 1st Freedom, LaPierre warned that if the NRA fails to end the “Barack Obama regime…the Right to Keep and Bear Arms could well perish in a Supreme Court heartbeat.” He added that an “Obama majority” on the Supreme Court would “rule that only the government has a right to guns, not individuals like you.” “We have time to stop the Obama juggernaut and to make history together,” LaPierre stated, “but we must start now—not only to save our guns but to save our heritage. The future of freedom in America depends on it.”
In the February 2012 issue of America’s 1st Freedom, LaPierre declared that the 2012 presidential election “could prove [to be] the most disastrous in the history of the country,” because President Barack Obama is “leading our country straight to…tyranny.” “It’s all or nothing,” LaPierre warned. “Either we defeat Barack Obama and retain all the benefits of our pro-gun victories over the last 30 years…or we lose this election and we lose it all.”
On February 10, 2012, during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), LaPierre warned listeners that “This is the most dangerous election in our lifetime … Our soul is at stake in this election. The campaign is a fight for our country, our values and the freedom we believe in.” LaPierre then detailed a “massive” conspiracy by the administration of President Barack Obama to “deceive voters and hide his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment.” LaPierre then boasted, “We’ll spend and do whatever it takes to tell the truth the media ignores.”
In the January 2012 issue of America’s 1st Freedom, LaPierre declared, “The emerging autocracy of President Barack Obama presents the gravest danger to our individual liberty in our lifetimes … The Second Amendment and our national character as we know it are at stake in the coming elections.” He accused the Obama Administration of being “engaged in a conspiracy of public deception intended to…excise the Second Amendment” from the Constitution. “The nation cannot survive another four years of Obama’s arrogant one-man rule,” LaPierre wrote.
During a January 2012 radio interview with Glenn Beck, LaPierre agreed with Beck’s assertion that when it comes to raising money in politics, “You have to go out and drum up the money, the unions just take it. They just have it. They just take it out of everybody's paycheck.” LaPierre went on to claim, “We raise it all through 5, 10, 15, 20 dollar contributions that Americans are willing to preserve freedom. And they're willing to support it. But, you know, that's what NRA is about. I mean, I always say we're about our membership and we're about giving voice to our membership.” In fact, the National Rifle Association does not raise all of its money from small donors. A report by the Violence Policy Center indicates that since 2005, the NRA has received between $19.8 million and $52.6 million in contributions from corporate interests. After Beck raised the specter of the reelection of Barack Obama leading to private gun confiscation in the United States, LaPierre responded, “We can’t let it get to this point. Every Second Amendment supporter needs to make sure that President Obama does not get a second term to destroy the Second Amendment.”
During a November 11, 2023 appearance on NRA News, LaPierre disputed that large numbers of crime guns recovered in Mexico originate from the United States, stating, “The Obama people, like Hillary Clinton and President Obama and Eric Holder, because they want to pass more phony gun laws in the United States and reinstate that so-called assault weapons ban—which was a lie and a failure from the start—they are also mouthing those types of dishonest figures … The freedoms of the United States are sure not to blame for the problems in Mexico.” Between 2006 and 2011, 64,000 of the 94,000 guns received at crime scenes in Mexico were traced to the United States.
Under LaPierre’s leadership, the National Rifle Association has frequently promoted gun confiscation conspiracy theories surrounding the administration of President Barack Obama and/or a treaty being considered by the United Nations to curb illegal, international sales of small arms. In a November 3, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, LaPierre wrote, “The Obama administration … hatched a political conspiracy to deceive Americans and hide its true agenda to dismantle the Second Amendment and our freedom. By delaying its anti-gun legislative agenda, it’s tried to dupe gun owners into believing our fundamental freedom is safe. The political calculation of the White House is clear: Deceive the voters and get re-elected at all costs and then, with no more elections to worry about, get busy dismantling the Second Amendment and destroying American freedom forever … Mr. Obama…is responsible for his administration’s efforts to support a United Nations treaty that could severely restrict or effectively ban civilian ownership of firearms worldwide.” In fact, since assuming office, President Obama has not advocated for any gun control measures, instead signing legislation to allow firearms in national parks and on Amtrak trains. Furthermore, the UN has no power to alter American gun laws. Any UN treaty that called for changes in U.S. gun laws would have to be ratified by a 2/3 vote of the U.S. Senate.
In October 2011, LaPierre told Newsmax.TV, “Our job is to protect the Second Amendment and that means that every gun owner, every Second Amendment supporter needs to do everything they can to make sure that President Obama does not get a second term so that he can destroy the Second Amendment. And that's what's going to happen if he gets a second term. And I want to leave no doubt about that. This is the most dangerous election in our lifetime for the Second Amendment freedom that American citizens have. A second term by President Obama will break the back of that freedom in this country.”
Under LaPierre’s leadership, the National Rifle Association has frequently promoted a gun confiscation conspiracy theory concerning the administration of President Barack Obama. On September 23, 2011, LaPierre addressed the Florida Conservative Political Action Conference and told those in attendance, “The fight for 2012 is a fight for our country, our values, and our freedom. And if NRA has anything to say about it, President Barack Obama won’t get a second term … Our freedom is at risk in this election like never before … The president will offer the Second Amendment lip service and hit the campaign trail saying he’s actually been good for the Second Amendment, but it’s a big, fat, stinkin’ lie, just like all the other lies that have come out of this corrupt administration. It’s all part of a massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and hide his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment in our country … Before the president was even sworn into office, they met and they hatched a conspiracy of public deception to try to guarantee his re-election in 2012 … We see the president’s strategy crystal clear: Get re-elected and with no more elections to worry about, get busy dismantling and destroy our firearms freedom. Erase the Second Amendment from the Bill of Rights and exorcise it from the U.S. Constitution. That’s their agenda … President Obama and his cohorts, yeah they’re going to deny their conspiracy to fool gun owners. Some of the Liberal media, they’re probably already blogging about it. But we don’t care, because as far as we’re concerned, the lying, conniving Obama crowd can kiss our Constitution.” In fact, since assuming office, President Obama has not advocated for any gun control measures, instead signing legislation to allow firearms in national parks and on Amtrak trains.
During a 2011 appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, LaPierre told the audience, “Government has failed us with our money. It’s failed us with our financial institutions. It’s failed in running our post offices and our trains. It’s failed in enforcing our immigrations laws and our drug laws, and our laws on the books against violent criminals with guns. Heck, they can barely get the snow plowed … By it lies and laws and lack of enforcement, government policies are getting us killed and imprisoning us in a society of terrifying violence … As soon as you leave this hall, your life is in jeopardy. Right outside these doors of this hotel, 30,000 wanted felons—including murderers, rapists and robbers—are walking free in Washington, D.C. The government hasn’t had time to serve their warrants.” As of January 28, 2023 there were only 398 open felon warrants in the District of Columbia. LaPierre also warned, “Don’t go to Mexico because you’re likely to be beaten, tortured and murdered if you do,” and suggested that “over a million [Mexican drug cartel] gang members are active in every single state in the United States.” Seven states and the District of Columbia have populations of less than one million persons.
In his 2011 book, “America Disarmed: Inside the U.N. & Obama's Scheme to Destroy the Second Amendment,” LaPierre compared the United Nations Small Arms and Light Weapons Destruction Day, first held on July 9, 2001, to the public burning of books authored by Jews in Nazi Germany. He wrote, “The burning of Jewish and un-German books was followed within a few years by the burning of Jews and other supposedly un-German people. Jewish Books Destruction Day helped change popular consciousness so as to pave the way for genocide. Likewise paving the way for genocide was the systematic disarmament of Jews and all other opposition elements, in Nazi German itself and in conquered territories. How long until a U.N.-declared official day of hate is celebrated with governments actually killing people? Will the mass burning of firearms help set the stage for mass executions of gun owners?”
On January 21, 2010, the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action issued a press release about the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission , in which the Court ruled that the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent political expenditures by corporations and unions. In the release, LaPierre stated, “This ruling is a victory for anyone who believes that the First Amendment applies to each and every one of us. The majesty of free speech is that any American can roll out of bed and speak as freely as The New York Times, NBC or politicians. This is a defeat for arrogant elitists who wanted to carve out free speech as a privilege for themselves and deny it to the rest of us; and for those who believed that speech had a dollar value and should be treated and regulated like currency, and not a freedom. Today’s decision reaffirms that the Bill of Rights was written for every American and it will amplify the voice of average citizens who want their voices heard.”
In a 2009 speech at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, LaPierre told attendees, “As you know, two days ago, Attorney General Eric Holder announced a massive new gun ban based on a new foreign threat. And it hit me almost like it was déjà vu, so I asked my folks to go track this down. Listen to this. As billionaires buy the laws and lawmakers they want, as bureaucrats conduct personal crusades, as zealots indoctrinate our kids, as criminal gangs infest our neighborhoods, as the UN applies global gun ban pressure, and as anti-gun forces control the House and Senate, if an anti-gun president occupies the White House, then the perfect storm is upon us. Its arrival would be hastened by a terrorist threat, an event experts say is inevitable. Then the final disarmament of law-abiding Americans will take place beneath the shroud of anti-terrorism legislation … Our Founding Fathers understood that the guys with the guns make the rules … and its no different today. That’s why we own guns. We’re not giving them up. The Constitution says it. We believe it. And that settles it.” LaPierre then suggested that a United Nations small arms treaty could lead to private gun confiscation in the United States, stating, “We all know Hillary Clinton’s anti gun record. Or do we? Because we better. Because right now the United Nations global gun ban needs American to cooperate with them. And the timing is perfect.”
At the 2007 National Rifle Association annual meeting, LaPierre told the audience, “So no matter what the animal rights terrorists throw at us, no matter what crime wave illegal immigrant gangs cause, no matter what deals are cut in the back rooms of the United Nations, no matter who is slamming gavels at the Supreme Court, no matter who is sitting in the White House, and no matter who wins what election or chairs what committee, if they are enemies of what’s in that exhibit hall over there, if they threaten what that great hall preserves [guns], if they dare assault the one freedom that secures all freedoms, this National Rifle Association, millions and millions of members strong, you will rise and stand and we, together, will fight them all.”
In 2005, LaPierre called for the boycott of ConocoPhillips after the company filed a lawsuit to defend its ban on the possession of firearms at an Oklahoma refinery. He then made the following statement: “ConocoPhillips went to federal court to attack your freedom. Now freedom is going to fire back … Idabel, Oklahoma, is a new Concord Bridge. Our forefathers didn’t run from the Redcoats in 1775 and we’re not going to run from the corporations in 2005.”
In a February 2002 speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, LaPierre commented on airport security measures, saying, “You see red-faced, teary-eyed 15-year-old girls enduring security wands orbiting their breasts while electronic squeals detect the metal in their underwire bras … I guess it’s okay to wand-rape someone’s daughter in public, but no profiling! No, we don’t want to risk offending an Islamic ex-con with two aliases and no job, paying cash for a one-way airline ticket with no luggage, whose shoes are packed with plastic explosives. Who’re we fooling? Terrorists fit into fairly narrow categories of gender, age, nationality and religion. And what about the millions of people who are in this country illegally? Just because they're on American soil, are they entitled to the same degree of liberty and privacy as a Medal of Honor winner, or a high school cheerleader, or you, or me? No! I say, if anyone’s going to lose freedoms, make it the illegal aliens. Not my mother, your daughter, our pilots or war heroes. If anyone deserves a little extra scrutiny after September 11th, it ought to be a few million illegal aliens. And we shouldn't have to x-ray, frisk and humiliate honest Americans to justify it!”
In a November 23, 2023 fundraising newsletter, LaPierre wrote, “You and I are now making history in the final, decisive battle for the future of our precious Second Amendment freedoms.... Al Gore intends to force every American gun owner to carry a national ID card. He didn't exactly say tattoo a number on your forearm, but you get the idea.”
In a 1995 National Rifle Association fundraising letter, LaPierre called federal law enforcement agents “jack-booted thugs” and suggested that “in Clinton's administration, if you have a badge, you have the government's go-ahead to harass, intimidate, even murder law-abiding citizens” and that “not to long ago, it was unthinkable for federal agents wearing Nazi bucket helmets and black storm trooper uniforms to attack law-abiding citizens.” President George H.W. Bush resigned his NRA membership in protest of the letter.
wayne LaPierre (Executive Vice President and CEO)
In a December 23, 2023 interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” LaPierre spoke about the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut in which 20 first-grade students and six adults were killed. Host David Gregory asked, “Not conceding that guns play a role [in these tragedies], that’s a meaningful contribution?” LaPierre replied, “Look, I know there’s a media machine in this country that wants to blame guns every time something happens. I know there’s an anti-Second Amendment industry in this town. I know there are political leaders that for 20 years always try to say it’s cause Americans own guns.” Gregory noted that some news outlets called LaPierre “crazy” after his response to Newtown. LaPierre replied, “If it’s crazy to call for putting police and armed security in our schools to protect our children, then call me crazy … That is the one thing, the one thing that we can do immediately that will immediately make our children safe … Israel had a whole lot of school shootings until they did one thing. They said, ‘We’re gonna stop it’ and they put armed security in every school and they have not had a problem since.” In fact, Yigal Palmor, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said the situation in Israel was “fundamentally different.” Palmor stated, “We didn’t have a series of school shootings, and they had nothing to do with the issue at hand in the United States. We had to deal with terrorism. What removed the danger was not the armed guards but an overall anti-terror policy and anti-terror operations which brought street terrorism down to nearly zero over a number of years.” Reuven Berko, a retired Israeli Army colonel and senior police officer explained that, in recent years, restrictions on gun ownership have been tightened, stating, “Israeli citizens are not allowed to carry guns unless they are serving in the army or working in security-related jobs that require them to use a weapon.”
When asked by Gregory about universal background checks for firearms purchasers, LaPierre replied, “We have backed the National Instant Check System. We have backed putting anyone adjudicated mentally incompetent into the system. Now, I know where you’re going with this. They’ve come up with this whole ‘Gun Show Loophole.’ There’s not a Gun Show Loophole … What the anti-Second Amendment movement wants to do is put every gun sale in the country under the thumb of the federal government.” Current federal law requires criminal background checks only for guns sold through licensed firearm dealers. Those sales account for just 60% of all gun sales in the United States. A loophole in the law allows individuals not “engaged in the business” of selling firearms to sell guns without a license—and without processing any paperwork. Gregory asked LaPierre if he would consider any kind of reform in this area, stating, “The standard is, if it's possible—your words—if it's possible that lives could be spared, shouldn't we try that? That's your standard, isn't it?” LaPierre replied, “I tell you, my standard is this. You can't legislate morality. Legislation works on the sane. Legislation works on the law abiding."
Tony Makris (NRA Consultant)
In a September 30, 2023 interview with Media Matters, Makris defended earlier comments in which he compared those who were critical of him shooting an elephant on the NBC Sports program “Under Wild Skies” to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Makris stated, “Take it in context, what was actually said, I said that 'look, if you think that one class of animal is more special and deserving than the other because it is smarter and more majestic and to your liking, Hitler would have said the same thing.’ That turns it into all sorts of horrible accusations and all that I meant was that Hitler thought the Aryan nation and the Aryan race was special, smarter and more deserving ... wasn't that what this was all about? Then they come out and say that I compared my critics to Hitler, no I didn't. I'm trying to show you the falseness in that sort of thinking. I didn't compare them to Hitler, or anybody else to Hitler, I just said he would have said the same thing. So put another name in there, Stalin, Mao, totalitarianism and genocide started, in every single case and all of those heinous people, with one group is more special than the other so it is fair for you to kill the others."
On September 26, 2013, Makris appeared on the NRA News show “Cam & Company,” where he spoke about shooting and killing an elephant on an episode of “Under Wild Skies” on NBC Sports. Makris stated, “The nice ones will come up and go, ‘You shoot elephant? Why?’ And I said, ‘Well, the short answer is because hungry people eat them and because I'm a hunter. You know, I'm not an elephant hunter. I'm a hunter. I hunt all things.’ And they go, ‘Well, nobody should shoot an elephant.’ I said, ‘Why?’ And they go, ‘They're so big and kind and gentle and smart’ and I said, ‘Okay, let me ask you a question. Should I be able to shoot birds?’ ‘Well, I guess that's okay.’ ‘Ducks?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Pigeons?’ ‘Oh, they're flying rats, okay.’ ‘Rabbits?’ ‘Well rabbits are cute. But yeah.’ ‘Squirrels?’ ‘That's nothing but a rat with a tail—with a fuzzy tail.’ And I said, ‘Well, deer eat all my mother's roses in Long Island and I go, ‘So I can shoot all of those, but not an elephant?’ ‘No.’ ‘Do you realize that if you subscribe to that philosophy you are committing a very unique form of animal racism?’ And now they're shocked. And they said, ‘But they're so big and special and they're smarter.’ And I went, ‘You know, [German dictator Adolf] Hitler would have said the same thing.’” On September 28, 2013, NBC announced that the show would no longer air on its network “due to the program's close association with its host, whose recent comments comparing his critics to Hitler are outrageous and unacceptable.”
In January 2013, in the wake of the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012, the National Rifle Association aired a TV ad which began by asking, “Are the President’s kids more important than yours? Then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools when his kids are protected by armed guards at their school?” The ad was the product of Ackerman-McQueen and its subsidiary, the Mercury Group. It generated significant controversy and criticism nationally.
Karl Malone (Board Member)
After two Washington Wizards players were involved in a locker room altercation involving guns, Malone wrote a January 7, 2024 op-ed for Sports Illustrated that contradicted several longstanding NRA positions. “You can't tell me one good thing that can happen with a gun in an arena, but I can tell you a thousand bad things. If I'm a player on that team, of course, I'm saying to those guys, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ Even if, as [Wizards’ shooting guard Gilbert] Arenas insists, he brought the guns to the arena because he wanted them away from his children at home, I wouldn't have bought that excuse. Buy a safe. Put them in there. End of story,” wrote Malone. He added, “I like Arenas, but his initial reaction to this, in which he downplayed the seriousness of having guns in the locker room, was all wrong. It's wrong to make light of a firearm. That's when mistakes are made … I'll be the first to tell you I don't go anywhere in my vehicle without my weapon, but at no point has it ever occurred to me to take it inside anywhere, let alone an arena.” Regarding the use of firearms for self-protection, Malone stated, “ If I were a gun dealer and somebody walked in and said, ‘I want this for protection,’ I don't know if I would sell it to that person, because that person's only thinking about another confrontation. The people who get threatened or cut off in their car and think about their guns are the people who don't need a gun … The big picture is that guns won't protect you. If someone really wanted to get you, they would. If you still feel you need that protection, get yourself a bodyguard who knows the rules and knows the laws. How about you do all of that before you even consider having a gun? For you to say you need a gun for your protection? My goodness gracious, how are you living that you need that? I don't know where all these guys grew up, or who wants to do something to them, but be honest about why you want it. If you need a gun for that, that's for all the wrong reasons and something bad will come from it. If I seem a little fired up, I am. It's a privilege to own a firearm and I take offense when people don't handle their business the right way.” While Malone referred to gun ownership as a “privilege,” the NRA describes the private ownership of firearms as a “fundamental, God-given right.” Regarding the use of firearms for self-protection, the NRA has said, “The right to [self-defense] using deadly force would be illusory if one was not entitled to keep functional firearms.”
In 2008, ESPN reported that when Malone was a sophomore at Louisiana Tech he impregnated a 13-year-old girl. Their son, who is now a professional athlete, has said, “I treat it as if my mother went to the sperm bank. I don't hate him for [not being in my life]. It made me a better person.”
In 2007, John Amaechi, the first openly gay NBA player, called Karl Malone a “xenophobe.” Amaechi played for two seasons with Malone on the Utah Jazz.
In 2004, LA Lakers player Kobe Bryant accused Malone of making passes at his wife. “What he said is what he said. I believe in my heart that it wasn't a misunderstanding. My wife wasn't going to stand for it. She felt uncomfortable being around him to the point that she felt she had to call his wife and tell her,” said Bryant. According to Malone’s agent, Bryant’s wife asked Malone, “Hey, cowboy, what are you hunting?” and Malone replied, “I'm hunting for little Mexican girls.” Bryant’s wife, Vanessa Bryant, is of Mexican descent.
In 2003, Malone donated $4,000 to the presidential campaign of Republican George Bush and $2,000 to Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). The next year he donated $4,000 to the Republican National Committee.
In 1992, Malone expressed strong opposition to the return of HIV-positive, All-Star point guard Magic Johnson to the NBA, stating, “Look at this, scabs and cuts all over me. I get these every night, every game. They can't tell you that you're not at risk, and you can't tell me there's one guy in the N.B.A. who hasn't thought about it … Just because he came back doesn’t mean nothing to me. I’m no fan, no cheerleader. It may be good for basketball, but you have to look far beyond that.”
John Milius (Board Member)
In a March 2009 interview with CNN, Milus commented on drug traffickers in Mexico by stating, “We need to go down there, kill them all, flatten the place with bulldozers so when you wake up in the morning, there's nothing there. I do believe if you have a military, you use it.”
Buz Mills (Board Member)
In 2002, a Florida Court of Appeals held that Mills defrauded a business partner out of millions of dollars. The business partner was awarded $4.7 million in damages, although the parties later settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. Mills sent his business partner on numerous vacations while he secretly negotiated a lucrative buy-out of their cell phone tower company. Mills’ partner was then fraudulently induced to sell his minority share for a price that did not reflect the true value of the business. An opinion concurring with the Court of Appeals holding ruled that “Mills managed to keep an additional $9 million of profit out of [the business partner’s] pocket.”
Cleta Mitchell (Board Member)
On August 25, 2012, in an interview with NPR, Mitchell spoke about Voter ID laws, which require individuals to present certain types of photo identification at the polls. Voter ID laws have been passed in Florida, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Pennsylvania. Mitchell stated, "I am not trying to keep anyone out of the polling place. ... We want to make it easy to vote, but hard to cheat. I just don't know why that's controversial … If people are choosing to exercise their right to vote, there's some responsibility that accompanies that. Do we not think that something as precious as the right to vote is worth going to a little bit of trouble to obtain?" Voter ID laws in South Carolina and Florida have been challenged in court by the Department of Justice over allegations that they disenfranchise minorities. Furthermore, research has shown that in-person voter fraud of the kind Cooper warns about is extremely rare in the United States.
On November 2, 2011, the Minnesota Independent reported that Mitchell would serve as the primary lobbyist for National Organization for Marriage’s campaign to ban gay marriage in Minnesota through a ballot initiative. In response to Mitchell’s lobbying activities, Human Rights Campaign dropped the law firm that employs Mitchell (Foley & Lardner) from a perfect score to one of the lowest on the organization’s Corporate Equality Index.
Mitchell led opposition to a decision by the American Conservative Union (ACU) to allow GOProud, a gay conservative group, to participate in the 2011 CPAC conference. GOProud Board Chairman Chris Barron called Mitchell a “nasty bigot” in response to her efforts to shut out his organization.
Mitchell served as an “attack attorney” for many Tea Party Congressional candidates during the 2010 elections, including Sharron Angle, Christine O’Donnell and Joe Miller. She has suggested that the Democratic Party’s “tricks” include widespread engagement in voter fraud. Mitchell famously wrote a fundraising letter on behalf of Angle where she accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of attempting to steal the election. Mitchell also accused the Democratic party of stealing the 2002 South Dakota senate election, where Senator Tim Johnson was victorious over Senator John Thune. Both Angle and Miller have been involved in high-profile controversies surrounding guns and the Second Amendment.
In 2009, Mitchell spearheaded an initiative to overturn the legalization of gay marriage in the District of Columbia.
Mitchell served as the attorney for the American Issues Project, a group that ran a television ad falsely accusing President Barack Obama of having a close personal relationship with former-Weather Underground member Bill Ayers in the months prior to the 2008 presidential election. Because AIP’s tax-exempt status makes it illegal for the organization to have a mission that is primarily political, the legality of the ad was questioned by elections experts. Laura MacCleery, Deputy Director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, called the ad a “clear abuse of federal election law.” Fox News declined to air the spot.
In 2006, Mitchell appeared on MSNBC to defend a number of Republicans embroiled in ethical scandals. Of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Mitchell said, “Those allegations, the indictment against Tom DeLay, were completely politically motivated.” She then bet public relations strategist Cliff Schecter dinner that DeLay would not go to jail. In January 2011, DeLay was sentenced to three years in prison for money laundering.
In May 2005, Mitchell served as the Master of Ceremonies at an ACU event honoring U.S. Representative Tom Delay (R-TX), who was embroiled in ethics investigations (and has since been convicted of money laundering). After telling those in attendance that she and other conservatives “love” DeLay, Mitchell claimed he was under investigation only because he is “effective.” She also declared, “The tribute is a statement to him: You're not alone. We'll stand by you. And it's to say to people in this town: If you pick a fight with him, you've got us to contend with.”
Grover Norquist (Board Member)
In an interview with conservative activist Bob Price filmed during the NRA’s annual convention on May 3-5, 2013, Norquist referred to efforts to strengthen gun laws in the wake of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, stating,
“How many people are these Leftists willing to kill—kill—with policies that for decades we’ve known are counterproductive? And that’s pretty gruesome. That’s pretty cold. Those guys are letting kids die, knowingly. This is not a mistake. This is not, you know, like they haven’t read the books, ‘More Guns Less Crime.’ It’s not like they don’t know the statistics, they do know the statistics. They don’t care. They don’t care.” “More Gun, Less Crime” is a book written by Fox News commentator John Lott, whose research has been discredited by the National Academy of Sciences. Norquist also said of the President: “
If you’re Obama, and you’re out there exploiting these murders, for political purposes, you really have to step back. If you believe for a second that these laws he wants to pass would reduce crime, which they wouldn’t, he should have done something in 2009 and 2010 where he had super-majorities of Democrats in the House and Senate. I mean not only he didn’t do it, he didn’t even try. He doesn’t care. He’s just using the issue for politics. He didn’t care in 2009. He didn’t care in 2010. He doesn’t care now. And he also in the back of his mind knows that it has nothing to do with reducing crime and everything to do with increasing government control.” (GOP Ties)
In an August 30, 2023 interview with Bloomberg News, Norquist referred to President Barack Obama stated, “From a guy who was going to be the bipartisan non-name-caller, he does an awful lot of name-calling, an awful lot of blame-shifting. And he plays nasty politics for a guy who was going to bring us all together and not be red or blue, when all he does is whine about Bush. I don’t remember Bush whining about Clinton.”
In a July 21, 2023 interview with the Hill, Norquist addressed calls by President Barack Obama to restore tax rates for the top 1% of American earners to the levels they were at prior to the administration of President George W. Bush. Norquist stated, “Last time Republicans won the House [in the 2010 elections] and [were] a little strengthened in the Senate and Obama folded completely. We’re going to be stronger this time than after last time; our hostages are the 20 Democrats up in ’14. We’ll send them either piece by piece or one at a time over to the White House to negotiate.”
In a July 2012 interview with Parade, former President George H. W. Bush made reference to Norquist’s “tax payer protection pledge,” which calls for elected officials to "oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rate for individuals and business; and to oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing the tax rate.” Bush stated, “The rigidity of those pledges is something I don’t like. The circumstances change and you can’t be wedded to some formula by Grover Norquist. Who the hell is Grover Norquist, anyway?" In response, Norquist directed the media to a Facebook post on the page of his group, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR). The post shows Bush alongside a quote he made in 1992 about why he changed his mind about raising taxes while president. Below the post, ATR wrote, “With Taxmageddon set to happen at the end of this year, Congressional Democrats are once again pushing a ‘grand bargain’ that would have Republicans agree to raise taxes on American families and employers in exchange for imaginary spending cuts. Any lawmaker willing to consider such a deal is poised to become another fool of history.”
In a June 15, 2023 speech at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s annual summit, Norquist stated, “The left is not made up of friends and allies; the left is made up of competing parasites … Our job is to stop feeding them so that they turn on the guy next to them and start chewing on their ankles so that when we meet them in two and four years in the next election, there are fewer of them and they’re shorter.”
In a June 13, 2023 interview on C-SPAN, Norquist responded to former Florida governor Jeb Bush’s comment at a June 1, 2023 House Budget Committee hearing that that he hadn't signed Norquist’s “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” because he wasn't one to “outsource your principles and convictions to people.” Norquist’s pledge calls for elected officials to "oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rate for individuals and business; and to oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing the tax rate.” Norquist responded to Bush’s comments by saying, “When Jeb Bush comes in from out of town like some yokel off the bus and gets hurled into the middle of this and starts quoting Democratic senators who are lying, it puts him in an awkward position.” Norquist also addressed Bush’s June 11, 2023 comment that former President Ronald Reagan and his father, former President George H. W. Bush, would have a “http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/norquist-describes-jeb-bush-as-a-yokel-off-the-bus--20120613hard time” finding a place in the current Republican Party. Norquist stated, “That's the meme, the story line, the narrative that Obama is trying to drive … Today, the modern Republican Party is the party that Reagan created.”
In a May 19, 2023 interview with The Hill, Norquist commented on legislation designed to penalize Americans who renounce their citizenship in order to evade taxes, comparing it to a departure tax the Nazis imposed on Jews seeking to flee Germany before World War II. Norquist stated, “I think [the legislation’s sponsor, Democratic Senator Chuck] Schumer can probably find the legislation to do this. It existed in Germany in the 1930s and Rhodesia in the ’70s and in South Africa as well. He probably just plagiarized it and translated it from the original German.” Senator Schumer is Jewish. Norquist remarked that the communist East German government after World War II implemented a similar plan as well, stating, “The East Germans had the position that if you wanted to leave the country you had to pay them back for all the wonderful Communist education they gave you K through 12. Schumer’s effort has a really distinguished history.”
In a May 8, 2023 speech before the Economic Club of Annapolis, Norquist called President Barack Obama a “European-style socialist” and a Democratic-controlled government the “road to serfdom.”
In a February 28, 2023 interview with the Daily Show’s Samantha Bee, Norquist claimed to have come up with the idea for the “Taxpayer Protection Pledge" (in which elected officials promise to "oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rate for individuals and business; and to oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates”) at age 12. He stated, “Some things are simple. At 12, basically the thought was this, if one of the party’s would brand itself as the party that wouldn’t raise taxes, that that I thought would be a way for the Republican Party to succeed … The goal is to make it easier for people, they know what they’re going to get … If you want to know who you’re voting for, it’s helpful if there’s some sort of brand identification … One party wants to raise your taxes, one won’t. It makes it easier for you to choose.”
During a February 2012 speech at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Norquist told the crowd, “Three years ago, a new crew came into Washington: [President Barack] Obama, [Senator Majority Leader Harry] Reid, [Former House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi. And they had a different vision. Their vision of the road to serfdom … Their plan was to turn us irrevocably into something between France and Greece and, on a bad day, Chicago … The left is not made up of friends and allies. It is made up by competing parasites.” He also stated, “All we have to do is replace Obama. ... We are not auditioning for ‘fearless leader.’ We don't need a president to tell us in what direction to go. We know what direction to go. We want the [U.S. Representative Paul] Ryan budget. ... We just need a president to sign this stuff. We don't need someone to think it up or design it. The leadership now for the modern conservative movement for the next 20 years will be coming out of the House and the Senate. Pick a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen to become president of the United States. This is a change for Republicans: The House and Senate doing the work with the president signing bills. His job is to be captain of the team, to sign the legislation that has already been prepared." Ryan’s budget plan, “The Path to Prosperity,” would add $3.127 trillion to the deficit during the decade spanning 2013 to 2022, according to a table on page 88 of the plan. In its March 2012 projections, the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan agency, estimated that if “current laws generally remain unchanged,” the federal government would incur deficits totaling $2.887 trillion from 2013 to 2022 under Ryan’s budget plan.
During a February 2012 appearance on The Daily Show Norquist stated that there was no scenario under which he would advocate for any tax increase. Norquist went on to claim that he came up with the idea for his “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” —which calls on lawmakers to swear to never vote for any legislation that would raises taxes—in 1968 when he was 12 years old, stating, “At 12, basically the thought was this: If one of the parties would brand itself as the party that wouldn’t raise taxes, that I thought would be a way for the Republican party to succeed.”
In a January 26, 2023 interview with National Journal, Norquist was asked about the prospect of President Barack Obama winning a second term. Referring to tax cuts passed under the presidential administration of George W. Bush, which disproportionately benefit the wealthy, Norquist said, “Obama can sit there and let all the tax [cuts] lapse, and then the Republicans will have enough votes in the Senate in 2014 to impeach.”
In a November 9, 2023 article in Rolling Stone, David Stockman, President Ronald Reagan’s budget director from 1981 to 1985, described Norquist as a “fiscal terrorist” for his role in the debt ceiling crisis of 2011. Norquist was able to veto any resolution to the crisis that raised the marginal tax rate because nearly every Republican member of Congress was a signatory to his Americans for Tax Reform organization’s pledge to never raise taxes. Former Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY), co-chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, also criticized Norquist, calling him “a good guy with a very bad idea" who “should be examined into.” Simpson went on to ask, “Where does he get his money? ... Who is he slave to? ... How does he terrify people?” Paul O’Neill, who served as Treasury Secretary in the administration of Republican George W. Bush, also commented on the debt ceiling debacle, stating, “Congress was willing to cause severe economic damage to the entire population simply because they were slaves to an idiot's idea of how the world works.”
In November 2011, Norquist told Rolling Stone “It’s a different Republican Party now. The modern Republican Party” would no sooner recognize a politician who advocated for tax increases than the “Democratic Party would recognize [segregation proponent] George Wallace.”
Reacting to President Barack Obama’s call for the wealthiest Americans to “pay their fair share” of taxes, Norquist compared Obama’s economic policies to former Soviet Union dictator Joseph Stalin by tweeting, “ Obamas [sic] ‘new’ strategy to divide America: Get the Kulaks.” The Kulaks, a group of relatively affluent peasants who owned land, were the “class enemy” of the poorer peasants under Stalin’s totalitarian regime. Beginning in 1930, Stalin called for the elimination of Kulaks, endorsing methods including execution and deportation to unpopulated areas of Siberia. MSNBC host Chris Matthews called Norquist’s tweet, “Another far right attempt to frame the president as some type of foreigner who doesn’t really know America.”
On August 17, 2011, Norquist commented on the “Super Congress”—a joint Congressional committee tasked with reducing U.S. debt—in the New York Times, saying, “The Republicans are serious budget reformers; the lady from Washington [Democrat Senator Patty Murray] doesn’t do budgets.” All six Republican panel members of the joint committee are signatories to Norquist’s no-tax pledge (when the panel membership was announced, Norquist Tweeted, “Your wallet is safe”). Pro-choice organization Emily's List released a statement criticizing Norquist's comments, which stated: “Not content dictating the legislative actions of the Republicans he controls, Norquist is now lobbing sexist insults at the Democrats who dare to stand up to his ideological extremism. Senator Murray is second in line for the leadership on the Senate Budget Committee and a co-chair of the Debt Super Committee. Also, she raised a family. So if Norquist thinks the ‘lady from Washington’ doesn’t know how to budget, he’s even more out of touch with America than we thought (and we thought he was pretty out of touch). Ever met an American mom, Grover? Women do, in fact, ‘do budgets.’”
In 2011, Norquist lobbied the U.S. State Department to approve the Keystone XL project, an extension to the controversial Keystone Pipeline that brings oil from Canada into the United States. The Natural Resources Defense Council has said the Keystone XL extension would “lock the United States into a dependence on hard-to-extract oil and generate a massive expansion of the destructive tar sands oil operations in Canada. In addition to the damage that would be caused by the increased tar sands extraction, the pipeline threatens to pollute freshwater supplies in America’s agricultural heartland and increase emissions in already-polluted communities of the Gulf Coast.”
In 2011, Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform organization lobbied on a number of issues before Congress. Among the many conservative bills supported by Norquist’s organization were:
- H.R. 1076, a bill that sought to defund National Public Radio (NPR).
- H.R. 1217, a bill that sought to repeal the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.” ATR called H.R. 1217 “a taxpayer-funded exercise in social engineering.”
- S. 482, a bill that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from promulgating “any regulation concerning, take action relating to, or take into consideration the emission of a greenhouse gas to address climate change.”
- H.R. 3, an anti-abortion bill described by NARAL as legislation “so extreme that it manipulates the tax code to advance anti-choice policies and could spur the IRS to audit rape and incest survivors who choose abortion care.” According to Mother Jones, “To ensure that taxpayers complied with the law, IRS agents would have to investigate whether certain terminated pregnancies were the result of rape or incest.”
- H.R. 462, a bill calling for the elimination of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
In a 2011 article in Rolling Stone, Norquist was quoted as saying that he is “not focused on the [federal government] deficit. The metric that matters is keeping spending down.”
Norquist’s Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF) project opposed the Employee Free Choice Act of 2009, a federal bill that would have increased workers’ collective bargaining power and given employees greater freedom to unionize. The bill was supported by every prominent labor organization. Teamster Magazine described AWF as a corporation-backed “astroturf” group during the debate over the legislation.
Commenting on the fiscal crisis of 2008 that occurred at the end of the presidency of George W. Bush, former Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee said, “The wreckage was left by Dick Cheney, Grover Norquist and the gang. This was their doing.”
In 2008, Norquist described then-Senator Barack Obama as “John Kerry with a tan.”
In 2007 and 2008, the Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF), a special project of Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform
organization, awarded U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) the "Guardian of Worker Freedom" award for “voting in favor of workers [sic] rights and freedoms.” As of 2008, Rep. Bachmann's lifetime voting rating with the AFL-CIO was 8% out of 100%.
When disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff was convicted of mail fraud and conspiracy in 2006, it was revealed in an investigative report released by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee that Norquist used his tax-exempt Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) organization to help Abramoff funnel money from his clients to conservative causes (ATR kept a small cut of the funds). The Senate Finance Committee reported that, in doing so, ATR “appear[ed] to have perpetrated a fraud on other taxpayers” by “profit-seeking and private benefit behavior inconsistent with their tax-exempt status. And by virtue of the tax benefits, other taxpayers implicitly subsidized this behavior.” Additionally, clients of Abramoff were also directed to give Norquist’s organization money. In an e-mail to colleagues, Abramoff wrote, “I spoke this evening with Grover. He said that, if [the Choctaw Indian tribe] want the taxpayer movement, including him, involved on this issue and anything else which will come up over the course of the year or so, they need to become a major player with ATR. He recommended that they make a $50,000 contribution to ATR.” According to Mark Salter, a top aide to Senator John McCain (R-AZ), “By his own admission, Grover couldn’t be any closer to Abramoff if they moved to Massachusetts and got married.”
In 2006, the Associated Press reported that Norquist—who visited the White House 97 times between 2001 and 2006—helped arrange meetings for clients of corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff with officials in the administration of George W. Bush. At the same time, Norquist was soliciting donations from these clients for his group Americans for Tax Reform. When the Bush administration tried to seal records of visitors to the White House, Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Karen Finney said, “By trying to extend a special privilege typically reserved for U.S. government employees to protect their Abramoff cronies like Grover Norquist…the Bush administration showed just how willing they are to manipulate the law to hide the truth and protect their political interests.”
Prior to the downfall of corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Norquist promoted the Northern Mariana Islands as a positive example of free enterprise. A 1998 Department of Interior report, however, documented widespread human rights abuses associated with a booming sweatshop industry on the islands (clothing made on the islands carries a “Made in USA” label). The report found that women and children immigrant workers were subjected to forced abortions, sex slavery, and substandard pay and working conditions. The Mariana Islands were one of Abramoff’s biggest clients, paying him over $9 million during the course of their relationship. Abramoff charged his client thousands of dollars for “discussions” with Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform staffers.
Between 1991 and 2004, Norquist donated over $15,000 to Republican political candidates and conservative PACs . He did not donate any money to Democrats during this time.
In 2003, Norquist was quoted in the Denver Post as saying, "Bipartisanship is another name for date rape."
In a February 2001 article for The American Spectator, Norquist wrote, “[President George W.] Bush now has the incentive to level the playing field by stripping the Democrats of their ill-gotten gains. To do that he'll have to shake the Democrats' five pillars.” Norquist identified these five pillars as; “labor unions,” “taxpayer funded lobbies,” “greedy trial lawyers,” Big City political machines,” and “voter fraud.” Labor unions, Norquist explained, use money from government contracts and give “political kickbacks to Democrats.” He also complained that “funding earmarked to promote hunting and outdoor sports has been redirected to animal rights groups.” Trial lawyers need to be targeted, Norquist explained, because “in some states trial lawyers give more to Democrats than union leaders do.” Norquist proposed tort reform, which would deprive trial lawyers of “billions of dollars from American consumers,” as a solution. Norquist asserted that mayors and precinct workers who handle federal funds to help the poor comprise a Democratic machine to “deliver the votes in Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and St. Louis.” Finally, Norquist stated, “The whole 36-day circus in Florida was designed to give the local politicians in Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties a chance to manufacture or find enough Gore votes, or lose or damage enough Bush votes, to overcome Bush's margin. Although the effort failed, it is estimated that 5,000 felons, mostly Democrats, voted illegally in Florida, and we may never know how many illegal aliens voted.” He is referring to the voter recount in Florida during the 2000 presidential election. The results of that recount were controversial and several irregularities are thought to have favored George W. Bush, including, the "butterfly ballot," which produced an unexpectedly large number of votes for third-party candidate Patrick Buchanan, and a purge of over 54,000 citizens from the Florida voting rolls, of whom 54% were African-Americans.
In a September 16, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Norquist praised the casino gambling operations of the Mississippi Choctaw tribe, writing that Choctaw Chief Philip Martin “has shown that the Enterprise Zone model of economic development, with greatly reduced tax and regulatory burdens and local control, can work incredibly well in the most difficult of circumstances.” Between 1995 and 2002, the Mississippi Choctaw tribe donated $1.5 million to Grover Norquist’s anti-tax Americans for Tax Reform organization.
In 1998, Norquist directed his Americans for Tax Reform Organization to pump money into an anti-labor ballot initiative in California
that sought to limit the influence of labor unions under the guise of “paycheck protection.” Norquist’s told supporters of the “paycheck protection” ballot initiative that he could raise $10 million for their cause, but failed to deliver. The AFL-CIO said Norquist was responsible for “producing and disseminating a resource and strategy guide for introducing anti-worker state ballot initiatives and legislation” across the country.
In 1997, Norquist said, "We’re going to crush labor as a political entity.”
In 1997, Norquist founded Janus-Merritt Strategies, a lobbying firm, along with David Safavian. Safavian was later convicted on felony obstruction of justice charges in relation to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. The Janus-Merritt clientele included:
- Hamas and Hezbollah supporter Abdurahman Alamoudi, who was later convicted for his role in a terrorist plot and sentenced to 23 years in prison. Alamoudi was also an agent of dictator Muamarr Ghaddafi’s Libyan government. Norquist also helped activist Sami Al-Arian—an associate of Alamoudi—obtain meetings with White House officials during the Bush Administration. Al-Arian was later convicted of conspiring to provide services to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a group designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the U.S. Department of State.
- Mortgage lender Fannie Mae, which paid the firm $160,000 in lobbying fees in 2001 (when the 2008 mortgage crisis occurred, Norquist would nonetheless comment, "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac brought us this collapse … This was criminal negligence on the part of [U.S. Representative] Barney Frank and [former U.S. Senator Chris] Dodd.").
- Corrupt foreign rulers, including former president of Gabon Omar Bongo, who was accused of using his country's budget as a personal slush fund; and exiled former president of the Republic of Congo Pascal Lissouba, who has been convicted in absentia of corruption and treason by his home country. Human rights conditions in Gabon were poor during Bongo's 42 year rule, with a United Nations report citing the "limited ability of citizens to change their government; use of excessive force, including torture toward prisoners and detainees; harsh prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; an inefficient judiciary susceptible to government influence; restrictions on the right to privacy; restrictions on freedom of speech, press, association, and movement; harassment of refugees; widespread government corruption; violence and societal discrimination against women, persons with HIV/AIDS, and noncitizen Africans; trafficking in persons, particularly children; and forced labor and child labor."
- Corporate clients, including Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation (the owner of Fox News), the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe (a former Abramoff client), and oil and gas giant British Petroleum.
Norquist was a vocal supporter of California's Proposition 209 in 1996, a ballot measure that eliminated affirmative action programs. He has called affirmative action “government racism” and urged Republicans to fight affirmative action “without compromise.” In 1997, Norquist helped found the American Civil Rights Institute, an organization dedicated to repealing affirmative action programs nationwide.
In 1995, in the wake of the Republican takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives, Norquist, then- House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (who has since been convicted of money laundering), and Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff founded The K Street Project. The goal of the project was to facilitate the hiring of Republicans at top lobbying firms and then reward the firms by offering access to influential GOP officials. The explicit “pay-to-play” nature of the project is now illegal, however, in 2003 Republican lobbyists held 33 of the 36 top-level lobbying positions in Washington. During the midst of the project, Norquist told journalist Elizabeth Drew, “There should be as many Democrats working on K Street representing corporate America as there are Republicans working in organized labor—and that number is close to zero.” Norquist credited Abramoff—who was later convicted of mail fraud and conspiracy charges in a far-reaching political scandal—with “instigating the whole [K Street] project.”
In 1995, Norquist was hired by communist strongman France-Albert René—who ruled Seychelles from 1977 to 2004—to lobby before Congress. Asked how he could have a communist ruler who had been accused of human rights abuses as a client, Norquist stated that René (who took control of Seychelles in 1977 after a coup against the ruling Seychelles Democratic Party) was “a guy who preferred to not have elections for a number of years,” and said of René’s human rights record, “there were one or two people who people were suspected done in. But it was always fairly murky.” René was accused of employing systematic torture and other human rights abuses against political opponents, and in 1985 opposition leader Gérard Hoarau was assassinated in London. While René denied involvement in the assassination, he admitted to bugging Hoarau’s telephone and to listening in on Hoarau’s last phone call. During the phone call Hoarau changed the time of a doctor’s appointment. He then left his home and was assassinated while standing on his doorstep. British police later identified the murder weapon as the same type of gun used by the Seychelles police.
In 1995, Norquist told the National Journal, “What the Republicans need is 50 Jack Abramoffs. Then this becomes a different town.”
In 1995, Norquist and Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff worked to obtain a U.S. visa for Mobutu Sese Seko, the dictator of then-Zaire. Mobutu had been banned from the United States for perpetrating human rights abuses against the people of Zaire while embezzling billions of dollars from the country’s budget for his personal use. A 1996 report on human rights in Zaire published by the United Nations stated, “The right to life continues to be at the mercy of military bodies and the police, whose impunity is intact; judges impose the death penalty on a regular basis and the President does not decide on petitions for clemency; pillages, tortures, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, rape of detained women or victims of pillages have not stopped; public demonstrations are punished with disproportionate violence, the State continues to protect these abuses. Neither is there increased freedom of the radio or the television; prison conditions have not changed; there are no plans to establish the judicial equality of women nor to eradicate discrimination.”
According to The Nation magazine, “During the second half of the 1980s, Norquist detoured from his tax work to engage in a series of safaris to far-off battlegrounds in support of anti-Soviet guerrilla armies, visiting war zones from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to southern Africa. Working alongside Col. Oliver North's freelance support network for the Nicaraguan contras and other Reagan Doctrine-allied insurgencies, Norquist promoted U.S. support for groups like Mozambique's RENAMO and Jonas Savimbi's UNITA in Angola, both of which were backed by South Africa's apartheid regime (Norquist represented UNITA as a registered lobbyist in the early 1990s).” In June 1985, Norquist—with the help of (now convicted) Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff—organized a “conference of worldwide insurgent leaders called the Democracy International.” The conference was located in Angolan territory held by UNITA. Attendees included mujahedeen from Afghanistan.
Norquist made regular visits to UNITA controlled territory during the 1980s. Although now a legitimate political party in Angola, the United States Department of Homeland Security has characterized UNITA from 1998 until the killing of Savimbi in 2002 by Angolan government forces as a terrorist organization. During this time period, Human Rights Watch described UNITA as “a rebel group led by Jonas Savimbi, [that] killed, abducted, and terrorized civilians with impunity.” The United States Institute of Peace wrote, “Savimbi is indeed responsible for a litany of crimes against humanity.” UNITA employed child soldiers throughout the Angolan Civil War, including during the time that Norquist was a registered lobbyist for the organization. Norquist ties to Savimbi were close, and he admitted to ghostwriting a number of op-eds for Savimbi during the 1980s promoting UNITA’s war against Soviet-backed MPLA. He even wore a UNITA issued uniform while visiting Angola, but admitting to taking it off when fighting broke out.
Norquist also supported RENAMO, an insurgent group accused of killing over 1,000,000 civilians in Mozambique. After Norquist visited RENAMO-held territory in 1987, he wrote a report praising RENAMO for calling for free elections and the free practice of religion, while falsely accusing RENAMO’s opponents of anti-Semitism. Norquist even met with President Ronald Reagan and urged him to support RENAMO, but the administration declined to aid RENAMO’s cause because of the group’s human rights record.
In July 1985, Norquist attended a conference hosted by the National Student Federation (NSF) in Johannesburg, South Africa. The NSF supported apartheid in South Africa and was allied with the pro-apartheid South African Defense Force (SADF). The SADF enforced apartheid policies and fought in the Angolan Bush War to preserve discriminatory treatment of Africans.
In 1981, Norquist served as campaign manager for corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s successful campaign to become chairman of the National College Republicans.
Chuck Norris (Celebrity Spokesperson)
In a January 2, 2024 op-ed for Townhall, Norris wrote about the November 2012 presidential election, stating, “Will the next four years of [President Barack] Obama intensify the secular progressive assault against our republic and your freedoms? Without a doubt!” He also gave advice to Republicans, stating, “You don't fight and win unconventional wars with conventional weapons; that's why we lost in November … What Washington wrote to the Continental Army before the Battle of Long Island should be inscribed on every patriot's wall now, given November's defeat: ‘The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are to be pillaged and destroyed … We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die.’ As we walk into 2013, Gena and I have been asking again how we can best be used in the fight for God and country and seeking in particular how the God of our Founding Fathers would have us respond to November's political mudslide. We believe we know. And part of it means altering our strategies and approach as Washington did. I'll say this much: If you don't see Navy SEALs on the battlefield, don't assume for a moment that they're absent from the battle. They merely have gone stealth, underground (or underwater!), cloaked and engaged in covert measures and unconventional methods of warfare. Washington's words should be reread at the turn of this new year, especially by anyone who feels that the end is imminent.”
In a December 2, 2023 op-ed for World Net Daily, Norris wrote, “Now that [President Barack] Obama has been re-elected and Democrats control the Senate, Republicans no longer have the chance to repeal Obamacare. But all is not lost. There’s still an opportunity for America to stop this disaster by choking the life out of the federal monstrosity.” Norris cited several challenges to the Affordable Care Act in lower federal courts. The Affordable Care Act allows states to develop online health insurance exchanges (an organized marketplace for the purchase of health insurance) or to rely on a federally facilitated exchange. Norris wrote, “In 2010, John Graham, director of health care studies at the [conservative] Pacific Research Institute, urged states to boycott the exchanges … If we can’t repeal Obamacare in its entirety, let’s support each of these efforts to peel away every one of its unconstitutional layers to preserve our liberty, the quality of American health care and the fiscal stability of our nation.”
On November 1, 2012, Norris endorsed Judge Roy Moore for chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and released a radio ad with his wife, Gena. In the ad, Norris states, “America is at a tipping point and we must act. We need true patriots to get us out of the mess we're in. I know Judge Moore, and he is a true patriot.” Gena stated, “He has fought the ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union] and liberal judges to preserve our rights and freedoms … He knows our liberty is given by God, not government.” In 2003, Judge Roy Moore was removed from the office of chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court for refusing to abide by a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the lobby of a state judicial building.
In an October 31, 2023 op-ed for Newsbusters, Norris wrote, “[President Barack] Obama can spin a fact, and even though it's wrong or untrue, we almost believe it. Then he sends his minions out to spin the same fact, hoping that if we hear it enough times, we finally will believe it. The attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, is a prime example. Even though Obama knew—from the moment of the assault—that it was a terrorist attack, he didn't let the American people know. We recently learned a drone was recording the attack in real time, and our president was watching from the Situation Room. It is clear that he chose to deceive the American people deliberately, saying it was a mob protest and blaming it on a video that nobody had seen.” Norris was referring to an attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya on September 11, 2012, in which Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed. On September 12, 2012, one day after the attack, President Obama spoke about the incident, saying, “No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for." Furthermore, in an October 24, 2023 article, CBS reported that an audio feed of the attack—not a video—was being monitored live by Charlene Lamb , the Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Programs in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security at the State Department, not President Obama.
In an October 9, 2023 op-ed for Newsbusters, Norris stated, “On Oct. 7, 1780, American patriots prevailed against loyalists in the Carolinas and won their first Southern battle. The Battle of Kings Mountain is a victory not often highlighted today but was a critical win nonetheless. It shows the importance of patriots everywhere persevering in every battle against adversarial forces—even against those born on American soil. The cable network History documented how a loyalist militia under Maj. Patrick Ferguson, largely made up of South Carolina frontiersmen, was defeated by a patriot militia under Col. William Campbell at the Battle of Kings Mountain in North Carolina near the South Carolina border. Ferguson warned the patriots to lay down their arms or watch the loyalists ‘lay waste’ to their country ‘with fire and sword.’ But 1,000 patriot militiamen…courageously confronted Ferguson's loyalists, who were positioned on the rocky ridge of Kings Mountain. Losing the upper hand to what he called the ‘band of banditti,’ Ferguson tried to intimidate the patriots by sending a wall of loyalists blitzing down the mountain, but they were cut down in a hail of patriot bullets … Feels a lot like how we patriots are often outnumbered in modern cultural and political wars and elections, doesn't it? Surrounded by bands of adversaries born on American soil? Gone are the days when patriots…led attacks against loyalist posts during the Revolutionary War. But present today are many other great patriots, aside from the one in the presidential race—such as Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.; Rep. Allen West, R-Fla.; Rafael Edward ‘Ted’ Cruz, R-Texas; Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo.; Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, ‘Joe the Plumber,’ R-Ohio; and Judge Roy Moore, R-Ala.—who are fighting worthy battles in state election arenas at this very moment … We patriots, Christian and otherwise, must not allow that to happen Nov. 6, 2012! It's time for patriots everywhere to rally together again and take back America. As patriots did in the battle on Kings Mountain, we must take a stand in local and national elections and wage war again for our republic.”
In a September 25, 2023 op-ed for Townhall, Norris wrote, “Sometimes, as the saying goes, the truth really is stranger than fiction. There may have been some wild plotlines on ‘Walker, Texas Ranger,’ but there was nothing that compares to the scandal surrounding ‘Fast and Furious’—the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives operation that resulted in the loss of a distinguished Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry. The congressional investigation into "Fast and Furious" has been going on for more than a year, but it was stonewalled by Attorney General Eric Holder, who instead opened an internal investigation by the Department of Justice's inspector general … ‘Fast and Furious’ involved the ‘walking’ of guns into Mexico—an artful term for gun smuggling that was clearly illegal but nonetheless encouraged … There may be deeper motives for allowing these guns to walk into Mexico that remain unaccounted for. Is it possible that allowing an infusion of firearms to go into Mexico was intended to provoke an explosion of gun violence, thus prompting domestic politicians to call for sweeping new restrictions on our rights? The report is silent on this count … The inspector general's report is a chilling indictment of a collapse in leadership at the highest levels of federal law enforcement. There may be 14 staffers who take the fall, but it's clear that their politically appointed superiors were either asleep at the switch or willing to jeopardize public safety to push an agenda that remains undisclosed. Can anyone possibly need any more reasons to register to vote? The bottom line is that the American people deserve answers that go well beyond the inspector general's report. Congress needs to proceed with a comprehensive investigation, and it must have the unfettered cooperation and access that the Department of Justice thus far has withheld. And Justice is clearly in need of new leadership. Let's give it to them.” The DOJ Inspector General’s report released on September 19, 2012, which Norris refers to—though critical of officials in Washington, D.C. [the report recommended potential sanctions for 14 government employees]—stated that Attorney General Eric Holder had no advance knowledge of the tactics and risks involved in the “Fast and Furious” operation until after it was concluded in 2011.
In a September 16, 2023 op-ed for WND, Norris wrote, “Last time I checked, Americans were responsible for making our own laws. We do not invite foreign nations to have a say in how we govern ourselves within our own borders. Yet if you follow what’s been going on with the United Nations this year, you would know the U.S. came perilously close to having other countries dictate our gun laws. And the fight isn’t over yet. The United Nations has been debating an ‘Arms Trade Treaty’ for nearly a decade now. While the treaty is ostensibly focused on military arms, it has long been clear that the majority of U.N. delegates consider our personal firearms to be crying out for international regulation as well. The focus of the treaty would demand that governments regulate the sale and possession of firearms worldwide–all of them, including yours and mine … This summer, the debate reached a fever pitch during a month-long marathon negotiation session in July. The goal was to disgorge a treaty in time for the Obama administration to sign it before Election Day … The treaty was actually intended as a mechanism to submit our unique Second Amendment guarantees to international inspection–and condemnation … What can we do? We can ensure that we have a president who will not support the treaty, and a U.S. Senate that will not ratify the treaty it. That’s not a one-time commitment. Remember, once a treaty is enacted, it can be picked up at any time by a president and Senate … Throughout my life I’ve been committed to preserving our freedom from threats, both foreign and domestic. This proposed U.N. global gun-control treaty may not be an ‘invasion’ in the classic sense of the word but believe me, over time it represents the potential for encroachment of the greatest kind. Protect your rights by registering to vote today!” In reality, the U.N. Small Arms Treaty would set only international standards for the import/export of conventional weapons—leaving it to individual countries to “regulate internal transfers of arms and national ownership, including through national constitutional protections on private ownership.”
In a September 9, 2023 op-ed for World Net Daily, Norris wrote, “Fewer than 60 days remain before Election Day. I don’t need to tell you how important this election is to the future of our country. The stakes are high, and that’s why I proudly serve as honorary chairman of Trigger the Vote, the NRA’s nonpartisan campaign to register voters who support the Second Amendment. As a proud gun owner and defender of our Constitution, I am working within the system to make sure my voice is heard in Washington … There’s a storm brewing on the horizon. Those who want to restrict our freedom have not surrendered. In truth, they are counting on this election to make their move. They are playing the long game, looking down the road to a day when one or more vacancies on the Supreme Court could upset the current balance. The Heller and McDonald decisions were decided by razor-thin, 5-4 majorities in the Supreme Court. Those who want to overturn these decisions are betting on at least one of the five Supreme Court justices to retire or otherwise leave service during the next four years. Some pundits have suggested that the number of Supreme Court vacancies filled by the next president could be as many as three … Our freedoms hang in the balance by the thin gossamer thread of a single vote. If that vote turns, the victories we worked so hard to solidify could be reversed … We need to make sure we have a president whose nominees for any court – including the Supreme Court–will support the original meaning of our Constitution.” The Supreme Court, in District of Columbia v. Heller, held for the first time in U.S. history that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to firearm ownership for self defense in the home; striking down D.C.’s handgun ban. In McDonald v. Chicago, the Court held that the Second Amendment, as interpreted in Heller, applied to the states through the Due Process Clause.
On September 1, 2012, Norris published a video to his YouTube channel in which he and his wife, Gena, issued a “dire warning” for America. He stated, “We are here to talk about a growing concern we all share. If we look to history, our great country and freedom are under attack. We’re at a tipping point and quite possibly our country as we know it may be lost forever if we don’t change the course our country is headed.” Gena stated, “With our country at a crossroads, Chuck and I have asked ourselves what we can be doing to support this great country we are blessed to live in and how we can encourage our like minded brothers and sisters to unite and let their voices be heard. It is estimated that in the 2008 election, 30 million evangelical Christians stayed home on voting day and [President Barack] Obama won the election by 10 million votes.” Norris continued, “We know you love your freedom as much as Gena and I do, and it is because of that that we can no longer sit quietly or stand on the side lines and watch our country go the way of socialism or something much worse … As Edmund Burke said, ‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men and women do nothing.’ Our great President Ronald Reagan said, ‘Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream, it must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” Gena stated, “President Reagan went on to say that ‘You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this last best hope for man on earth or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness.” Norris continued, stating, “Please stand with us. Let’s unite for God and country and may God continue to bless the United States of America.” The quote mentioned by Norris, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” is often attributed to Edmund Burke (who is often cited as the philosophical founder of modern Conservatism), but there is no evidence to indicate he ever said it.
In an August 19, 2023 op-ed for World Net Daily, Norris wrote, “Though America’s founders and framers of our Constitution built a framework that encouraged the freedom of religion, they trusted in God, the Creator, or Providence, to help, protect and provide for our new nation and the lives of its citizens. From our founding documents to their congressional deliberations and legislation, they advocated the role of religion and God in all they did, including intermingling their own Christian faith in their political convictions and choices. Our founders believed our republic was intended only for a moral and religious people, and that leaders of this nation should stand and fight for the same … When New York churches can no longer meet in public school settings, a federal court orders a Rhode Island public school to remove a prayer banner that has been posted for over five decades (and it complies), the federal government mandates Catholic institutions to cover abortion-inducing drugs, contraceptives and sterilization (at no cost to the patient), the U.S. Air Force removes ‘God’ from the motto of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, the National Park Service omits the words ‘Laus Deo’ (Latin, 'Praise be to God') from a Washington Monument capstone replica, atheists continue to contest 'under God' in our Pledge of Allegiance, town councils can’t pray to start their meetings, evangelical pillars like Franklin Graham are subdued by gotcha-gangs in the mainstream media and cultural icons like football superstar Tim Tebow can’t even bow in silent prayer without criticism, etc., you can be assured that religious liberty (and Christianity, in particular) is under assault by secular progressives across America. And leading the national charge is none other than our own president, Barack Obama.” The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution explicitly prohibited the government from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion.”
In a July 31, 2023 op-ed for Townhall, Norris compared President Barack Obama’s statements in a July 17 speech in Roanoke, Virginia to ones by Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. Norris wrote, “President Barack Obama's recent business-related comments in Virginia (‘If you've got a business—you didn't build that; somebody else made that happen’) sounded more communistic than capitalistic … To Obama, government is your business partner; government is your savior; government is your hero; government is the economic caped crusader who swoops down like the Dark Knight to save your soul, sales and pocketbook … [His statements] represent, at the very least, his preferred philosophy for a European type of socialism.” President Obama stated in his Roanoke speech, “There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me—because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t – look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something–there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there. If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business – you didn’t build that.”
In a June 24, 2023 op-ed for World Net Daily, Norris accused President Barack Obama of conspiring with Boy Scouts of America (BSA) national board member James Turley to overturn the BSA policy that bans gay scouts and leaders, citing Turley’s “close affiliations with the pro-gay Obama administration.” Turley was nominated to President Barack Obama’s Export Council in 2010, was granted a seat on an investment advisory panel which met in October 2011, and attended a state dinner hosted by President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House in March 2012. Norris wrote, “Is it a coincidence, too, that on March 3, 2009, Obama became the honorary president of the BSA–a position proudly and publicly held and highlighted by all presidents since President William Howard Taft in 1910, but that Obama’s induction was held behind closed doors in the Oval Office with seven or so Boy Scouts present and absolutely nothing noted in the White House daily briefing or any other official communication?” He continued, asking, “Is it a coincidence that as the honorary BSA president and a ‘constitutional lawyer’ that Obama hasn’t had one minute in his schedule over the past years to defend or say anything about the series of lawsuits that have been levied against the BSA because of its First Amendment rights to stand against atheists, agnostics and homosexuals? It is a coincidence that Obama will stand up repeatedly for the children of illegal immigrants (and grant them amnesty and the taxpayers’ monies) but that he will not once stand up for children in the BSA and the organization’s rights and freedoms to hold their own core values and beliefs?” Finally, Norris wrote, “Hasn’t America reached a new low in its history when the president of the United States (and the honorary president of the BSA!) distances himself and his administration from the Boy Scouts of America and yet invites groups like the Secular Student Alliance to participate in its faith and college missions?”
In a May 27, 2023 op-ed for World Net Daily, Norris wrote about President Barack Obama’s “delusions” of a “stronger, safer, and more respected” United States. Norris claimed, “We have such a weak, unsecured, and disrespected U.S…because President Obama has paraded U.S. weaknesses and mistakes to the world since his 2009 ‘apology tour.’” “Mr. President, you don’t build national or leadership strength, safety and respect by groveling and groping,” Norris wrote.
In a March 13, 2023 op-ed for AmmoLand.com, Norris wrote, “President Barack Obama’s energy plan involves radically increasing gas prices to the European rate of about $10 a gallon.” In fact, neither the President of the United States, nor the Department of Energy, sets the price of gas.
In a May 13, 2023 op-ed for Ammoland.com, Norris criticized a proposal by the Obama Administration to prevent “children younger than 16 from doing ‘agricultural work with animals and in pesticide handling, timber operations, manure pits and storage bins’ while also forbidding them from using ‘power-driven equipment’ and working in the ‘cultivation, harvesting and curing of tobacco.’” Norris asked, “What’s next? The feds’ crackdown making it illegal for kids to wash dishes, because a knife might cut them? No grinding up food, because the garbage disposer might malfunction and start suddenly while their hand is in it? No more cooking or ironing, because their hands might get burned? No more housecleaning, because the Environmental Protection Agency has designated the mixture of certain cleaning chemicals as hazardous to touch or breathe in? Let’s get real, folks! How far do the feds have to mingle in our manure before we say enough is enough? How far do we have to slide down the slippery slope of socialism before the descent becomes irreversible, before we say, ‘Welcome to Greece’?” Norris further accused President Barack Obama of proposing the measure to continue “implementation of Agenda 21, a United Nations program launched in 1992 for the nebulous purpose of reaching global ‘sustainable development’ but which actually promotes a European socialist system that will undermine and chip away our freedoms, liberties and rights.”
During a November 2009 appearance on Fox News, when Norris was asked by host Sean Hannity about running for political office, he responded, “I’d be sitting here with my opponent debating, and then he would start attacking my character. And I’d jump over there and choke him unconscious.” When Hannity told Norris, “You have more control than that,” Norris responded, “I don’t. I don’t. I don’t. That’s the problem, I have a thin skin. And it was really tough in the film world. And believe me, in the political world I’d be killing half the people.” He concluded that the only way to get anything done in Washington would be to “choke out all the Democrats.”
In an April 6, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris suggested that President Obama’s “neutrality and respect for representing our nation’s religious melting pot” was to blame for false rumors that he is a Muslim. He went on to write, “One thing is certain. About this, we can have no doubt. America’s founders built this nation upon religious freedom. They valued denominational pluralism. They were unified in their diversity. They all believed in a Creator. And they were almost all vocal about their Christian beliefs.” Norris concluded, “Is Obama afraid of the ‘Jesus’ word? I’m not, and maybe that’s where my heart and mind should dwell during this period in which one billion people around the world commemorate his Via Dolorosa [Walk of Grief].”
Contradicting National Rifle Association claims about the source of illegal guns pouring into Mexico, Norris wrote in an March 22, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily: “More than 7,000 lives have been lost in Mexico’s drug war in just the last 14 months, in which nine out of 10 guns recovered from crime scenes came from the U.S.” Turning to the topic of illegal immigration, Norris stated, “Isn’t it time we quit restricting our border agents by granting illegals more rights than our citizens? … And the question that keeps coming back to my mind is: How is it that we can militarily overthrow a tyrant like Saddam Hussein in Iraq, yet we can’t keep illegals from crossing our borders? As Mike Huckabee says, ‘If the government can’t track illegals, then let’s outsource the job to UPS or Fed Ex.’ It’s true. If they can track a lost package anywhere in the world within minutes, they can certainly track down and keep track of illegals.”
In a March 8, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris wrote, “On Glenn Beck’s radio show last week, I quipped in response to our wayward federal government, ‘I may run for president of Texas.’ That need may be a reality sooner than we think. If not me, someone someday may again be running for president of the Lone Star state, if the state of the union continues to turn into the enemy of the state … How much more will Americans take? When will enough be enough? And, when that time comes, will our leaders finally listen or will history need to record a second American Revolution?”
In a February 1, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris asked, “remember when America used be known as being tough and compassionate? Will we now polarize from water boarding to being pantywaists?” Waterboarding, a potentially deadly interrogation tactic involving controlled drowning, is widely considered to be torture and is illegal under the United Nations Convention Against Torture. Republican Senator John McCain, who was himself tortured during the Vietnam War, has called the practice torture. Norris then commented on a proposal to move detainees from Guantanamo Bay to the United States, writing, “In Robert Spencer’s excellent new book, ‘Stealth Jihad,’ he documents well how radical Islam is subverting America via intentional and pervasive subtleties throughout our culture. Rather than crashing our buildings with planes, they’re right now permeating every stratum of society, using our tolerance and passivity. Rather than overpowering America through combat, they are convincing Americans of all ages by saturating the soils of our minds that there is nothing to fear from extremist Islamic theology or presence. Our universally accommodative spirit is literally opening the doors for those who seek to destroy us, and Gitmo is just one more proof of that. We’ve shifted from protecting Americans to defending the terrorists.”
In a January 11, 2024 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris claimed “if [President Obama] and the Democratic majority have their way, America will have that new day, one in which hundreds of thousands of more abortions will be performed annually. I still think it is utterly hypocritical that a president and a political party that pride themselves on providing and protecting minorities don’t include the unborn among them.”
In a December 14, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris wrote, “Please don’t misunderstand me. I am a patriot, and I believe that atheists are free to believe, speak and post whatever they want. This is America – and that’s their First Amendment right. But, to do so with harassment and hatred under the guise of free speech is despicable. An anti-religious poster filled with spite is in no way equated with a religious symbol like a nativity. Where are the politically correct police when Christians are the victims? If such words were written against any social minority group, protests would be ubiquitous. But anti-religious (and particularly anti-Christian) bigotry is in vogue these days. But I, for one, am neither amused by intolerant verbiage nor passive about my politics. There is absolutely no justification for these atheists’ written revile. And if they want to keep using hate-filled language against theists and particularly Christians, then they shouldn’t be surprised when they meet up with a yuletide (verbal) roundhouse kick.” He also claimed atheists who oppose religious displays on government property “get away with First Amendment murder.”
In a November 30, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris complained that the media was not portraying the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan positively enough, claiming, “One can partially point the finger at the economy or election coverage as reasons for the reduction of Iraq war articles. But I believe those issues were used more as justifications for the liberal media’s intentional neglect to report U.S. Middle East military progress. Who doesn’t recognize that we live in a time in which there’s little if no publishing space for positive military stories about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars?”
In a November 23, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris suggested that proponents of the separation of church and state were plotting to destroy Thanksgiving as an American institution, writing, “I knew sooner or later I would read or hear a news report that proclaimed there is something constitutionally errant with the state recognition of Thanksgiving, a holiday that is at its heart about thanks-giving to God. With the Christmas culture war almost passé, it was only a matter of time before the day that honors the Christian Pilgrims came under attack. Secularists seek to seize your nativities – and now they are trying to steal your turkey.”
In a November 9, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris addressed president-elect Barack Obama, writing, “Quite frankly, that is why I’m surprised that a man like you, who professes to fight for minorities, would not recognize the clear value of a human life in the womb.”
In November 2008, Norris appeared with his wife Gena in a television advertisement in support of the California ballot initiative Proposition 8, which sought to ban gay marriage in the state. In the ad, Norris stated, “God created the first couple a man and a woman – there’s no reason to be ashamed of that fact.”
In an October 26, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily referring to then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, Norris wrote, “Today, presidential nominees can get away with murder, literally. They can smoke, toke and hang out with terrorists who do. What were once considered legitimate leadership litmus tests are now regarded as off-limit character assassinations and hate language.” He also wrote, “Abortion is not about a woman’s ‘right to choose.’ It is about a more fundamental ‘right to life,’ which is one of three specifically identified unalienable rights in the Declaration [of Independence].”
In a September 28, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris wrote. “If there is any minority in the coastal states that is being discriminated against and actively suppressed, it is conservatives, and worst of all are religious conservatives – and everyone knows it … In a so-called age of tolerance, it amazes me just how intolerant some are of those who stand for traditional values. For example, if I stand against California’s memorializing of the Harvey Milk Day or stand for their constitutional amendment of Proposition 8 to safeguard heterosexual purity in marriage, ... I’m considered by many as intolerant and a bigot.” Harvey Milk Day celebrates the memory of gay activist and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Harvey Milk who was assassinated in 1978 by a political rival. Norris also named actor Mel Gibson as someone who has “stood for conservative values.” Gibson has been a controversial figure since a recording of an anti-Semitic rant during his 2006 DUI arrest appeared in the media.
In a September 7, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris praised the selection of then-governor of Alaska Sarah Palin as Senator John McCain’s vice presidential candidate, writing, “Palin comes to Washington in the spirit of our Founding Mothers. I truly believe she represents an early-American patriotic spirit that lies sleeping among millions of Americans today and needs to be reawakened and replicated with the goal of winning back our country. Sarah is the type of politician who others need to mimic in committed civic service, character and integrity. She is the type of revolutionary who will help to wake up and revitalize America.”
In an August 31, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris repeated a number of falsehoods about President Barack Obama, writing, “As with so many of you, I realized months ago Obama could unfortunately get away with just about anything because too many Americans seem to care only about charisma and the term ‘change.’ It doesn’t matter if Obama plagiarizes speeches, who his pastor and spiritual mentor is for 20 years, that he’s got the most liberal voting record in the Senate, that he refused to wear the American flag as a pin, that he didn’t place his hand over his heart during the national anthem, that his wife has just recently become proud of her country or that he is sympathetic to Muslim terrorist groups.”
In an August 10, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily about the extra-marital affair of Democratic politician John Edwards, Norris wrote, “I myself have experienced it, as I wrote about in the chapter ‘A sin that became a blessing’ in my autobiography, ‘Against All Odds,’ in which I discuss an adulterous one-night stand in the early ’60s that resulted in my wonderful daughter, Dina.” In “Against All Odds,” Norris described several dates he and his friend went on with two sisters, despite the fact that Norris was married at the time. According to Norris, “One night Johanna and I went to a drive-in movie alone, and we engaged in sexual intercourse, right there in the car.” Norris went on to harshly criticize Edwards for his affair, writing, “Enduring public humiliation is not the only price a political leader should pay for improprieties; I think they should be disciplined, suspended, if not disposed from areas of future public service. The consequence of corruption should also be increased restrictions, if not a banning from certain areas of public service. If one cannot properly handle their private affairs, can we truly expect them to handle political ones?” In another column published in February 2007, Norris encouraged Newt Gingrich—who participated in multiple extra-marital affairs—to run for president “because despite personal past shortcomings, I believe Newt is a Republican as they used to be and, even more, meets the criteria established by men of old.”
In a July 12, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris complained that representative democracy is “discriminatory,” writing, “I don’t only think there are too many cooks in Congress’ kitchen nowadays, but the numbers are stacked in discriminatory ways. For example, if California represents a larger liberal voice with its 53 representatives, what chance or how fair is it for smaller more conservative states who have between one and five representatives and votes in the House? The U.S. doesn’t need a new reapportionment act to raise the number of representatives, but a return to the Constitution to reduce the number of representatives in pursuit of creating more equitable regions or districts. Personally, I believe, just as we have one governor per state, we should consider reducing Congress to one representative and two senators per state (the minimal by constitutional requirements).” Norris’s theory about the Constitution is flawed. The Fourteenth Amendment mandates that U.S. Representatives be apportioned according to state population.
In a July 7, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris wrote, “having just celebrated America’s independence a few days ago, neither Gov. Jindal nor any one of us should hesitate to legislate pro-Creator educational platforms, nor fear anti-theistic swells that try to shut God out of America’s classrooms. Our founders didn’t. And neither should we.”
Norris implored California’s then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to support off-shore oil drilling in a June 23, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily by writing, “Arnold, my hope is that you are not being muscled by environmental thugs, when the majority of Americans are needing and crying out for your representation, too. We must be willing to lay aside our partisan politics and do what’s best for Americans. Now is not the time to cater to the coral-reef crowd, especially when drilling is much more environmentally safe than it was in 1981 when the ban to drill was enacted.” Less than two years later, an offshore drilling disaster took the lives of 11 workers and caused up to 4.9 million barrels of oil to spill into the Gulf of Mexico.
Contradicting National Rifle Association claims about the source of illegal guns pouring into Mexico, Norris wrote in an April 28, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily: “It appears drug cartels are again using revenue derived from their ‘free trade’ to illegally purchase weapons in the U.S. and smuggle them back into Mexico, where they are bolstering murder rates up 100 percent in certain towns.” Turning to immigration, Norris added, “All we need to do is to post signs and position manned trucks at key points, just like our government does at Area 51, the top secret military airfield in remote central Nevada, around which there are no fences or walls. There is never a breach or unwanted border crossing there, at least that we hear about! And why? Because the boundary sign reads and is never questioned, ‘Warning: Use of deadly force authorized.’”
In an April 21, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris wrote, “Educational arenas have become limited learning environments, because of biases against God, the Bible and creationism.” He also claimed that the First Amendment “was written and adopted, among other reasons, so that Congress would neither establish a federal religion nor restrict religious or speech freedoms, which can include not barring religious instruction in the classrooms.”
In a March 23, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris wrote, “I was appalled when I read the American Family Association report that on Friday, April 25, several thousand schools across the nation will be observing a ‘Day of Silence,’ or DOS, which is a nationwide push to promote the homosexual lifestyle in public schools. (DOS is sponsored by an activist homosexual group—the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.) … [W]e should equally and adamantly oppose such aberrant sexual behavior from being condoned or commemorated in our public schools through textbooks or a so-called ‘Day of Silence.’” The Day of Silence is an annual event aimed at combatting the bullying of LGBT students. The American Family Association (AFA) is an anti-gay organization that has stated, “The homosexual lifestyle is characterized by anonymous sexual encounters and celebration of sexual obsession and perversion unparalleled in any other social group.” The AFA has also blamed the rise of Adolf Hitler on homosexuality.
In a March 10, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris attacked a court decision that required parents who homeschool their children to acquire teaching credentials. He wrote, “If one wants to control the future ebbs and flows of a country, one must have command over future generations. This is done by seizing parental and educational power, legislating preferred educational materials and limiting private educational options. It is so simple any socialist can understand it. As Joseph Stalin once stated, ‘Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.’ Is it merely coincidental that homeschooling was outlawed by the Soviet State in 1919, by Hitler and Nazi Germany in 1938 and by Communist China in 1949? Will California be next? America? Will we yield control and our educational rights as parents? Such would not only be an American travesty but a human disgrace.”
In a February 18, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris suggested that the teaching of evolution, the availability of abortion, and secularism were causes of school shootings by writing “We teach our children they are nothing more than glorified apes, yet we don’t expect them to act like monkeys. We place our value in things, yet expect our children to value people. We disrespect one another, but expect our children to respect others. We terminate children in the womb, but are surprised when children outside the womb terminate other children. We push God to the side, but expect our children to be godly.”
In a January 7, 2024 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris, who was a high profile supporter of Republican Mike Huckabee’s presidential run, discussed a political ad featuring a controversial statement he made about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. “The ad mysteriously aired on the Web after a blogger asked me on the campaign trail, ‘How much do you want to roundhouse kick Mitt Romney?’” wrote Norris. “Picking up on his martial arts sarcasm, I laughed and quipped, ‘I don’t roundhouse kick. I choke.’ Of course I was joking—except, I guess, to one apparently hypersensitive Republican contestant.” He went on to defend Huckabee’s record on crime, stating, “Mike initiated a toll-free hotline to report tips on government corruption, has proven he’s a passionate advocate of the Second Amendment and gave permission 16 times for executions to proceed—more than any governor in the history of Arkansas.”
In a 2008 interview with televangelist Pat Robertson, Norris said, “I would go to Washington, and I would line up every member of Washington. Then I’d have [Republican Congressman] Ron Paul, who I believe is one of the more honest politicians back there. I’d say, ‘Ron, point out the honest politicians and the dishonest ones.’ And we’d go down the line. He’d say, ‘He’s honest, he’s honest, he’s corrupted.’ I’d walk up to him and I’d say, ‘You’re fired.’ If he didn’t move immediately, I would choke him unconscious and roll him over to the side there.”
Shortly before the 2008 presidential election, Norris appeared in an ad for the National Rifle Association and stated, “I’m Chuck Norris, a black belt patriot. If some thug breaks into my home I can use my roundhouse kick, but I prefer he look down the barrel of my gun.”
In a December 17, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris wrote, “The fact is, Jesus does support war. He already has … There is no contradiction between Christ’s commandments for us to turn the other cheek and defend our lives by ‘purchasing a sword.’ The situation warrants the weapon—sometimes it’s love; sometimes it’s Smith & Wesson.” Turning to his endorsement of Republican Mike Huckabee for president, he added, “He’s also the only presidential candidate who publicly values the Second Amendment as much as the First. He reminds Americans that our Second Amendment gun-bearing rights were given not merely as a license to hunt, but a protection against tyranny.”
In a December 3, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris wrote, “This upcoming weekend I’m giving the worldwide release (Dec. 7) of the children’s movie, ‘The Golden Compass,’ a definite ‘Chuck Norris disapproval.’ I normally don’t critique others’ movies, but this one not only warrants critiquing but condemning. The reason is it will very subtly push agnosticism, atheism, secularism and anti-Christian thoughts upon youthful minds and hearts.” He went on to write, “I even urge others to join the American Family Association to protect children from inappropriate programming on television.” The American Family Association (AFA) has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center because of the organization’s stance on homosexuality. According to AFA Director of Analysis for Government and Policy Bryan Fischer “Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and 6 million dead Jews.” Fischer has also claimed that Adolf Hitler employed gay soldiers “because he could not get straight soldiers to be savage and brutal and vicious enough.”
In an October 21, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris endorsed Republican Mike Huckabee for president, writing, “Though [Rudy] Giuliani might be savvy enough to lead people, Fred Thompson wise enough to wade through the tides of politics, [John] McCain tough enough to fight terrorism and [Mitt] Romney business-minded enough to grow our economy, I believe the only one who has all of the characteristics to lead America forward into the future is ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee … Like our Founding Fathers, he’s not afraid to stand up for a Creator and against secularist beliefs.”
In an October 8, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily entitled “Is the American Military ‘The Christian Taliban’?” Norris wrote “The fact is, our country is more obsessed with highlighting Christian fundamentalist abuses than we are the plots and ploys of Muslim extremists who are attacking our troops.”
In a September 10, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris provided his readers with a link to 911truth.org, a website devoted to propagating conspiracy theories about the September 11, 2023 terrorist attacks. 911truth.org claims that the United States government was involved in, or aware of, the terrorist plot that left nearly 3,000 dead. Norris went on to draw a link between the Barbary Wars, an 18th and 19th century conflict between the United States Navy and the Barbary States of North Africa, and modern Islamic extremism, writing, “Before America was a new nation, Muslim extremists hated the West. When America was born, she was aligned with the Western (“Christian”) countries and therefore became an enemy of them as well. What we witness today in our relations with extremists is essentially no different than back then, except the stakes are much higher and more costly.”
In an August 27, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris wrote, “As illegal immigrants continue crime sprees from New Jersey to Oregon, and our government fails to produce a suitable resolution to the immigrant crisis, now more than ever is the time to beat the doors of change and save the shores of Americana.” He went on to offer a number of solutions to the immigration issue in the United States, suggesting, “We need to immediately quit subsidizing the costs for illegal immigrants’ residency in America. How long will we allow them to siphon millions upon millions from honest, taxpaying Americans by supporting their health care, welfare, education and criminal expenses? … If arrested, law enforcement needs to check the immigrant status of criminals. If they’re illegal, deport them. Far cheaper is their deportation than the lifelong leeching from genuine taxpaying citizens … To preserve our heritage, distinction and encourage one common language, we must make English the official (though obviously not the exclusive) language of the U.S.” Norris’s assertion that taxpayers subsidize illegal immigration is disputed. According to The Daily Beast, “The consensus among most economists is that immigration, both legal and illegal, provides a small net boost to the economy. Immigrants provide cheap labor, lower the prices of everything from produce to new homes, and leave consumers with a little more money in their pockets. They also replenish—and help fund benefits for—an aging American labor force that will retire in huge numbers over the next few decades. Also, an increase in the number of American workers is needed to prevent the U.S. from having too few working-age adults to pay for retiree benefits in a few decades, as many European nations currently do.”
In a July 23, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily entitled, “Don’t Send Your Kids to College–Before You Read This,” Norris claimed that institutes of higher learning in the United States train “students to disdain America, freely experiment sexually, forcefully defend issues like abortion and homosexuality, as well as become cultural advocates for political correctness, relativism, globalization, green agendas and tolerance for all.” He then wrote that parents should encourage their children to “attend a private, conservative or Christian college or university.”
In a June 18, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris supported the propositions that “Television today portrays husbands as bumbling losers or contemptible, self-absorbed egomaniacs” and “America’s judicial system is wildly biased in favor of the mother in child custody disputes.” He added, “With masculinity on the cultural butchering block, it is high time that men arise to not only protect our national borders but the boundaries of godly fatherhood!”
In a June 4, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris wrote, “Most of our Founders were clear advocates for biblical teaching in public schools, a religious education that the First Amendment never intended to prohibit or restrict. If the Bible was endorsed by our Founders as a textbook, how can we not follow suit by doing the same? The fact is, to leave out of educative curricula the most influential text in Western civilization, including in American history, law and literature, is a blatant and biased withholding of proper public instruction.”
In a May 14, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris wrote, “Though the U.S. Constitution outlaws religious discrimination, these [atheist] organizations and individuals would love nothing more than to help society look with distain upon Christianity and, ultimately, make its components illegal. In fact, right now, they are coalescing and rallying at least 5 million of their troops to mount counter offensives to Christianity. For that reason I believe theistic patriots need to be wise to atheists’ overt and covert schemes, exposing their agenda and fighting to lay waste to their plans.” Norris also bemoaned that “Congress passed what might become one of the most religiously restrictive pieces of legislation in history: H.R. 1592, ‘The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act.’ With Senate approval, this bill will expand the law against such hate crimes, allowing federal funds and other resources to assist local law enforcement to deter and punish acts of violence committed against an individual because of the victim’s race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, etc. While the bill purports to target crimes of brutality, not speech, it could very easily end up (even inadvertently) restricting First Amendment rights of Christians to speak freely against such anti-biblical practices as homosexuality and transvestitism … Once enforced, what would stop a clergy from being accused as an accessory to a hate crime, after he preached to his church on Sunday about the woes of same-sex marriage and discovered on Monday one of his congregants got in a fight with a homosexual co-worker as a result of a moral altercation? The fact is, if the hate-crime bill passes, pastors could easily become pulpit partners in crime.”
In a May 7, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris stated that the concept of separation of church and state “has created a roadblock that seeks to prohibit Christianity from entering the halls of government, public schools and a horde of other community sectors. In court and culture, it has evolved into a pejorative law that seeks to minimize and even eliminate religion (particularly Christianity) from every civil arena.”
Commenting on a mass shooting at Virginia Tech University where a gunman killed 32 and wounded 25, Norris wrote an April 23, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily in which he stated, “I believe those who wield the baton of the secular progressive agenda bear significant responsibility for the escalation of school shootings. Even conservatives who refuse to speak when evil flourishes must acknowledge some culpability. We teach our children they are nothing more than glorified apes, yet we don’t expect them to act like monkeys. We place our value in things, yet expect our children to value people. We disrespect one another, but expect our children to respect others. We terminate children in the womb, but are surprised when children outside the womb terminate other children. We push God to the side, but expect our children to be godly. We’ve abandoned moral absolutes, yet expect our children to obey the universal commandment, ‘Thou shalt not murder.’ Though I respect the Buddhist, Muslim and Jew who shared at the VTU convocation, our country needs to return and call out to the God of our founders, Jesus Christ.”
In an April 16, 2023 op-ed, Norris praised the “gumption” of WorldNetDaily founder Joseph Farah for stating, “If we’re ever going to make the U.S government responsive to the will of the people, it’s going to take a revolution. I don’t necessarily mean a violent, armed clash between patriots who still believe in self-government and the forces of the U.S. Defense Department. But I do mean a real revolution. Nothing short of that can save us from tyranny, despotism and slavery. It’s just a matter of time.”
In an April 9, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily entitled, “Bringing the Bible Back into Public Schools,” Norris claimed, “The Scripture was the bedrock and blueprint of our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, academic arenas and heritage until the last quarter of a century.” He then endorsed the controversial National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools (NCBCPS). The constitutionality of the NCBCPS curriculum is highly suspect, and the program has been withdrawn from a number of school districts after legal challenge. According to a report by the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund, “the NCBCPS curriculum was plagued by shoddy research, plagiarism and a bias that favored one religious perspective Protestant fundamentalism over all others.”
In a March 26, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris complained that English settlers were being portrayed in a negative light compared to Native Americans at the Jamestown Settlement Museum. He went on to write, “British culture is not the only thing disappearing at Jamestown–so is Christianity.” Norris then addressed a resolution passed by the Virginia General Assembly expressing “profound regret” for the state’s role in slavery, stating, “I find the timing of these confessions particularly intriguing, especially being offered in our overly sensitive, appeasing culture during the 400th anniversary year of Jamestown.” Norris then downplayed the hardships experienced by Africans living in the Jamestown settlement and concluded, “While I would never condone slavery (of the Africans) or the slaughter of innocent lives (of the Indians) by these early colonists, I believe softening the gala of the 400th anniversary from ‘a celebration’ to ‘a commemoration’ is an unnecessary extreme. The Jamestown Settlement has unfortunately catered to the world community at the cost of compromising history, truth and culture. At the same time they are inadvertently fertilizing prejudicial grounds against England, Christianity and these early settlers. By reducing British contributions, eliminating the colony’s Christian mission, offering a ‘timely’ apology for its racial bigotry and adding a dash of environmental education (thrown in for good measure), the organizers of the 400th anniversary of Jamestown have certainly created a recipe for Pocahontas’ perfect politically correct party. Congratulations, America! You’ve been sold out again.”
In a February 5, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris urged his readers to support only Christian candidates for political office, and claimed that Thomas Jefferson “could never have imagined a democracy in which its congressmen were sworn into government upon a Quran.” Members of Congress raise their right hand to take the oath of office and do not place their hand on any religious book. Some Members choose to hold a religious text during the process and, in 2007, Democrat Keith Ellison held a copy of the Koran once owned by Thomas Jefferson.
In a January 27, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily on the topic of abortion, Norris wrote, “Guilt and accountability are often subsided by an interchange in language: instead of baby we say fetus; instead of killing we say aborting; instead of dissect we say research; instead of extermination chambers we say abortion clinics–ad nauseam.”
In a November 6, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris wrote, “With the culture wars at full tilt, it is somewhat surprising that expected voter turn out is forecasted as low as 35 percent. This is particularly troubling since Democrats only need to pick up six seats to gain a majority in the 100-seat Senate [during the 2006 congressional elections]. They need only 15 seats out of the 435-seat House to achieve their first majority since being swept out of power in 1994. To not vote is simply a vote for the opposition.” He also added, “I figure if the media can rally behind an actor when he takes a stand for stem-cell research, they can equally back me when I support the [Iraq] war and our troops, increasing border control or voting for Governor Rick Perry in my home state of Texas.”
In an October 23, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris wrote, “Here’s what I really think about the theory of evolution: It’s not real. It is not the way we got here. In fact, the life you see on this planet is really just a list of creatures God has allowed to live.”
In a May 26, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris wrote, “America needs retraining in constitutional education! The First Amendment wasn’t written to exclude religion from public places but to prohibit government from restricting our rights to exercise freely our religious convictions and speech—including the combination of both in prayer!”
In a June 11, 2023 op-ed for WorldNetDaily, Norris shared a list of changes he would make if he was president, including: “Require Bill Gates and Warren Buffet to personally pay for national, comprehensive medical coverage for every American ... Tattoo an American flag with the words, ‘In God we trust,’ on the forehead of every atheist … [and] Create new immigration legislation: to deport all liberals (then force them to listen to Bill O’ Reilly every day for five years, at which point they may return).”
oliver North (Board Member)
In a March 4, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, North wrote, “The U.S. House of Representatives has joined the race for D.C. dunce. On Feb. 28, the House passed the Senate’s version of the Obama administration’s expanded Violence Against Women Act. Left-leaning pundits proclaim that the new law will somehow provide additional protections for American-Indian women, homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender people and immigrants. In short, you are covered by this ‘new protection’ as long as you can prove you are not a heterosexual white male … While we’re passing new laws to protect women, we’re putting them into U.S. military ground combat units. Perhaps fear of prosecution will prevent enemy combatants from raping our female soldiers and Marines on the battlefield.” North also spoke about Secretary of State John Kerry, stating, “Mr. Kerry also is showing his independence from the White House. When Nobel laureate Barack Obama travels overseas, he prefers to bow to foreign potentates and apologize for America. Instead of apologizing in foreign capitals, Mr. Kerry prefers to insult us … The German kids also laughed and applauded Mr. Kerry for saying, ‘In America, you have a right to be stupid.’ He should know. In the immortal words of Forrest Gump: ‘Stupid is as stupid does.’” President Obama has bowed to several foreign dignitaries during the course of his presidency, including the Saudi King, the Emperor of Japan, and the Queen of England, as a customary gesture of respect upon greeting them.
In a January 11, 2024 op-ed for Townhall, North wrote about Vice President Joe Biden’s announcement two days earlier that President Barack Obama would consider the use of executive orders/action as a means to combat gun violence. North stated, “Those words –‘executive orders, executive action’—used in conjunction with constitutionally protected rights and liberties, ought to alarm us all.” During his first term in office, President Obama issued fewer executive orders than any president since Grover Cleveland. North continued, writing, “Hard evidence of public support for new restrictions on firearms ownership by law-abiding citizens is hard to find.” In fact, numerous national polls found overwhelming public support for new firearms regulations in the wake of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012, in which 20 children and 6 adults were killed. One public opinion poll conducted by the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in January 2013 found that 89% of all Americans and 74% of NRA members supported requiring a background check on all gun sales. It also found that 77% of Americans support banning the sale of semi-automatic weapons and 76% support banning the sale of large-capacity ammunition magazines holding more than 10 bullets.
Oliver North (Board Member)
On a broadcast of “Cam & Company,” North addressed President Barack Obama’s upcoming recommendations on gun violence prevention, scheduled to be revealed at a press conference on January 16, 2013. North stated, “The National Rifle Association is one of the greatest protectors of civil liberties that has ever existed on the planet Earth … If you have served in the armed forces of the United States of America, took that oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, I invite you now to join this organization that was formed by military personnel in the aftermath of the great war called the War Between the States. 1871. And I invite you to join us now to protect that Constitution because no other organization in our country is going to stand up for your civil liberties like the NRA."
On the December 18, 2023 broadcast of the Glenn Beck Radio Program, North spoke to Joe Pags about President Barack Obama’s administration, stating “We’re in deep trouble in America … The background of all of this is a condition of governance today which is bereft of moral leadership. It is absent of any vision for America other than leading from behind and acquiescing to a global perspective that somehow the United Nations is gonna solve our problems if we simply surrender our sovereignty, our independence and our ability to defend ourselves.” North was referring to a U.N. Small Arms Treaty that would set only international standards for the import/export of conventional weapons—leaving it to individual countries to “regulate internal transfers of arms and national ownership, including through national constitutional protections on private ownership.” Pags asked North, “How is it that we’ve gotten to that point in this country that the government thinks we work for them and not the other way around?” North replied, “This, I think, relates a lot to what just transpired up in Connecticut and what we’ve now seen with these killings. Over the course of the last fifty years, basically two and a half generations, this country has walked away from its founding principles. We’ve said, we’re not gonna allow prayer in schools. Role models that I grew up with, to give you an example my dad was a soldier. Two wars, Korea and World War II. Every one of my male teachers was either a veteran of World War II, or Korea, or both. These were people I looked up to … Where are those guys and people today? Are parents taking the kids to Sunday school or church? Are they taking them and showing them the positive, adult, male role models in life?” North was referring to the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut in which 20 first-grade students and six adults were shot and killed. Pags asked North, “I think we’ve got too many single parent households. I don’t know how we got here. Is government to blame for that at all, or have we as a society rolled over and said, ‘Forget it. We don’t have to worry about the old value system’? North replied, “Well, I think to an extent both are true. First of all, the idea of no-fault divorce became very, very attractive back in the 60s. The idea that we’re not gonna allow prayer or God to be mentioned in schools. We’ve all talked about the War on Christmas the last couple of years but, it’s not just Christmas. It’s the entire Judeo-Christian framework of our country.”
In a November 1, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, North wrote, “When Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingston and Roger Sherman sat down to draft the Declaration of Independence, they began with a ‘Bill of Particulars’ against King George III. They accused the monarch of ‘repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.’ Now, 236 years later, ‘We the People’ are about to decide whom we should hire as our chief executive and commander in chief. It’s an appropriate time to review the grievances of our Founding Fathers—and examine the offenses committed by our present head of state”:
- “HE has redefined Marriage and enacted Rules and Regulations abridging the religious Liberties and Freedom of Conscience protected by the First Amendment of our Constitution by requiring church-affiliated Institutions to provide Insurance Coverage for Contraception and Abortions under Obamacare.” Though President Barack Obama has stated publicly that he supports same-sex marriage, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage as that between a man and a woman, remains law. Furthermore, while the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act does require religiously affiliated institutions to provide insurance coverage for contraception, it did not in any way alter existing, strict federal restrictions on the funding of abortion.
- “HE has bowed to foreign Potentates, begged our Adversaries for Space and Time until after the Election, and apologized for the Blood and Treasure expended by brave Americans in offering Others the Hope of Freedom.” President Obama has bowed to several foreign dignitaries during the course of his presidency, including the Saudi King, the Emperor of Japan, and the Queen of England, as a customary gesture of respect upon greeting them. North’s “Space and Time” reference is in regards to a discussion President Obama had with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in which he told Medvedev he would have “more flexibility” to deal with contentious foreign policy issues, such as missile defense, following the November 2012 elections. North was also likely referring to speeches President Barack Obama gave in 2009. “Blood and Treasure” might reference a speech in Strasbourg, France on April 3, 2009, in which President Obama stated, “America Has Shown Arrogance.” Additionally, in President Obama’s address to the Summit of the Americas opening ceremony in the Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on April 17, 2009, he stated, “While the United States has done much to promote peace and prosperity in the hemisphere, we have at times been disengaged, and at times we sought to dictate our terms. But I pledge to you that we seek an equal partnership.”
- “HE declared an act of Terrorism at Fort Hood, Texas, to be workplace Violence… [and] failed to dispatch military Force to save Americans in Harm’s way in Benghazi.” North was referring to a mass shooting at Fort Hood on November 5, 2009. In that shooting, Nidal Hassan, an Army psychiatrist killed 12 people and wounded 30 others. The Department of Defense classified the shooting as “workplace violence.” He was also referring to an attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya on September 11, 2012. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the attack. Congressional hearings revealed that the State Department was aware of, and rejected, several requests for increased security in Benghazi; however, Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the U.S. House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security stated on October 9, 2023 that House Republicans had consciously voted to reduce the funds allocated to the State Department for embassy security since winning the majority in 2010. When asked if he had voted to reduce funding for embassy security, Chaffetz stated, “Absolutely. Look we have to make priorities and choices in this country. We have…15,000 contractors in Iraq. We have more than 6,000 contractors, a private army there, for President Obama, in Baghdad. And we’re talking about can we get two dozen or so people into Libya to help protect our forces. When you’re in tough economic times, you have to make difficult choices. You have to prioritize things.”
In a September 27, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, North wrote to Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney some of the things U.S. Armed Services members would like to hear from him at the first presidential debate, stating, “I proffer a few lines you may want to use in the upcoming debates. Full disclosure here: These aren't my ideas. This is what the brightest and bravest of this generation now in uniform hope to hear from our next president:”
- “If you make me your commander in chief, I will bow to God Almighty—but never to a foreign potentate.” North was likely referring to President Barack Obama bowing to several foreign dignitaries during the course of his presidency, including the Saudi King, the Emperor of Japan, and the Queen of England.
- “I never will apologize for the blood and treasure our country has sacrificed in offering others the hope of freedom.” North was likely referring to speeches President Barack Obama gave in 2009. For example, in a speech in Strasbourg, France, April 3, 2009, President Obama stated, “America has shown arrogance.” In President Obama’s address to the Summit of the Americas opening ceremony in the Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on April 17, 2009, he stated, “While the United States has done much to promote peace and prosperity in the hemisphere, we have at times been disengaged, and at times we sought to dictate our terms. But I pledge to you that we seek an equal partnership.”
- “I never will call an act of terrorism ‘workplace violence.’” North was referring to a mass shooting at Fort Hood on November 5, 2009. In that shooting, Nidal Hassan, an Army psychiatrist killed 12 people and wounded 30 others. The Defense Department classified the shooting as “workplace violence.”
- “I never will announce an arbitrary deadline for withdrawing from battle and give advantage to our adversaries.” North was referring to President Barack Obama’s June 22, 2011, announcement that he would withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by 2014 as Afghan security forces replace them.
- “I won't beg the Russians –or anyone else—for more ‘space,’ saying I can be more ‘flexible’ after an election.” North was referring to a discussion President Obama had with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in which he told Medvedev he would have “more flexibility” to deal with contentious foreign policy issues, such as missile defense, following the November 2012 elections.
- “Though I am committed to reducing the size and cost of the federal government, I will insist that Congress provide funds necessary to deter aggression, keep America's military No. 1 in the world and keep faith with all who have served and who now look—often in vain—for a good job.” North was likely referring to President Obama’s plan to cut $487 billion in planned military spending by 2022. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called the cuts acceptable and because of budget restraints, inevitable.
In an August 14, 2023 interview with Newsmax, North stated that the killing of American soldiers by our Afghan allies “is the bitter harvest of [President] Barack Obama’s decision to announce withdrawal.” In North’s words, “Even though it was announced over a year ago, what you’re seeing is the rush to the exits. The need to increase the number of recruits for the Afghan National Security Forces, meaning the Army and the police, their intelligence services, has gone up dramatically. The ability to screen them as they’re coming in and vet out those who might be terrorists is almost gone. So the end result is the terrorists now know if they’re going to kill an infidel, you’ve only got a short window in which to get it done. You’re going to see a whole lot more of this. It’s become the number-one killer of Americans, replacing the IED as the most lethal part of this war, and it’s all because an announcement was made telling everybody, the enemy included, when we were leaving.” When asked if radical Islam was still a threat to American citizens, North replied, “Well you certainly wouldn’t know it by the way this White House and the State Department are acting, but yes, it is. [Some Americans] think the War on Terror is won just because bin Laden is dead and oh, by the way, Barack Obama did it. The fact is radical Islam will continue to be a major threat to American interests and our citizens, and another attack like 9/11 or the embassy attacks back in the 90s under the Clinton administration are entirely likely unless America does more to make sure that radical Islam does not get a toehold in places where they can train for those kinds of activities.” On June 22, 2011, President Obama announced that he would withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by 2014 as Afghan security forces replace them.
In a July 28, 2023 op-ed for Townhall, North wrote, “When Alexander the Great died at the age of 32 in 323 B.C., his once unbeatable army began a 2,900-mile withdrawal from India and headed home to Macedonia. As they retreated, the empire they had created collapsed behind them. To prevent pursuit, Alexander's royal cavalry and infantry dealt viciously with all internal dissent, destroyed cities and burned bridges. The Russians employed a similar scorched-earth tactic against Napoleon in 1812, as did the Red Army when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. It's a maneuver now being employed both domestically and internationally by [President] Barack Obama.” North also addressed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ “Fast and Furious” gun trafficking investigation on the southwest border, stating, “[In Mexico] nearly 50,000 people have been killed in drug-fueled violence since 2006. With narco-terrorism now spreading to neighboring Guatemala and Honduras, the [Obama administration] decided to allow thousands of firearms to flow across the U.S. border to drug cartels in the ill-conceived "Fast and Furious" operation. The result: more dead Mexicans, at least one dead American Border Patrol agent and Attorney General Eric Holder held in contempt of Congress [for failure to comply with a congressional subpoena].” A report released by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General on September 19, 2023 found that there is no evidence that Attorney General Eric Holder was aware of the tactics used in "Fast and Furious" until after it was concluded in 2011.
In a July 6, 2023 op-ed for the Freedom Alliance, North wrote, “’We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.’ Those are potent words – from the only seminal document of any country on the planet to pay homage to Almighty God. No other founding document reflects on ‘the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.’ And no other instrument of popular intent places the fate of its founders in the hand of God with words such as these: ‘For the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.’ The 56 men who penned their signatures below those words inspired a new nation. God willing, we have not become so cynical and secular that we forget what made us the land of the free.” In fact, the First Amendment to the Constitution explicitly prohibited the government from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion.”
On June 6, 2012, the Washington Post published an article reporting that Oliver North may have plagiarized a part of his May 18, 2023 Memorial Day op-ed at a Fox News website. In the piece, North claimed that he turned to a “dear friend”—an Army vet and Medal of Honor recipient named Sammy L. Davis—to explain why it is important for veterans to travel to Washington to honor those who died in the Vietnam War. Davis, responded, according to North, by stating, “Comrades gather because they long to be with the men who once acted their best, men who suffered and sacrificed, who were stripped raw, right down to their humanity … I did not pick these men. They were delivered by fate. But I know them in a way I know no other men. I have never given anyone such trust. They were willing to guard something more precious than my life. They would have carried my reputation, the memory of me. It was part of the bargain we all made, the reason we were so willing to die for one another.” These words appear verbatim in “These Good Men: Friendships Forged in War,” a 1990 memoir written by Michael Norman, a Vietnam War veteran. Davis told Norman that North never asked him for the comment, and though Davis emailed Norman’s quote to North, he never intended for North to publish it. After a reporter brought the issue to Fox News’ attention, the op-ed was removed and re-posted without the passage. An appended editor’s note was included that mentioned, without explanation, that the paragraphs had been removed and that North had included them “through no fault of his own.” Later, the column was removed from Fox’s website altogether.
In an April 6, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post that discussed the Passover and Easter religious holidays, North wrote, “The Egyptian Pharaohs and Roman emperors are gone. Yet Jews and Christians now living in the region must contend with new lethal threats: the hatred of radical Islamists seizing power from Tunisia to Syria; vicious sectarian cleansing; and the prospect of being incinerated by an Iranian nuclear weapon. Tragically, all this is being facilitated by the catastrophic incompetence, malfeasance, naivete and hubris of an American president—with the complicity of the mainstream media.” North’s mention of Tunisia was a reference to the “Arab Spring” phenomenon. During 2010 and 2011, widespread protests in Tunisia eventually led to a change in government and democratic reforms. North concluded his column by writing, “According to Matthew's Gospel, Judas Iscariot sold out Jesus of Nazareth for 30 pieces of silver. What is Barack Obama's fee for selling out Christians and Israelis?”
In October 2011, North phoned into America’s Radio News to criticize a decision by the Obama administration to recall all troops from Iraq by the end of 2011. North said, “This administration was committed to doing away with America’s military force, basically, years ago. They are now carrying that out.” He also claimed that the “the people who are most glad of this [withdrawing from Iraq] aren’t going to be Americas soldiers, sailors, airmen, or marines. Its gonna be the Iranians.” When the interviewer began to ask, “You say this administration has failed foreign policies, but they got [Osama] bin Laden, they got [Muammar] Ghaddafi, they’re doing what most Americans want which is getting out of Iraq,” North interrupted, “The unmanned aerial vehicles—which our colleagues in the media mistakenly call ‘drones’—were bought under the budget provided by George W. Bush. They’ve more than quadrupled the numbers of them available. As you’ve noticed, most of the action is now taking place with special operations troops who were recruited and funded by the Bush Administration.” When asked whether President Obama could take any credit for using the drone program “to great effect,” North stated, “[The President] is taking some of the advice provided by the military commanders on the battlefield, using assets that were not available during the Bush Administration. But they had the foresight to go ahead and start building these things, paying for them, and recruiting the people—I’m talking specifically now about the special operators—who could go on the ground and validate that the target was the real thing.” North also called the United States intervention in Libya a failure because of the Obama Administration’s decision to not send American combat troops into Libya.
In a May 3, 2023 appearance on the radio show “NRA News,” North claimed, “The enhanced interrogation for which George W. Bush was so criticized going all the way back to 2003—that enhanced interrogation was what allowed us to find out where [Al Qaeda leader Osama] bin Laden was hiding and if you hadn’t had it, you still wouldn’t have the guy.” This claim has been debunked by many government officials, including U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), who wrote, “I have sought further information from the staff of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and they confirm for me that, in fact, the best intelligence gained…was obtained through standard, non-coercive means, not through any ‘enhanced interrogation technique.’”
In an April 29, 2023 address at the NRA annual convention, North thanked the crowd for “making Fox News number one in America.” In his remarks, he asked, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a president of the United States who respects the sanctity of human life and the sanctity of marriage as something we Americans hold dear?” North also questioned Obama’s credentials on foreign policy, saying, “We need a Commander in Chief who’s unafraid to describe our enemies as who they are. They’re not extremists. They’re radical Islamic terrorists that threaten this country.” Finally, he added, “We need a Commander in Chief who cares more about the troops he leads than his birth certificate.”
North appeared on “Hannity” on March 21, 2023 and expressed his belief that it is “beyond” President Barack Obama to serve as Commander and Chief. “[He] has done nothing but apologize for America” since becoming President, North said of Obama.
In a January 7, 2024 op-ed for the Patriot Post, North expressed his belief that “death panels” existed in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 health care reform bill.
In a December 2010 editorial for Fox News in opposition to the potential repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, North wrote: “Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Hideki Tojo tried and failed. Mao Zedong, Nikita Khrushchev and Ho Chi Minh couldn’t do it. But Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama may well succeed where others could not. If he has his way, he will demolish the finest force for good in the history of mankind—the U.S. Armed Forces.”
After an admirer told North, “The way our government is acting today, I think I understand why the South seceded,” North called the man’s comment “strong stuff,” and continued: “Academics still debate whether President James Buchanan and his successor, Abraham Lincoln, could have prevented the cataclysm over states' rights. Sadly, the Obama administration, by ineptness or design, seems intent on enflaming similar disputes through repeated assertions of federal ‘authority.’”
North alluded to the potential repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy In a June 2010 opinion piece for Fox News, writing, “The present commander-in-chief has decided to treat the young men and women of our military like lab rats in a radical social-engineering experiment.”
In March 2010, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) accused North of misrepresenting how donations to his Freedom Alliance charity were being used. CREW disputed North’s claim that, “There’s no overhead. There’s no expenses taken out. Every penny that’s donated or that’s raised through things like the Freedom Concerts goes to the scholarship fund.”
On February 4, 2010, North appeared on “Hannity” and said that a repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy would lead to, “NAMBLA [North American Man/Boy Love Association] members, same-sex marriages [in the Armed Forces]. Are chaplains in the U.S. military going to be required to perform those kinds of rituals? Do they get government housing?”
North's Freedom Alliance has donated money to the Team America PAC, an anti-immigration Political Action Committee founded by former Representative Tom Tancredo (R-CO). Team America PAC is perhaps best known not for its political work but for an incident in which intoxicated Executive Director Marcus Epstein attempted to karate chop an African American woman in the head while calling her the N-word. Epstein pled guilty, but retained his position with Team America.
In an April 3, 2023 op-ed for the Patriot Post, North wrote, “Julius Caesar was murdered by Brutus and his friends in the Roman legislature on the ides of March 44 B.C. Free enterprise died at the hands of Barack and his friends in the American legislature on the 30th of March 2009 [when General Motors Chair and CEO Rick Wagoner stepped down after being asked to resign by the Obama administration as part of the government’s conditions for GM and Chrysler to restructure before receiving more federal aid]. The following day, those same ministers of American government completed the death warrant for civic duty in our republic. They called it the "Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act." The bill passed—as did the killing of Caesar—with overwhelming support from the legislature.” The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act funds AmeriCorps and other organizations that promote volunteerism.
In January 2009, North called former Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC)—who famously and fiercely opposed the creation of a national Martin Luther King Jr. Day—“ a man of rare principle and fortitude in a town full of politicians who stick their fingers in the wind to determine how to vote.”
On June 2, 2008, North praised Republican presidential candidate John McCain by saying: “In all the many months that I’ve spent covering these young Americans on the battlefield there’s only one candidate running for public office who I have seen in places like Ramadi or Fallujah. There’s only one candidate running for president of the United States who has said, ‘I will not fail you.’ There is only one candidate running for president of the United States who has said, ‘I have a formula for victory and I will not abandon your fight.’ I have heard him tell that to the young Americans he has seen and listened to on the battlefield. My friends, I don’t believe our nation can handle four years of Barack Obama. I don’t believe our nation can survive abandoning the cause for which these young Americans have fought.”
At a March 1993 Republican fundraising dinner attended by 250 people, North delivered remarks pretending to be a homosexual caller to the White House. North joked that he had tried to call President Bill Clinton, but the switchboard didn’t put him through until he adopted an exaggerated, effeminate lisp. When North was asked to apologize for his remarks by the Fairfax Lesbian and Gay Citizens Association, he responded, “If it angered some subset, that’s their problem.”
North was a central figure in the Iran-Contra Affair. The political scandal, which came to light in November 1986, involved U.S. officials violating an arms embargo to sell weapons to Iran, and then using the residual profits to fund Contra rebels in Nicaragua. North oversaw the transfer of the arms profits to the Contras, who engaged in widespread human rights abuses, including the rape and murder of civilians. They also had links to drug traffickers. In July 1987, North admitted to lying to Congress and shredding important documents related to the Iran-Contra scheme, which he referred to as a “neat idea.” He was later indicted on 16 felony counts before being convicted on three of them in 1989. The conviction was vacated in 1990.
On September 17, 1987, North sought leniency for Honduran General José Bueso Rosa. Rosa tried to ship $40 million worth of cocaine to the United States in order to fund an attempt to assassinate Honduran President Roberto Suazo Córdoba but was caught by the FBI. North was afraid that if he did not help Rosa avoid a long jail sentence, the general would expose the extent of the United State’s support of the Contra rebels.
On May, 5 1985, North wrote to Admiral John Poindexter, “You will recall that over the years Manuel Noriega in Panama and I have developed a fairly good relationship.” At the time North was attempting to strike a deal where the United States would help improve the dictator’s image in exchange for Noriega’s help in defeating the Sandinistas. North’s exchange with Poindexter also revealed that North had met Noriega on a boat on the Potomac River.
Ted Nugent (Board Member)
At the NRA’s Great American Outdoor Show on February 5, 2014, Nugent proclaimed that President Barack Obama is “an avowed racist who claimed because Trayvon Martin was black…a gangster and an attacker and a doper, that he could have been his son." Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teenager, was killed by concealed handgun permit holder George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida on February 26, 2012. Martin was returning home from a convenience store with snacks immediately prior to the shooting. Zimmerman was ultimately acquitted of murder charges under Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law.
As a guest on Denver’s KNUS 710-AM talk-radio show on February 3, 2014, Nugent likened the “media in this country [to] Joseph Goebbels' propaganda ministry.” Joseph Goebbels was the Reich Master of Propaganda for the Nazi regime.
In a January 17, 2024 interview with Guns.com at the 2014 Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show (SHOT Show), Nugent spoke about President Barack Obama, stating, “I have obviously failed to galvanize and prod, if not shame, enough Americans to be ever vigilant, not to let a Chicago communist-raised, communist-educated, communist-nurtured subhuman mongrel like the ACORN community organizer gangster Barack Hussein Obama to weasel his way into the top office of authority in the United States of America.” Furthermore, he described President Obama as a “chimpanzee.” Nugent also spoke about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, stating, "Our politicians check their scrotum in at the door. Even Hillary, but obviously she has spare scrotums.” Nugent also stated, “The gun debate is about good people having the individual right from God, guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, to stop evil people. If you find fault with that you’re on the side of the evil people. Duh.”
During the NRA News show “Cam & Company” on January 16, 2014, Nugent compared Harvey Weinstein, a Jewish anti-NRA filmmaker, to Nazis. Nugent elaborated that “You have to be brain-dead to believe that the gun-free zones of Chicago and Nuremberg [Germany] in 1938 are a desirable condition” and claimed, "Harvey Weinstein is on the side of criminals. The NRA is on the side of innocent victims protecting themselves from criminals.” In truth, law-abiding residents of Chicago are allowed to purchase and own firearms.
In a January 15, 2024 op-ed for World Net Daily about Dr. Martin Luther King, Nugent wrote, “America doesn’t have a ‘gun violence’ problem but rather a ‘liberal denial’ problem whereby liberals support continuing the insanely expensive and totally destructive policies and programs that have caused a cultural and social cancer to metastasize in black America for far too long. Show me a social or cultural problem, and I will show you how liberalism either created the problem or exacerbated it … To honestly celebrate the legacy of Dr. King, black America would have to admit to the self-inflicted destructo-derby they are waging and begin to tell their liberal Democratic slave drivers to take a hike.” (Race, Conspiracy Theory)
In a January 14, 2024 op-ed for Newsmax, Nugent asserted, “The whole global warming lie is a giant, international environmental scam and hoax designed to control people by instigating fear and panic. There is no global warming, only hot-air from Al Gore and his gaggles of Woodstock rejects who have made many millions by perpetuating something that just isn’t so.” Contrary to Nugent’s statement, global climate change is a phenomenon that is well-supported by research conducted by agencies such as the National Academy of Sciences, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.”
In a December 11, 2023 op-ed for World Net Daily, Nugent wrote that unless the United States followed his policy recommendations—including arming teachers, eliminating "gun-free zones," and getting "deranged people off the streets,” “then those precious little 20 children and their six teachers and faculty members at Sandy Hook Elementary died for nothing." He also claimed, “The first lesson we should take away from the Sandy Hook massacre is that the self-inflicted scourge of political correctness has dumbed down America enough to allow the conditions to continue to exist that will facilitate another twisted individual capable of doing the same thing to flounder about our society. In fact, it already happened at the Washington Naval Yard. It is going to happen again. And again.” Nugent was making reference to mass shootings that occurred in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2023 and in Washington, D.C. on September 16, 2013.
In a December 4, 2023 op-ed for World Net Daily, Nugent proposed a compromise that would trade regulating private sales of firearms for closing "the federal voting loophole." He wrote, “Left-wing anti-gun adherents believe closing the so-called gun-show loophole will be a big step forward in making America safer. While I don’t believe this for a [former New York City] Mayor Bloomburg [sic] smoke-free, fat-free gun-hating second, I’m willing to lead a charge for closing this ‘loophole’ if the left wing, say Piers Morgan or Michael Moore, will agree to promoting and advocating closing what many hardworking and taxpaying Americans believe to be a federal voting loophole. The federal voting loophole is this: People who pay no federal income taxes are allowed to vote in federal elections. Arguably, this is a ‘loophole’ since these voters have no federal income tax flesh in the game. The producers who pay more than our fair share believe that it is grossly unfair for those who pay no federal income taxes to be able to vote in federal elections determining how other Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars are spent.” The “Gun Show Loophole” refers to private sales of firearms that are conducted at gun shows without background checks.
In a November 12, 2023 op-ed for World Net Daily, Nugent blamed social welfare programs for a mass shooting at a barbershop in Detroit, Michigan, in which a man dressed in body armor shot and killed three people. Six others were wounded. Nugent wrote, “No one will say the trigger pullers are punks, thugs and urban degenerates … Rarely do you hear the president or his hapless vice president blame the murders and mayhem on those who pulled the trigger. Instead, they blame the NRA, institutional racism, the GOP, global warming, Wall Street bankers, spotted owls and adrift polar bears. The ugly truth is that urban street rats are responsible for the nightly shootouts in every large urban area in America. If [President Barack] Obama wants to blame something for this other than the punks who pulled the trigger, he might want to inform America that for the past 50 years social welfare programs designed, engineered and promoted by liberals have wreaked havoc on black families across America.” Contrary to Nugent’s claims, according to U.S. Census data Social Security checks lifted 21.4 million people over the poverty line in 2011 and unemployment benefits prevented 2.3 million Americans from falling below the poverty line.
In a November 6, 2023 op-ed for World Net Daily, Nugent claimed that an FBI investigation into the fatal police shooting of a California teen who had been holding a pellet gun was “another hollow attempt” by President Barack Obama “to stir up controversy and divide America further.” On October 22, 2013, 13-year-old Andy Lopez was shot seven times by a sheriff's deputy in Santa Rosa, California. The deputy, identified by media as a "gun expert,” apparently believed that the pellet gun Lopez was spotted carrying was an AK-47 assault weapon (the weapon did bear a striking resemblance to an AK-47). Nugent continued, stating, “Sending the Department of Justice to investigate if the boy’s civil rights were violated is solely designed to stir up racial strife just as it was when the Department of Justice showed up in Florida to investigate if Trayvon Martin’s civil rights were violated after George Zimmerman killed him in self-defense.” Nugent has made other controversial statements about the Trayvon Martin case in the past. Finally, Nugent stated, “The Obama administration looks to stir up racism where there is none because they believe there are big political points to be scored in the minority communities. It’s call vote scamming. Meanwhile, due to the big-government central planning boogie woogie of the Obama administration, minority communities have been led to the economic slaughterhouse at the hands of their great scam master leader,/a>.”
In an October 30, 2023 op-ed for World Net Daily, Nugent wrote, “Heavily armed with whatever media bully pulpit I can muster, I exercise my First Amendment rights like my hero Rosa Parks who refused to sit at the back of the bus when that numb-nut law existed. I’m Rosa Parks with a Gibson.” Rosa Parks, who died in 2005, was a civil rights activist best known for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus to a white passenger.
In an October 14, 2023 interview on Gater 98.7, a Florida radio station, Nugent blamed President Obama for the record rate of veteran suicides, stating, “[W]hen you've got leadership that is the enemy of America, you've got the heroes of the U.S. military committing suicide at record numbers because their Commander-in-Chief is the enemy of the country. I mean it's so ugly right now, you got a bunch of pimps, whores and welfare brats running our government.” Nugent also spoke about the government shutdown, which began on October 1, 2023 when Congress failed to pass legislation funding government operations and agencies. Nugent made recommendations to fix the situation, stating, “I would love to see America run like the Nugent household. You get up early, you maximize your productivity, you be the best that you can be, you live within your means, you save for a rainy day and you don't be some gluttonous, slovenly, criminal, wasteful paycheck fire-torching bastard like most of the people in politics today … I celebrate that they're shut down because Fedzilla is a bloated monster. I would recommend and I think an honest review of the federal government would conclude the same that I have, and other thinking, caring people who understand the U.S. Constitution and how to run a household or how to run a business. That for every federal employee, let's put it this way, for every 5,000 federal employees, I could hire one person to do a better job. It is so wasteful. It's engineered obsolescence, it's engineered redundancy. The whole battle cry of the federal government is waste, corruption, fraud, abuse of power. So I'm glad it's shutdown … You can't run a family like that, you can't run a business like that. But Fedzilla is convinced they can operate with impunity. And I have a message for [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid and the President, ‘Eat me!’"
In an October 9, 2023 interview with the Associated Press, Nugent described President Barack Obama as a "monster in the White House" who "wouldn't qualify to drive my tour bus."
On September 17, Nugent tweeted, “Liberal democrats are soulless slavedriving scam artists bribing voters.”
In an August 21, 2023 interview with Newsmax, Nugent spoke about New York City’s “stop-and-frisk” policy, stating, “As I sit here with you today, I am convinced that the concept of stop-and-frisk violates the Fourth Amendment.” A New York judge ruled in August 2013 that the policy violates the rights of New Yorkers. The judge wrote in her ruling, “The city's highest officials have turned a blind eye to the evidence that officers are conducting stops in a racially discriminatory manner.” Nugent stated, “But I don't agree with the judge in New York—that gal that presumed the cops are stopping someone based on the color of their skin. That is wrong. They do not profile based on color of skin. They profile on suspicious behavior. It's a behavioral response, not an ethnic or skin-color response. I am certain of that … Everybody knows that if you're in Haiti and you're stopping Haitians, you're not targeting Haitians. That's where you are. When you're in the belly of the criminal beast, as they are in those regions that Commissioner Kelly and the NYPD have put their forces—where there are the most rabid dogs, you send in the rabid dog hunters.”
In an August 13, 2023 radio interview on “The Mike Huckabee Show,” Nugent spoke about his hunting dog Gonzo, stating, “We literally hunt anywhere between 250 and 300 days a year. And you think Gonzo is good on ducks, you should see him on squirrels and doves and rabbits and woodcock and grouse. He really is a mystical, wonderful hunting dog.” Huckabee replied, “Well, maybe we ought to turn him loose on some Democrats and see if he can hunt them, too.” Nugent then stated, “Well, there’s a lot of varmints out there. I think he would do good pointing to varmints and then we could vote them out of office. What do you say?”
In an August 3, 2023 radio interview on a Maine radio station, Nugent discussed the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who was prosecuted after shooting and killing unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida on February 26, 2012. Nugent declared, “Trayvon got justice.” He continued, stating that Martin was a “gangsta wannabe” who had a “bloodthirst.” There is no evidence that Martin was ever a member of a gang, and he had no criminal record.
In a July 28, 2023 column on the website Rare.us, Nugent discussed the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who was tried after shooting and killing unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida on February 26, 2012. Nugent wrote, “We are most offended that the president of the United States and the U.S. attorney general are clearly guilty of racism when they intentionally bring race to the fore when they make public judgments based on the color of someone's skin instead of the content of their character in total defiance of the findings of the FBI, Department of Justice, entire state's investigative resources and a jury verdict.” The Justice Department launched an investigation of Zimmerman in 2012, but stepped aside to allow the prosecution in Florida to move forward. The FBI and Justice Department released reports that do not draw conclusions about Zimmerman’s motivations or guilt/innocence.
In a July 24, 2023 op-ed for World Net Daily, Nugent spoke about the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who was tried after shooting and killing unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida on February 26, 2012. Nugent stated, “The first step toward genuine healing for the denial-riddled hysterical black community would be to admit that George Zimmerman was indeed getting his ‘a– whooped’ by an angry, violent, wildly overreacting young man, and that Trayvon Martin was not an innocent child … Why the nasty ‘creepy a– cracker’ racism and impulse to attack? Where does this come from? Is it the same mindless tendency to violence we see in black communities across America, most heartbreakingly in Chicago pretty much every day of the week?” Nugent was referring to the testimony of prosecution witness Rachel Jeantel, who testified that shortly before George Zimmerman killed him, Martin told her on the phone that he was being followed by some “creepy a—cracker.”
In a July 17, 2023 column on the website Rare.us, Nugent discussed the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who was tried after shooting and killing unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida on February 26, 2012. Nugent stated, “Mr. Zimmerman may also face a wrongful-death civil suit brought by Trayvon Martin’s family, who refuse to admit their son was a troublemaker who brought about his own demise.” He suggested that Zimmerman should sue Martin’s family for “emotional pain and suffering.” “Trayvon Martin’s vicious attack on George Zimmerman and Martin’s tragic death have no doubt surely dragged Mr. Zimmerman through 18 months of untold emotional hell, pain, distress, anguish, fatigue, nightmares and financial ruin,” added Nugent. “Parents can be held responsible for the actions of their minor-age children until the children reach the age of majority (meaning adulthood), which is exactly why Mr. Zimmerman should explore filing a lawsuit against Martin’s parents. The age of majority in Florida is 18-years-old. Trayon Martin was 17-years-old when he attacked Mr. Zimmerman, which potentially means that Trayvon’s parents may possibly be held responsible for the stress, emotional pain and anguish their son caused George Zimmerman.”
In a July 16, 2023 interview on the Alex Jones Show, Nugent said "The Black Problem" needed to be addressed. Nugent explained: “The blacks have bought into this lie that somehow they're oppressed when the President is black, the Attorney General is black, governors are black, senators black, congressmen are black, mayors are black, Oprah Winfrey, the richest people in the world are black. It’s a dirty lie … If I could impress upon and inspire and beg everyone listening now, we got to reach out to every black person we know and encounter. We have to pray for black America and beg our fellow Americans who are black to admit to this suicidal, self-inflicted curse that you've bought into the big lie of Jesse Jackson and Eric Holder and Al Sharpton, that you're not helpless, you're not a slave, you're not worthless, you're not inept, you can do anything you want to do to get out of the self-inflicted shackles that have been brought upon the race baiters and the racist industry … The food stamp scam. The welfare scam. Blacks can fix the black problem tonight if they just admit they can do anything I can do, anything Alex Jones can do, anything Thomas Sowell can do, anything that any American can do if you put your heart and soul into being honest, law abiding, delivering excellence at every move in your life.” Finally, Nugent added, "Racism against blacks was gone by the time I started touring the nation in the late 60s. It was gone. I have black musicians, I see blacks ascending to whatever heights they wanted. There was no oppression … They might have run into racism occasionally like I did because I had long hair ... and by the 70s … Nothing of consequence existed to deter or compromise a black American’s dream if they got an alarm clock, if they set it, if they took good care of themselves, they remained clean and sober, if they spoke clearly, and they demanded excellence of themselves and provided excellence to their employers.”
In a July 14, 2023 column featured at the website Rare.us, Nugent called shooting victim Trayvon Martin a “17-year-old dope smoking, racist gangsta wannabe.” An unarmed Martin was shot and killed by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida on February 26, 2012. According to Nugent, “Trayvon Martin was…responsible for his bad decisions and standard modus operendi [sic] of always taking the violent route … The only racism on that night was perpetrated by Trayvon Martin, and everybody knows it.” In fact, Martin had no violent criminal history. Zimmerman, on the other hand, did. He had previously been arrested for assaulting a police officer and had been the subject of a prior restraining order for domestic abuse. Furthermore, Zimmerman had been profiling and following young black men in his community for months.
In June 27, 2023 radio interview on the Christian Nationalist radio show “Sons of Liberty,” Nugent called former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a “murderer” for her role in responding to the September 2012 Benghazi embassy attacks during which Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others State Department employees were killed. Nugent also called President Obama a “Chicago gangster” and “die-hard communist.” “It's gone tipsy turvy where we have a Chicago gangster, ACORN community organizer, scam artist and diehard Communist as the President of the United States, a gunrunning Attorney General, an absolute buffoon for a Vice President and a murderer as the Secretary of State who intentionally kept security away from American citizens so they can get blown to smithereens,” added Nugent. An investigation by the State Department Accountability Review Board found that mistakes were made in the response to the attacks, but that those decisions were not made at the level of Secretary of State. Nugent’s reference to the failed “Fast and Furious” operation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) similarly ignored the fact that Attorney General Eric Holder has always stated that he was unaware of the operation until it was concluded. Holder’s statement was supported by an extensive investigation by the Department of Justice Inspector General.
On March 26, 2013, Nugent appeared on right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ radio show. Jones has accused the U.S. government of being involved in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. On the show, Nugent compared a video in which actor/comedian Jim Carrey criticized the NRA to what the Nazis did during the Holocaust, stating, “In Nuremberg 1938, we got there late, but when we finally got there we made those subhuman, Nazi, brown-shirt punks walk through Auschwitz and look [at] what they caused. Look what they did and this Jim Carrey moment is a mirror that we can show somebody, hopefully soon, that these people enhance crime, they encourage crime, they facilitate and guarantee more innocent dead citizens.” (Religion)
In a March 18, 2023 interview on a Lynchburg, Virginia talk radio show, Nugent stated, “When you have freaks like Bill Maher and the animal rights freaks, these brain-dead, doped up monsters, these mongers that think that they’re gonna tell Ted Nugent I can’t eat venison. Every time I hear the words ‘animal’ or ‘right’ in the same paragraph I kill more stuff.” Nugent also spoke about President Barack Obama’s public speaking abilities, stating, “If ever there was an ounce of truth that came out of Barack Obama’s mouth, he would be great speaker, but—much like Hitler—if you lie and you scam I’m afraid I can’t give you much credit for being a good anything.”
In March 2013 Nugent spoke on conspiracy theorist Pete Santilli’s online radio show. On his website, Santilli has promoted a conspiracy theory that the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, in which 20 first-graders and six adults were killed, was a “satanic sacrifice.” Santilli also posted images that suggest the shooting was predicted by a map seen in the Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises.” Nugent told Santilli, “I know that if you believe animals have rights, I promise I will kill an extra hundred just for you … You see, I never poisoned my body. My parents taught me that my gift of life is embodied in the sacred temple. So no drugs, no alcohol, no tobacco and no fat chicks. Stuff will kill you, Pete, I'm telling you, it's deadly. But I have been known to chew on a Cuban, that's a cigar. I wouldn't chew on a Cuban, they haven't figured out personal hygiene yet.” Nugent also spoke about President Barack Obama, stating, “The President of the United States Barack Hussein Obama went to the Vietnam Memorial Wall. He did his smoke and mirrors scam. He pretended to show respect and honor, 58,000 American warriors who died fighting communism. And then he hired, appointed and associates with communists.” There is no evidence that President Obama has ever hired a communist. As for Nugent, he admitted evading the draft for the Vietnam War by taking controlled substances and smearing his body with feces before a fitness exam. Nugent continued in the interview, stating, “If you can't see through the dishonesty and the scamming of this president with that scenario fresh in your mind, then that's literally like, I guess that would be like, I don't know, a German in 1938 pretending to respect the Jews and then going home and putting on his brown shirt and forcing his neighbors onto a train to be burned to death. So we really have a rotten, rotten man in the White House who I am convinced hates America, hates individuality.”
In a March 2013 interview with Brett Winterble on Sirius XM radio, Nugent stated, “I took my machine gun in the helicopter—in the Texas hill country—me and my buddy ‘Pigman.' His name is ‘Pigman’; I’m the swine czar. I killed 455 hogs with my machine gun. I did it for Bill Maher and all those other animal rights freaks out there.” Bill Maher is a political commentator, host of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” and a board member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
In a February 20, 2023 op-ed for World Net Daily, Nugent wrote, “[President] Barack Obama, the guy who received roughly 93 percent of black American votes, is the clear and present engineer of the destruction of black America … [It is] unbelievable that black Americans continue to support Democratic politicians who have raped and plundered black America forever … The truth is that the Democratic Party has been the engineer of the destruction of black Americans, and everyone knows it except the very people who need to know it the most—black Americans.”
In February 2013, Nugent appeared on right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ radio show. Jones has accused the U.S. government of being involved in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Nugent said, “Alex, you're doing God's work … What you're celebrating, and what you are sharing with the radio listeners out there is indisputable, it's irrefutable, and I got to thank you because it's so late in coming that those of us with the balls and the inside view of the criminality of this government right now, the unprecedented abuse of power and corruption and fraud and deceit by the Chicago gangster scammer ACORN-in-Chief [President Barack Obama] is so diabolical that I just wanted to say thank you from the trenches.” Nugent was making reference to ACORN, a community activist organization and its affiliate, Project Vote. After the 2008 election, the John McCain (R-AZ) campaign accused the group of perpetrating “massive voter fraud.” Neither ACORN nor its employees have ever been found guilty of—or even charged with—casting fraudulent votes. Several ACORN canvassers have been found guilty of faking registration forms. The evidence shows that the canvassers faked the forms to get paid for work they didn’t do, not to stuff ballot boxes. A report by the Congressional Research Service, the nonpartisan public policy research arm of the U.S. Congress, stated that there were no instances of individuals who were allegedly registered to vote improperly by ACORN or its employees and who were reported "attempting to vote at the polls."
In a January 9, 2024 interview with World Net Daily, Nugent responded to Vice President Joe Biden’s statement that President Barack Obama may use executive orders/action to help prevent mass shootings in America, stating, “If it comes to the actual implementation of an actual confiscatory directive from our president, then I do believe that the heroes of the law enforcement will defy this order. I do believe that there are enough soulless sheep within our government who would act on such an illegal order but I believe the powers that be at the local, state, and regional law enforcement would halt such an illegal, anti-American order. There will come a time when the gun owners of America, the law-abiding gun owners of America, will be the Rosa Parks and we will sit down on the front seat of the bus, case closed.” President Obama has never advocated for the confiscation of firearms.
In fan videos from Nugent’s “Black Power 2013” tour, he attacked President Barack Obama, calling him the "lying racist in the White House.” Nugent also attacked the "criminal pieces of sh-t in the IRS," "dirty cocksuckers in the government," "the jack boot Nazi motherf--kers in the Department of Justice," "f--king retarded mongrels" who support animal rights, and "well-fed motherf--ker food stamp cocksuckers." Nugent also stated, "When the British came to take our guns we met them at Concord Bridge and we blew their f--king brains out," and told the audience, "keep a f--king gun in your hand, boys." He was referring to the American Revolutionary Battle at Concord in which the militia defeated three companies of King George’s troops at North Bridge.
In a December 31, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent offered Vice President Joe Biden his “services and a lifetime of expertise on guns” as Biden prepared to chair a Presidentially-appointed task force on gun violence prevention in the wake of a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut in which 20 first-grade students and six adults were killed. Nugent wrote, “Clearly, the focus on solving these mass murders must be on the mentally ill. In almost every instance of mass killing, there were ample red flags and warning alarms that either were avoided or were not acted upon by mental health professionals, family members, friends and acquaintances. While I deeply respect an individual’s privacy and civil liberties, the American people need basic awareness of what indicators to look for regarding potentially violent, psychotic people … You will find in your assessment that all of the massacres have occurred in gun-free zones. What gun-free zones create is an environment where good people are unarmed and virtually defenseless against an unstable person intent on committing mass murder. Gun-free zones are modern killing fields. I implore you to recommend that Congress pass a law to ban gun-free zones immediately … I encourage you also to keep this misnamed ‘gun violence’ in perspective. While all deaths are tragic, the vast majority of gun-related murders and violence are committed by gang members who do not use guns that look like—but do not perform like—military assault weapons.” Despite Nugent’s claims, one study found that only one-third of mass shootings (in which four or more innocents are killed) occurring between January 2009 and January 2013 occurred in “gun-free zones.” Additionally, the FBI Uniform Crime Report indicates that only approximately 10% of homicides annually in the United States are related to gang activity.
In a December 18, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote about the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut in which 20 first-grade students and six adults were shot and killed. Nugent wrote, “Something is causing young loners to pick up guns and slaughter people … The ugly and dangerous truth is that we live in an embarrassing, politically correct culture that exalts and rejoices in the bizarre; aggressively promotes an ‘anything goes’ value system; and vilifies, condemns and mocks traditional societal values and customs at every opportunity. More laws and more restrictions won’t fix our culture. T he problem we face is much deeper and more insidious. What ails us is a spiritual bankruptcy of cultural values that actually matter … As with most things, the cure to this mess begins and ends with the family. Traditional family values have been under siege for decades by our culture of contempt. In the absence of a solid family, the whole thing slowly unravels and rots.”
In a December 3, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote, “In addition to slaughtering the three sacred entitlement cows that consume a vast majority of the federal budget (and I use the term budget generously), let’s truly spread the pain around and raise taxes on everyone, including the nearly 50 percent of Americans who pay zero federal income taxes. Those Americans need to have some skin in the game, too … Let’s also stop the insanity by suspending the right to vote of any American who is on welfare. Once they get off welfare and are self-sustaining, they get their right to vote restored. No American on welfare should have the right to vote for tax increases on those Americans who are working and paying taxes to support them … We also need to get our voting system straightened out and eliminate voter fraud. We need to ensure that only Americans vote by requiring polling places to validate the identification of each voter.” Research has shown that in-person voter fraud is extremely rare in the United States.
In a November 21, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote, “In yet another never-ending series of terminal ding-dong moves, members of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union went on strike and drove Hostess out of business, providing one more stinking example of how labor unions can no longer have their cake and it eat it, too … Labor unions are bad for business. With just these four short opening paragraphs, the allergic-to-logic, empty Twinkie heads of anti-capitalism liberals are surely spinning ‘round and ‘round. They will ignorantly shriek that big business is greedy and needs more government regulation, that businesses have all kinds of obligations to their employees, that labor unions are still needed and that liberals know what is best for the economy … Unemployed long enough, even liberals with noggins full of economic balderdash put there by comedians Jon Stewart and Bill Maher, and liberal college instructors who have never owned or managed a business will begin to understand that anti-business, pro-union liberalism doesn’t pay the rent. Ding-dong that.” Hostess, the maker of Twinkies and Ding-Dongs, filed for bankruptcy in January 2012. On November 9, 2012, Hostess employees went on strike after the company imposed a contract cutting worker’s wages by 8 percent and benefits by 27 percent to 32 percent. In mid-November 2012, the company began selling its factories and assets. Hostess also began laying off its 18,500 workers.
In a November 15, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote, “What our nation may not be strong enough to survive is four more years of [President Barack] Obama and his Big Wrecking Crew government liberal jihad, which has wreaked havoc on all of America. Our major cities, run for decades by corrupt Democratic regimes, are broke, rusting wrecks full of unemployed scavengers … The president dares to articulate the Republican talking points while his entrenched political programs, ideologies and policies always have been and always will be designed to create dependence on Fedzilla and transform America into something resembling the toilet-bowl nation of Cuba and every other socialist hell zone known to mankind. Insanity is personified. America is tipping over a financial ledge of which I suspect many of those who voted for the president have no basic understanding or appreciation. All they are interested in is more free candy from Uncle Sugar Daddy … The denial curse of liberalism sure comes in handy when hiding from the truth, thereby accelerating disaster. Dopey is as dopey does. Toke on that, Bill Maher. While I’m just a humble love-song composer and deer slayer, I’m smart enough to know we are not going to borrow and spend our way to prosperity while also increasing the gluttonous obesity tantrum of Fedzilla. Mouth-breathing Obama supporters, and obviously Mr. Obama himself, don’t understand this. They are comfortably dumb about basic economics.”
On November 13, 2012, Nugent tweeted, “Since soulless animal rights fools hate nature I will kill many deer for them.”
In a November 8, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote about the reelection of President Barack Obama, stating, “We have fallen far and fast. Instead of electing a serious-minded, proven professional, America went once again with a guy whose most impressive qualification is that of a questionable ‘Chicago’ community organizer. I don’t mean Chicago in a geographic sense. President John F. Kennedy would have been appalled … We have decayed into a nation of gluttonous, soulless pigs who feast on whatever Fedzilla provides by taking from one group of Americans (the producers) and giving to others (the takers) who haven’t earned it and don’t deserve it … The pigs have come home to wallow in the mud of the Washington swamp, and we have a group of professional political punks—master scam artists—who are all too happy to shovel more slop while advocating that the producers should be punished further by raising their taxes and restricting entrepreneurs with business-wrecking overregulation … I’m not nearly as surprised with the outcome of the presidential election as I’m disheartened and disgusted that my fellow Americans can be this woefully uninformed, easily manipulated and thunderously ignorant. I’ve got a rotting fence post smarter than these mouth breathers. If you voted for [President Barack] Obama, you are thunderously dumb and incredibly naïve … Thanks for nothing, numbskulls.”
In the early hours of the morning following Election Day 2012, Nugent tweeted the following:
- “Pimps whores & welfare brats & their soulless supporters hav [sic] a president to destroy America”
- “So [President Barack] Obama still demands the hardest workers provide for the nonwotkers [sic]. Shared opportunitiesmy ass.”
- “What subhuman varmint believes others must pay for their obesity booze cellphones birthcontrol abortions & lives.”
- “Goodluk [sic] America u just voted for economic & spiritual suicide. Soulless fools.”
- “So 4 SCOTUS idiots dont believe in self defense. Pure evil.” Nugent was referring to Supreme Court Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Justices Breyer and Ginsburg dissented in District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago. In Heller, the Court held for the first time in U.S. history that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to firearm ownership for self defense in the home; thereby striking down D.C.’s handgun ban. In McDonald v. Chicago, the Court held that the Second Amendment, as interpreted in Heller, applied to the states through the Due Process Clause. Justice Sotomayor joined the dissent in McDonald. Justice Kagan has indicated that she also disagrees with the Court’s decisions in Heller and McDonald.
- “I cry tears of blood for The Last Best Place & the warriors who died for this tragedy.”
In an October 30, 2023 interview with the Washington Times, Nugent spoke about social welfare programs, stating, “We are all heartbroken that the Herculean work ethic that…made America The Last Best Place has dwindled considerably since the big lies of The New Deal and The Great Society succeeded in brainwashing a segment of our country to believe Fedzilla would provide for anyone who decided, for whatever reason, to not be productive.” President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal was responsible for creating the Social Security Administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Housing Administration, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society was responsible for the creation of Medicare and Medicaid, and a variety of other anti-poverty programs. These programs drastically reduced the rate of poverty nationally. Nugent also spoke about his hometown of Detroit, Michigan, stating, “It is so very true that my birth city of Detroit was the cleanest, most neighborly, positive-energy, work-ethic epicenter of planet earth when I was born there in 1948, right on through to the 1960s. Enter the liberal death wish of Mayor Coleman Young and a tsunami of negative, anti-productivity policies by liberal Democrats that put a voodoo curse on our beloved Motor City. When you train and reward people to scam, cheat and refuse to be productive, there is only one direction that society can go: straight down the toilet. It is truly a heartbreaker. Some wonderful people are still to be found back home, but they are outnumbered by the pimps, whores and welfare brats that have made bloodsucking a lifestyle. And now we have a president who is doing everything he can to take the whole country down that same path. Truly amazing.”
On October 26, 2012, Nugent tweeted, “The Obama gang turned their soulless slimy backs on Americans in Benghazi. Criminal corruption & abuse of power.” Nugent was referring to an attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya on September 11, 2012. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the attack. Congressional hearings revealed that the State Department was aware of, and rejected, several requests for increased security in Benghazi. In addition, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives reduced funding for embassy security. Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), chairman of the U.S. House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, when asked why Republicans took this step, stated, “Look, we have to make priorities and choices in this country. We have…15,000 contractors in Iraq. We have more than 6,000 contractors, a private army there, for President Obama, in Baghdad. And we’re talking about can we get two dozen or so people into Libya to help protect our forces. When you’re in tough economic times, you have to make difficult choices. You have to prioritize things.”
On October 25, Nugent tweeted, “Weirdos against hunting are against nature herself-pure veison [sic] forever.”
On October 17, 2012, Nugent tweeted, “Apparently soulless liberals & zombie democrats dont care that their president lies thru his teeth. Go Mitt [Romney].”
On October 16, 2012, Nugent tweeted, “ [President Barack] Obama is the ultimate Saul Alinsky & Cloward/Piven smoke&mirrors liar from hell. God help America.” Saul Alinsky was a community organizer and writer in the mid-20th century. In 1971, he wrote a book called “Rules for Radicals” which described his theory and methods of organizing. Richard Cloward and Frances Piven were sociologists and political activists. They outlined a political strategy in 1966 that called for overloading the U.S. public welfare system in order to precipitate a crisis that would lead to a replacement of the welfare system with a national system of "guaranteed annual income and thus an end to poverty." President Barack Obama has never publicly mentioned Saul Alinsky, Richard Cloward or Frances Piven nor, has he supported a guaranteed annual income in place of welfare.
On October 10, 2012, Nugent tweeted, “Yeah thats it-The FtHood massacre was a workplace act of violence Yeah, thats the ticket Goodcall gang Obama lying enemies of America. damnU.” Nugent was referring to a mass shooting at Fort Hood on November 5, 2009. In that shooting, Nidal Hassan, an Army psychiatrist, killed 12 people and wounded 30 others after legally purchasing a handgun and ammunition. The Department of Defense classified the shooting as “workplace violence.”
On October 10, 2012, Nugent tweeted, “How soulless must the [President Barack] Obama gang be to refuse basic security for Americans around the world on 9-11. Criminal complicity to murder treason.” Nugent was referring to an attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya on September 11, 2012. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the attack. Congressional hearings revealed that the State Department was aware of, and rejected, several requests for increased security in Benghazi. In addition, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives reduced funding for embassy security. Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), chairman of the U.S. House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, when asked why Republicans took this step, stated, “Look, we have to make priorities and choices in this country. We have…15,000 contractors in Iraq. We have more than 6,000 contractors, a private army there, for President Obama, in Baghdad. And we’re talking about can we get two dozen or so people into Libya to help protect our forces. When you’re in tough economic times, you have to make difficult choices. You have to prioritize things.”
In an October 8, 2023 radio interview with Rusty Humphries, Nugent stated, “You know why you love my greasy soulful black soul music? You know why you love it so much? Because on all my Gibson guitars, I have illegally imported Indian fretboads. That's one thing I demand from Gibson is that if they are going to make me a guitar they will use illegally imported wood so that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife has a conniption fit every time I play." Nugent was referring to several U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department raids on the guitar maker Gibson for importing endangered wood. Nugent told Humphries that one of his new songs was about how, “The whole word sucks, but America still sucks less and if we don’t get these gangsters out of the White House we’re gonna suck ourselves to death … [Government is] so out of control now, the new normal is offensive, vulgar, obscene, and anti-American at the hands of a community organizer who is intentionally dismantling the greatest quality of life in the history of mankind.” When asked what he thought of polls that showed President Barack Obama holding a slight lead over Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Nugent replied, “Well, when you read those kind of manipulated and dishonest polls it actually does increase confidence [in Mitt Romney] because the leftist media is so addicted to dishonesty and misrepresentation and manipulation … I believe there’s more of us than the bloodsuckers that [President] Barack Obama and his gangsters have bought and paid for and if that offends somebody who is listening to Rusty Humphries and Ted Nugent, you need to get a clue because this president has bought his votes by offering something from the productive Americans to the non-productive Americans … If you look at the average voter for Barack Obama, he’s either receiving something from the taxpayer or he’s an elected official or government employee that is being overpaid.” Turning to the topic of his family, Nugent stated, “We shoot pretty much every day. I shoot every day … Unarmed citizens are slaves so we take our shooting very seriously.”
In an October 7, 2023 interview on Armed America Radio, Nugent stated, “Regardless of your ideology, this guy, this President Barack Obama clearly is intentionally dismantling the greatest quality of life in the history of the world. His policies are anti-American. His polices and his czars and his administration are anti-American, anti-quality of life, anti-freedom, anti-liberty, and anti-being the best that you can be. Every word, deed, and action by Obama is against the very spirit of rugged individualism, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution … This guy, this Barack Obama is a Mao Zedong wannabe. Everything he stands for, all of his policies, all of his smoke and mirrors, his mastery of deception and deceit and outright lying, is so Mao Zedong. In fact a lot of his czars, a lot of Barack Obama's czars, will look right in the camera and say, ‘Yeah, I'm a communist and I like it’ … The President of the United States, the Commander in Chief, which is supposed to be respected by the heroes of our U.S. military; Barack Obama goes to the Vietnam memorial wall in Washington where 58,000 American patriots and heroes and warriors gave their lives fighting communism. When he is not at the wall pretending to show tribute to these warriors, he's implementing communism. The very system that these warriors died fighting against … And for Americans to accept that the Commander in Chief is implementing communist policies while feigning respect for heroes who fought communism is one of the most vile, repugnant, obscene gestures in the history of American politics.” Nugent, by his own account, evaded being drafted for the Vietnam War in the 1970s by taking controlled substances and smearing his body with feces before a fitness exam.
In an October 4, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote, “Not so amazing, but the backbone of the Democratic Party, the ones buying the most lottery tickets, are the ones who can least afford it. Duh. If these mouth-breathers promise not to vote, the GOP should buy them a lottery ticket. That would be cheaper than trying to reach them with political ads. The Democrats are once again playing class warfare. Jacking the poor and downtrodden against wealthy Americans is a core Democratic political strategy … The message the Democrats send to their base is that wealthy Americans are to be despised, maligned and punished. The Democratic Party will never admit that wealthy Americans might just be smarter, have a greater tolerance for risk and a stronger work ethic than supporters who carp about how the system is rigged against them and seek a fantasy of ‘shared opportunity.’ Show me where life is fair and I will vote for President Obama. The only things rigged against these comfortably dumb Americans is the image staring back in the mirror and the Democratic Party, which has intentionally enslaved and victimized them for decades … To demonize wealthy people is to spit in the face of the American dream. You might want to note that there is no demonization of the wealthy from Republicans, only Democrats.”
On October 4, 2012, Nugent tweeted, “The presidential looking self made American [Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney] bitchslaps the clueless community disorganizer [President Barack Obama] upside the head with crowbars of truth & logic.” Nugent was referring to the first presidential debate in Denver, Colorado on October 3, 2012.
In an October 2, 2023 radio interview on 101 KXL, a Portland, Oregon news radio station, Nugent stated, “[Michigan] turned into a liberal cesspool of slovenliness and gluttony and just entrenched irresponsibility…the opposite of what I grew up in Michigan … Positive spirit and entrepreneurial work ethic…is still alive and well in Michigan, it’s just been overwhelmed by the pimps and the whores and the welfare brats.” Nugent continued, stating, “I couldn’t be more proud, in 2012, hippies and communists hate me. They hate me, which means I’m really really a good person.” When asked what he would do if President Barack Obama won the election in November 2012, Nugent replied, “I’ve saluted too many flag-draped coffins to give up. I’ve spent too much time with U.S. Marines with no legs and Army heroes with no arms and Navy and Air Force and Coast Guard and National Guard guys who have given up everything to give up … If Barack Obama gets back in, I’ll just turn up the heat and fight to demand the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and that ‘We the People’ get more engaged and take this country back from these criminals. Barack Obama and [U.S. Attorney General] Eric Holder and [U.S. Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton and [U.S. Treasury Secretary] Tim Geithner and other czars, they’re all America-hating punks. They hate this country. They hate freedom. They hate excellence. They hate entrepreneurialism. They hate genuine effort. They think there’s somehow some kind of fairness available where people who don’t try as hard somehow benefit the same way as people that try really hard. That’s just buffoonery. That’s just a Karl Marx [author of the ‘Communist Manifesto’], [Former Leader of Communist China] Mao Tse-tung insult.” Nugent, by his own account, evaded being drafted for the Vietnam War in the 1970s by taking controlled substances and smearing his body with feces before a fitness exam.
In an October 1, 2023 radio interview on KMOX, a St. Louis news radio station, Nugent spoke about the November 2012 presidential campaign, stating, “[Republican vice presidential candidate] Paul [Ryan] is a great man … He is really a keeper. He’s one of the best of the best and I really believe that what [Republican presidential candidate] Mitt Romney has learned over the years really makes him better than just a good man, he’s now a great man. He would be such a vast improvement over this current criminal administration and the policies that clearly are against the American way and against being the best that you can be. So, Mitt Romney picked the right guy. Paul Ryan’s a real blood-brother, man … Bow-hunting really is the most difficult thing in the world, as far as a self-imposed challenge goes … There’s a real higher level of awareness that one attains, that one has to aspire to and Paul Ryan has achieved that. He’s a dedicated, very successful bow-hunter. And that higher level of awareness that drives your higher level of awareness on every level of life is what has made [Paul Ryan] a great representative, a great U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights representative of ‘We the People’ of Wisconsin. So, what he can do in America, I think we have seen with [Wisconsin Governor] Scott Walker, Tommy Thompson, the past governor and hopefully U.S. Senate from Wisconsin and with Paul Ryan as Congressman. I mean, Wisconsin went from a suburb of the hash-bash hippie hell of Madison to being a really accountable, living within their means, balancing their budget, and getting rid of the fat and the waste in Wisconsin.” Governor Scott Walker did not balance Wisconsin’s budget. In a letter sent by Mike Huebsch, Walker’s Administration Secretary, to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services in December 2011, Huebsch stated that Wisconsin would have an “undisclosed deficit” from January, 2012 through June, 2013. Nugent then explained why he thought polls showed some swing states leaning towards President Barack Obama in the election, stating, “When you buy votes, when you buy entire societal blocks with handouts and with promises that clearly can’t be kept. But this president, President Obama and his gang, they have literally smoke and mirrored their way into this artificial reign of terror. Unfortunately, the terror isn’t artificial. And so the people that support Barack Obama and this current corruption, the current abuse in the U.S. government, it’s because they’re getting something out of it.” Nugent told the radio host, Mark Reardon, “There’s a bunch of us, like you and me and people that work really hard and get up early and put their heart and soul into being the most productive asset they can to their fellow man … Barack Obama’s voter block, either you’re a liability or you believe people can intentionally put themselves in the position of a liability. So, that’s why Mitt Romney’s 47 percent statement is statistically irrefutable.” Nugent referred to controversial comments Mitt Romney made at a private fundraiser earlier this year. Romney stated, “There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it—that that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. ... These are people who pay no income tax. ... [M]y job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives." Nugent continued, stating, “This President [Barack Obama] has bought the gay vote, overall, just basically speaking, obviously there’s a bunch of smart gay people out there that ain’t buyin’ this crap. He’s bought the black vote, event though there’s a bunch of really smart, independent, rugged individuals in the black community. And the female vote with this lie that we’re somehow gonna take away their health care because we won’t buy them contraception. I mean, every aspect of Barack Obama’s campaign would be laughable if it was just a movie.” Nugent was referring to a January 2012 Obama Administration announcement that the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” requires employers to provide health insurance which covers contraception for women free of charge.
In an October 1, 2023 interview with Big Hollywood, Nugent stated, “[President] Barack Obama hates America. Barack Obama hates freedom. Barack Obama's voting record, his upbringing, his education, his words, his actions, his misdeeds, all reek of everything anti-American, anti-Constitution, anti-Bill of Rights. The latter of which is most deviously manifested in his voting record against the individual right to keep and bear arms … America faces doom if we re-elect Barack Obama to the presidency. It is a dire, dangerous forecast for freedom … If he wins in November he won't have to kowtow, he won't have to placate anybody anymore. He will be able to go for the jugular, and that includes the jugular of the Second Amendment. He will begin again what he did in Illinois as a gangster politician and go against gun rights, he will tax ammunition, he will ban certain types of bullets, and he will ban certain types of firearms. His goal is Attorney General Eric Holder's goal: namely, to brainwash Americans into believing that guns are bad and that the Second Amendment does not mean individuals have the right to keep and bear arms. Barack Obama is a smoke-and-mirrors scam artist who has convinced people he believes one and one equals two, while he shoves three-and-a-half down your throat … In November 2012, we are voting for [Republican presidential candidate Mitt] Romney/[Republican vice presidential candidate Paul]Ryan because we are voting for the very soul of America. If Barack Obama is elected again, this country is done." Nugent was referring to a speech Eric Holder, then-U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, gave to the Woman’s National Democratic Club on gun violence in 1995. Holder stated, “We want to have…an informational campaign to change the hearts and minds of people in Washington, D.C. and particularly young people. They are saturated in the media and entertainment, or by the entertainment industry, with violence. And I think too many of our young people, in particular our young men, are fascinated with violence, and in particular fascinated with guns. What we need to do is change the way in which people think about guns, especially young people, and make it something that’s not cool, that it’s not acceptable, it’s not hip to carry a gun anymore, in the way in which we changed our attitudes about cigarettes. When I was growing up, people smoked all the time…but over time we changed the way people thought about smoking…and that’s what I think we need to do with guns, really change the way people think about them … This is not going to be something that’s very easy to do, because we are, quite frankly, fighting something that appears every day on television, on the radio, in our popular music, in movies that these kids are exposed to … We need to get really innovative, really creative things that are gonna grab the attention of these kids and change, as I said, the way in which they think about guns … I have asked the school board to make a part of every day some kind of anti-violence, anti-gun message. Every day, every school, at every level. One thing I think is clear with young people, and adults as well, is that we just have to be repetitive about this … We need to do this every day of the week and just really brainwash people into thinking about guns in a vastly different way.”
In an October 2012 interview with NRA News, Nugent told radio host Cam Edwards, “I believe if you hate the NRA, if you hate guns, if you hate Ted Nugent, then you clearly hate America. And I have never apologized, I've never defended—there is nothing to defend—but in this culture war we do sometimes have to explain ourselves."
On September 27, 2012, Nugent tweeted, “Who could possibly not admit that [President Barack] Obama & the dem[ocrat]s are slavedrivers creating a sheeplike subclass of bloodsuckers. buy the vote buy the vote.”
In a September 27, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote, “[Republican presidential candidate]Mitt Romney hit the bull’s-eye with his comments regarding the 47 percent of Americans who do not have any skin in the game as it pertains to paying federal income tax. Facts are facts … As I’ve written before, for at least the past 50 years the Democratic Party has intentionally engineered a class of political ‘victims’ who have been bamboozled into being dependent on the federal government for their subsistence, including food, housing and now health care. They get this without paying any federal income taxes, and that’s wrong. Something for nothing is always a scam. This is how you buy votes, plain and simple … Alternatively, the majority of federal income taxes are paid by the top wage earners, the very group of individuals the Democrats and President Obama constantly demonize and want to punish by raising their taxes even higher. This is what’s called ‘fair’ in this bizzarro world. Those who pay nothing can continue to pay nothing, and those who pay all will pay more … The Democratic Party exists because it promotes the creation of dependence on Fedzilla. They have intentionally created the real political victims, many of whom have been victimized by the Democrats for decades … Through the creation of the Nanny State, the Democrats have destroyed lives, families and entire communities, and convinced some Americans that they can’t achieve anything without Fedzilla’s help. They have their own soulless Declaration of Dependence. That’s downright pathetic. While creating this voting bloc of handcrafted victims, the Democrats have also waged an artful campaign to paint Republicans as a group of arrogant, greedy rich people. Some Democrats like Vice President Joseph R. Biden take their venom-filled lies about the GOP even a step lower … He’s a race-baiting yarn-spinner. He should be made to wear a dunce hat and stand in the corner for the remainder of the campaign … No able-bodied American should get anything for free while doing nothing to earn it. Put a rake, shovel, paint brush or broom in their hands. That will instill some pride back in their lives that the Democrats have worked double-time to make extinct … What Fedzilla has done to individuals and businesses is not a victimless crime. It’s killing America.” Nugent was referring to controversial comments Mitt Romney made at a private fundraiser in May 2012. Romney stated, “There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it –that that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. ... These are people who pay no income tax. ... [M]y job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."
In a commercial for Nugent’s Discovery Channel show, “Ted Nugent’s Gun Country,” published September 25, 2012, Nugent stated, “I bleed red, white, blue and liberty. And nothing says liberty more than the right to bear arms. Guns built this country and good men with guns made it the American dream. This is a look into the world of guns and America’s obsession with guns through the eyes of the biggest gun nut of all, me.”
On September 5, 2012, Nugent tweeted, “The [Democratic National Committee] ‘leaders’ are not just Godless they are pathetically soulless antiAmericandismantlers.”
In a September 3, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote, “What a psychotic piece of subhuman debris [mentally ill mass shooter Jared Lee Loughner] did on Jan. 11, 2011, outside a Tucson Safeway store where Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was holding a ‘meet and greet’ with constituents was an unfathomable act of barbarism … The obviously guilty mass murderer has pleaded guilty and has been spared the death penalty. Yet the death penalty is exactly what he deserves. For his crimes, he will spend the rest of his life in prison while six innocent Americans are dead and 13 more are struggling to recover from their wounds. Sparing the killer’s life is not justice, it’s legalized barbarism. Allowing him to live out his days in prison is our convoluted legal system allowing Lady Justice to be mugged again and again … If a killer is deemed to be psychotic, he is held to a different standard by our legal system than a killer who is deemed not to be crazy. That’s a legal system that is certifiably nuts … Locking up the terminal whack-job shooters in prison for the remainder of their lives will cost taxpayers many millions of wasted dollars when all that is required is a 25-cent bullet to the back of their deranged heads. But the do-gooders among us say we shouldn’t do that, that the state shouldn’t sanction ‘murder,’ especially of those who are deemed to be mentally incompetent. Do-gooders are more dangerous than a sow grizzly with cubs or a coiled rattlesnake, as do-gooders champion and sanction legalized barbarism … The McNaughton rule, which basically states that terminal whack jobs can’t be held responsible for their crimes, is the ultimate definition of nuts. It should be replaced with the McNugent rule, which states that regardless of your mental state, if you slaughter innocent people, expect a bullet to the back of the head, most preferably at the scene of the crime. So long as the American justice system is held hostage by mindless do-gooders who wish to enforce their toxic, brain-dead legalized barbarism on the rest of us, our only recourse is to be vigilant and ready to protect ourselves and our loved ones from these psychotic monsters. Shoot them. Punks deserve to pay for their crimes with their lives instead of living out their lives and attending group therapy sessions on the taxpayers’ dime and further burdening the society they already have hurt deeply.” The McNaughton Rule, which Nugent refers to, is a legal standard for insanity. Under the rule, there is a presumption of sanity. The defense must prove "at the time of committing the act, the accused was laboring under such a defect of reason, from disease of the mind, as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing or, if he did know it, that he did not know what he was doing was wrong." In addition, studies show that it is typically less costly to imprison an individual for life than to sentence him/her to death.
On September 1, 2012, Nugent tweeted, “Did I mention how insane fun it is slaughtering pigs with machinegunsfrom helicopters? Cleanse the goodearth.”
In a September 1, 2023 interview with Patriot Update, Nugent stated, “The Fourth Amendment is trampled on all the time … Do you know that game wardens, who I adore and have great respect for, they’re heroes of law enforcement – most of them—law enforcement agents of Game Department can come into your house without a search warrant, without just cause. Maybe cause they don’t like you. Maybe you’re the wrong color. Maybe they don’t agree with your politics. Maybe they don’t like your music. It doesn’t matter the reason. A law enforcement official of Game Departments of the United States of America do not respect and are not limited by the Fourth Amendment … They don’t need just cause. They don’t need a search warrant. They can cut the lock on your gate–while you’re home or you’re not home. They can break into your freezer and examine the meat and see if it’s legal. On a hunch. On a rumor. Or just on a bad day … So that’s offensive on all levels but there’s also some other jack-booted Gestapo maneuvers going on these days like the Gibson raids … While we’re sitting here, my email’s going [noise] blowing up with stories of heartbreak: where a teenager, who’s never broke the law in his life, who’s never been in trouble with the law in his life, his family [is] law-abiding, their family has been bankrupted because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife thugs, the same ones that raided Gibson … Just the examples would gag you … When Governor [and Republican presidential nominee Mitt] Romney becomes Commander-in-Chief, I pray to God, along with a great Vice President, Paul Ryan … have got to look into these violations of civil rights and basic human rights at the hands of agencies gone mad … Vote Romney and Paul Ryan as president.” The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is subject to the requirements of the Fourth Amendment; however, some statutes give U.S. Fish and Wildlife agents authority to conduct warrantless searches. Nugent was referring to several U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department raids on the guitar maker Gibson for importing endangered wood.
Turning to the topic of sexual assault of minors, Nugent stated, “We’ve got to create community review boards for judges who keep letting child rapists out, when that judge knows if that child rapist is let out on the streets, he will rape again. And our court systems answer to that is to register them? To know where they live? In a neighborhood instead of a cage, instead of jail?” In 1978, Nugent began a relationship with seventeen-year-old Hawaii native Pele Massa. Due to the age difference they could not marry so Nugent joined Massa’s parents in signing documents to make himself her legal guardian. In 1998 interview with VH1, Nugent spoke about his “weakness for young women.”
In part two of the interview with Patriot Update, Nugent stated, “I hold the most important office on earth, ‘We the People.’ I am a we the people activist on behalf of my family, my neighborhood, my state, my country, and mostly that soldier in a box who died fighting for the U.S. Constitution. We all owe [that soldier] to make sure our elected officials abide by that document that he gave the ultimate sacrifice for.” Nugent evaded being drafted for the Vietnam War in the 1970s. Nugent then spoke about Kasim Reed, the Mayor of Atlanta, stating, “Me and old Kasim go way back. Kasim condemned me recently on one of the news shows … I love when the brown-shirts hate people saving Jews. Anyhow, the idiots and the America-haters hate me. That proves I’m doing God’s work because the devil is upset.” Regarding The Badger State, Nugent said, “Wisconsin is the guiding force and light for what America should be doing, between Scott Walker as Governor, Paul Ryan as Congressman, and now the Senator Tommy Thompson. America should go the way of Wisconsin because Wisconsin turned into a lump of liberal snot hair, just embarrassing. Everything was wrong with it and then come from the debris came Scott Walker.” Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, whom Nugent refers to, appeared on “Meet the Press” and was asked about a comment Vice President Joe Biden made to a crowd in Danville, Virginia. Biden stated, “Every Republican’s voted for [the House GOP budget]. Look at what they value and look at their budget and what they’re proposing. Romney…said in the first hundred days he’s going to let the big banks once again write their own rules, ‘unchain Wall Street.’ They’re going to put y’all back in chains.” Reed replied, “When Mitt Romney or Paul Ryan stands up to Rush Limbaugh…when they’re disparaging a Georgetown law student or stands up to Ted Nugent, really stands up to anybody or stands up to Donald Trump, then I’ll be willing to have a conversation about a comment that the vice president made.”
In an August 31, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote, “[President Barack] Obama’s kamikaze borrow-and-spend policies, his addiction to job-killing regulations and his Marxist desire to punish producers with higher taxes have created the perfect job-killing storm. That plan is working out well for the president if you examine his real agenda.” He also offered advice, stating, “Fedzilla should do is to get out of the way of the free market as much as possible, but power-hungry bureaucrats rarely let that happen. These are the same clueless clowns who, if given the chance, would go down into the pits of a NASCAR race and tell the pit crew how to tune engines based on pompous presumptuousness. No thanks, clowns. Have you met my monkey wrench? Fedzillacrats should be forced to sign a pledge that they will spend 100 days studying the impact on the economy for every piece of proposed legislation. The Chamber of Commerce, Club for Growth, Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Tax Reform, and Steve Forbes should be consulted before any changes. The U.S. tax code needs to be tossed into a giant wood chipper. Then toss in every anti-business regulation, starting first with Obamacare. This will jump-start the economy.” The Chamber of Commerce, Club for Growth, Americans for Prosperity and Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) are conservative organizations. Fellow NRA board member Grover Norquist is the president of ATR. Steve Forbes is the editor-in-chief of the conservative Forbes magazine. He was also twice a Republican nominee for president.
In an August 29, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote, “The root of evil is not the want of money, but rather a government that thinks it knows better than free-thinking individuals how best to provide for our well-being. Socialists like [President Barack Obama] use the law and courts to force their failed big-government ideas on those of us still helplessly drunk on freedom, rugged individualism and liberty. You know, the American way. Socialists argue that fairness is the goal. For their version of fairness to occur, socialists must take the earnings and wealth from one person who earned it and give it to another who has not. Karl Marx would be proud of Mr. Obama. We would be wise to remember when then-Sen. Barack Obama was campaigning for the presidency and told Joe the Plumber, “I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.” Those are the words of a socialist who learned his lessons well from his socialist upbringing and on the streets of Chicago as a community organizer … Socialists are punks who think they are smarter than ordinary Americans and that ordinary Americans are so dumb they need to be managed by Fedzillacrats in Washington. These punks are smug, arrogant and wrong … Join me at the dead-end brick wall of freedom and liberty. Let’s ring the Liberty Bell once again. Educate and remind all the people you know every day that if they’re not registered to vote and they fail to vote Romney-Ryan, the socialists win. And the shining city upon a hill comes tumbling down.”
On August 29, 2012, Nugent tweeted, “The less than perfect GOP has a near perfect message/platform where the Dems reek of soulless dependency [e]xcuse mongering & bloodsucking WTF.”
On August 25, 2012, at a concert in Fort Worth, Texas, Nugent stated, “I vow that I will use our freedom to get these dirty [expletives] out of the White House. The president is a bad man. The vice president is a bad man. They’re all bad people. If you don’t get that, you’re a dead [expletive]. If you don’t get that, get out of Texas. Move to Illinois … It’s time to celebrate the taking back of America in 2012 … The whole word sucks, America just sucks less.” While holding up a machine gun, Nugent said to the crowd, “All the skinny girls get a free machine gun tonight. The big girls can load them.” Turning to another topic, Nugent stated,“This is an illegal Gibson guitar, the game warden told me it was illegal. They’re soulless [expletives]. Those spineless, soulless pieces of [expletive] from the Wildlife Agency should take me down now, because all of my Gibsons are made of dangerous species. This one is made of platypus! My audience will beat them within an inch of their lives. Is that illegal? [Expletive], it’s just entertainment!” Nugent was referring to previous U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department raids on Gibson for importing endangered wood.
In an August 24, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent addressed requests by President Barack Obama’s campaign that Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney release five additional years of his tax returns. Nugent wrote, “As usual, the Democrats have nothing worthy of their own to promote, so they are going after Mitt Romney to release more of his tax records. My advice to Mr. Romney is to tell the Democrats to pound sand … What the Democrats want to do is to play class warfare, pit rich against poor. Playing class warfare is all the proof you need to know that the Democratic Party despises successful people such as Mr. Romney. The Democrats abhor success. They would rather Americans be beholden to Fedzilla for food stamps and other government programs than go out and become tremendously successful on their own. The Democrats hate success because they know success ultimately breeds success. The more successful Americans are, the less power and influence the Democrats can have over them, which means the less political power the Democrats can wield. That’s not a good thing for socialists and other big-government addicts and dependents. The “man” keeping down the people is not a successful person such as Mr. Romney, but rather the Democratic Party, which buys their votes by enslaving its supporters with government programs and checks, funded with the tax dollars that people like Mr. Romney have paid … With the sizable and legal pile of money Mr. Romney is reported to have made and banked, my hope is that he has legally hid as much of it as possible from Fedzilla. I would much rather Mr. Romney have his money than surrender it to Uncle Sham, who burns through our hard-earned tax dollars with impunity … Should Mr. Romney release his records, let’s wait and see if [President Barack Obama] then releases all his academic records, complete health records and other documents. How about it, Mr. President?”
In an August 24, 2023 interview with Newsmax, Nugent addressed a shooting that had occurred earlier that day at the Empire State Building in New York City. Gunman Jeffrey T. Johnson, a disgruntled former employee of a women’s clothing shop across the street from the Empire State Building, shot and killed a former co-worker. Nugent said, “The Empire State shooting is yet another gun free zone.” Officers posted at the front entrance of the Empire State Building shot and killed Mr. Johnson shortly after the shooting.
On August 21, 2012, at a concert in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Nugent addressed “everybody addicted to freedom out there,” stating, "Let's see if in November, we can't [tick] off the [jerks] in Washington, D.C. Let's send Barack Obama down to Cuba. They've already got socialism down there — just move down there. You're [screwing] up my country."
On August 10, 2012, in an interview with Newsmax, Nugent stated, “Everybody dead in Aurora was unarmed and helpless. Everybody dead in Milwaukee was unarmed and helpless. Everyone dead at Virginia Tech was unarmed and helpless. How dare President [Barack Obama] or [Congresswoman] Nancy Pelosi, or [New York City Mayor Michael] Bloomberg want more of that? [Republican presidential candidate] Mitt Romney made the terrible mistake of banning a certain type of firearm in the past — what they call assault weapons, which is not what they are. But he has seen the light. I spoke with him at length. I am convinced in my absolutist Second Amendment heart and soul that Mitt Romney will never even consider any more infringements on guns, ammo, fire power, access of guns ever again for Americans. He’s learned his lesson. Compared to Barack Obama and his team, Mitt Romney is indeed Michael the Archangel. He is a knight in shining armor for individual rights to self-defense.” Nugent also spoke about a proposed small arms treaty at the United Nations, stating, “When they talk about reducing unnecessary violence by eliminating small arms in the hands of citizens around the world, they’re talking about the same thing that Hitler talked about: Disarm the populace so you can control them at your every whim.” In reality, the treaty would set only international standards for the import/export of conventional weapons—leaving it to individual countries to “regulate internal transfers of arms and national ownership, including through national constitutional protections on private ownership.”
On August 7, 2012, at a concert in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Nugent told the crowd that he and his band members spend months each year performing. “The rest of the year, I just kill shit,” Nugent added. He also spoke about President Barack Obama, stating, "I wanna get rid of the dirty cocksuckers in the White House! If there's justice, Barack Obama will end up being a communal worker in Cuba!” Finally, Nugent stated, "The only thing missing in this world is more dead fucking assholes!"
On August 7, 2012, Nugent Tweeted, “what kind of subhuman demon would actually want more gunfreezones proven to be THE slaughterzones wasserman schultz holder lunatic fringers.” Nugent was making reference to U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D – FL) and Attorney General Eric Holder. There is no data to demonstrate that a majority—or even a significant minority—of the approximately 34 gun homicides that occur in the U.S. each day occur in “gun-free zones.”
On August 6, 2012, Nugent Tweeted, “Its official-democrats are addicted to flying over the cukoos nest at all costs, hell with truth logic honesty or anything good for America.”
In an August 6, 2023 interview with the New Times Broward-Palm Beach, Nugent was asked what rock bands would represent President Barack Obama and the Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney. Nugent responded, “Out and out politicians are anathema to rock-n-roll, so I hesitate to attempt to connect the two. But on important issues, I am saddened to admit that Obama represents everything bad about humanity and Romney pretty much all that is good. It is really that stark.” Nugent, also asked about gun rights and knife rights, stated, “The right to self-defense is secondary to the pure righteous instinct to self-defense. Historically, monster freedom crushing tyrants, kings, emperors, despots, and evil slavedrivers denied mankind of such basic God-given rights, and this sacred experiment in self-government is based on refusing to give any of them up ever again … If a man is forced to be unarmed and helpless, you are at the mercy of evil, and that simply does not compute to conscientious, thinking people, so we stand and fight.”
At an August 6, 2023 concert in Clearwater, Florida, Nugent told the crowd, “It's 2012. What are you going to do? They're coming up your streets, jackboots stepping high, looking in your windows. What are you going to do? Put a [expletive] gun in your hands!” Nugent also bragged, “I killed enough deer last year to send venison to the American military. So, thank you, Uncle Ted. When they eat Ted Nugent meat, they kill more [expletive]." Nugent also spoke about the 2012 presidential election, stating, “I promise I will use that freedom to do everything in my power to clean the criminal [expletive] out of the government. Barack Obama will be a community organizer again. Let's vote the [expletive] out of here!" Finally, Nugent said to a woman who frowned during one of his hunting stories, “You voted for Obama, didn't you? … More [expletive] needs to die.”
In an August 6, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent called Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid a “punch-drunk senator” making “buffoonish comments this goofy blurt being just the latest.” Nugent was referring to a statement Reid made to reporters on July 31, 2023 claiming that Romney hadn't paid taxes for ten years. Nugent commented, “This is a typical left-wing, Saul Alinsky playbook ploy: denigrate, besmirch, lie, deceive, then try to slip away under the cover of darkness.” Saul Alinsky was a community organizer and writer in the mid-20th century. In 1971, he wrote a book called “Rules for Radicals” which describes his theory and methods of organizing. Nugent also wrote about President Barack Obama’s administration, stating, “The Obama team will continue to embarrassingly play the hateful race card, the vile class-warfare card, and every other divide-and-conquer card they can think of. Now that they have backed themselves into a corner with their failed policies and agenda, they will resort to yet more desperate political ploys … Smoke, mirrors, lying, cheating and trumped-up character assassinations are the Chicago way. Let’s be smarter than four years ago when we got exactly what we deserved—a die-hard leftist amateur community organizer with no productive experience except being a political street hustler.”
In an August 2, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote about proposed reforms in the wake of a mass shooting that occurred at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado on July 20, 2012. In that shooting, severely mentally ill gunman James Holmes killed 12 people and wounded 58 others. Nugent commented, “According to the kind, caring and considerate left, you have every right to be a crazy druggie and roam the streets with no means of support. Heck, they even help nut-jobs occupy Wall Street and beyond. Surely, the unarmed and helpless will someday bring peace to the world, end world hunger and Rodney King’s dream of everyone getting along will become a reality. No wonder they call it dope. Years ago the left clamored that mental institutions violated the rights of those with mental illnesses. The American Civil Liberties Union even sued on their behalf. The result was the doors of the cuckoo nests were flung open and the patients stumbled out. Now they are everywhere. You can’t visit any city in America without encountering dirty people who are severely mentally impaired roaming the streets. Pushing shopping carts, mumbling to themselves, sleeping under bridges or in parks and basically being a nuisance, they ultimately endanger themselves. Most are not violent, just certifiably crazy by anyone’s standards. The real discussion that needs to occur in America is how we finally throw off the shackles of political correctness, quit worrying about ‘feelings’ and simply restrict the rights of psychotics by making it easier to lock them up for their safety and the safety of others. Advocating additional gun laws and gun-free zones is crazy. Crazy talk like that can get you killed.” Rodney King was an African-American construction worker who was beaten by Los Angeles police officers during a traffic stop in 1991. Four police officers from the LAPD who took part in the incident were later tried. Three of them were acquitted, and the jury failed to reach a verdict regarding the fourth. The acquittals are generally considered to have triggered the 1992 Los Angeles riots, in which 53 people were killed, and over 2,000 injured. During the riots, King appeared on television and asked, "Can we all get along?"
On July 28, 2012, Nugent Tweeted, “Dear UN Blue Helmut gangsta punks & all freedom hating people everywhere, I am the NRA. Eat shit & die. Sincerely, Ted Nugent.” Nugent was likely referring to a small arms treaty discussed at the United Nations in July. The treaty would set only international standards for the import/export of conventional weapons—leaving it to individual countries to “regulate internal transfers of arms and national ownership, including through national constitutional protections on private ownership.”
On July 26, 2012, Nugent Tweeted, “How much dope must one injest [sic] for how long to believe unarmed & helpless is a desirable condition? soulless is as soulless does to bait evil.” Nugent’s Tweet came six days after a mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado, in which severely mentally ill gunman James Holmes killed 12 people and wounded 58 others in a span of two minutes. Holmes wore full body armor during the attack.
In a July 26, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote, “Fedzilla is growing fatter, less accountable and less transparent by gorging itself on our tax dollars. Instead of tightening Fedzilla’s fiscal belt, government bureaucrats just buy him bigger belts and suspenders, and he gets fatter and smellier each day. The only good pig is a dead pig. Regrettably, there are way too many intellectually stunted Americans who support this gluttonous and irresponsible spending curse. They are called socialists. Socialists believe in Keynesian economics, which supports government control and meddling in our economy … It’s akin to Jerry Sandusky managing a little boys’ football team. Another, more accurate name for Keynesian economics is Kamikaze economics.” Keynesian economics are based on the ideas of 20th century economist John Maynard Keynes. Advocates of Keynesian economics argue that private sector decisions sometimes lead to inefficient macroeconomic outcomes which require active policy responses by the public sector. Nugent also made reference to Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach at Penn State University who was convicted of sexually abusing ten boys during a 15-year period. Finally, Nugent described fellow NRA board member Grover Norquist as “The Dirty Harry of tax and government reform.” “Dirty Harry Norquist, president of Americans For Tax Reform, has never seen a tax increase he supports,” wrote Nugent, “which should immediately put him at the head of the line for a Presidential Medal of Freedom once Mitt Romney is elected. If there was a Hall of Fame of Common Sense, a huge statue of Grover Norquist would at be the front door.” ATR’s “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” calls on lawmakers to swear to never vote for any legislation that would raises taxes, no matter how modestly.
On July 26, 2012, at a campaign event for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Thompson in Wisconsin, Nugent stated, “[Thompson] knows the right to keep and bear arms can only mean one thing. 'Keep’ means it's mine, you can't have it! I got a couple on me right now, and they're loaded.” Nugent also spoke about President Barack Obama, stating, “We are on the fast track to the end of the American dream with this corrupt, power-abusing criminal machine in the White House right now. Things are bad, people ... The president of the United States is a Chicago gangster who knows every criminal trick in the book; it's why he's the president of the United States.”
In a July 26, 2023 interview with conservative radio host Glenn Beck, Nugent spoke about a mass shooting that had occurred at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado six days earlier. In that shooting, severely mentally ill gunman James Holmes killed 12 people and wounded 58 others. Holmes wore full body armor during the attack. Nugent commented to Beck, “And remember, Glenn, this monster in Aurora took 20 minutes to do his evil. In 20 minutes you don't need an assault weapon, you don't need a machine gun, which he didn't have either of, but you could do more damage with a single shot or a bolt action because he had 20 minutes … His AR-15 Smith & Wesson rifle is now the most popular sporting rifle in America. It is the number one competition, number one in self-defense; it's the number one sporting rifle for big game and small game. And if they keep calling it an ‘assault weapon,’ I may have that aneurysm.” In fact, the shooting in Aurora lasted only two minutes, after which time Holmes was apprehended by police in the parking lot of the theater. Single shot rifles and bolt action rifles, which Nugent made reference to, must be reloaded manually after each shot is fired. A semiautomatic firearm reloads automatically and can keep firing until its magazine is emptied. Holmes had three semiautomatic firearms on the night of the Aurora shooting, including an AR-15 style rifle (the civilian version of the military’s M-16 rifle) equipped with a 100-round drum magazine. Paul A. Smith, outdoors editor for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, has stated that while AR-15s "have gained favor among some hunters and sport shooters in recent decades, they constitute a small fraction of deer hunting rifles in use today."
Finally, Nugent compared target shooting to the scenario that an armed citizen might have encountered had he/she attempted to return fire against Holmes in the theater: “I know the hysteria about tear gas and it was dark in the theater. Glenn, I am not making this up. Last week my wife Shemane and I were filming a segment for our Spirit of the Wild show and we were shooting at watermelons surrounded by human silhouette targets just as kind of a competition and from 20 feet and from 20 yards and we were shooting from every imaginable angle, under cover, from sitting, from squatting, from prone position, from behind cover and from in the open, and we never hit an innocent and we never missed the watermelon. And I'm just a guitar player. If a guitar player can neutralize a watermelon from 20 feet—and this is with live fire, by the way. We would shoot while the other would take the target shots. So there was that tension of live fire. And this was done in a scenario—and I understand it wasn't real bullets coming at us and it wasn't people screaming, running around … But dear God in heaven, doing nothing is not an option. Training, having a firearm to neutralize an evil gun maniac is a way to go, and we train for that. And I wish I would have been in the theater that day.”
On July 25, 2012, Nugent Tweeted, “we pray for all victims&lovedones of demonshooter in CO& we SALUTE the brave warriors who saved lives IF only they would hav had a good gun.” He Tweeted again later that day, “there were no assault weapons used in the CO shooting only universally proven sporting & self defense firearms & 6k rounds aint squat. Lies.” Nugent was referring to a mass shooting that had occurred in Aurora, Colorado five days earlier. In that shooting, severely mentally ill gunman James Holmes killed 12 people and wounded 58 others. Holmes wore full body armor during the attack and was armed with two handguns, a shotgun, and an AR-15 assault rifle with a 100-round drum magazine. In addition, he had purchased 6,000 rounds of ammunition online with no background check or screening. Paul A. Smith, outdoors editor for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, has stated that while AR-15s "have gained favor among some hunters and sport shooters in recent decades, they constitute a small fraction of deer hunting rifles in use today."
In an email interview published July 9, 2023 in Michigan Live, Nugent responded to a question about threatening remarks he had made towards President Barack Obama and Democrats by stating, “I have been deeply involved in this tragic culture war raging in America for a very long time. I am painfully aware of the criminal abuses by the president, his attorney general and most of his administration. Anyone unaware of these violations is either brain-dead or woefully disconnected from reality. I know what I am doing and I know what I am saying. I meant it then and I mean it now.” He also spoke about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s chances of winning Michigan, stating, “Even those feeble-mined [sic] Michiganiacs on the receiving end of the government’s communist offenses of redistribution are waking up to how unfair and suicidal this system is for any meaningful quality of life in MI and America. This waking up is alarming all smart people to the disastrous results of the liberal democrats' destruction of our great state. By any honest scrutiny, Romney will stop this destructo derby and re-institute some accountability.”
In a July 5, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote, “I’m beginning to wonder if it would have been best had the South won the Civil War.” Nugent’s editorial addressed the "traitor vote" of “turncoat” Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts in the case of National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius. Roberts wrote the majority opinion in a 5-4 ruling that upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Nugent claimed that “Chief Justice Roberts squandered the opportunity to restore judicial, financial and legislative sanity to a government that by any sane person’s standards is insane and addicted to centralized federal control of our lives … Our professional political punks in Washington can mandate any tax-penalty they choose. For example, if you don’t buy an Obama-approved green energy automobile, our Fedzillacrats could tax us for refusing to do so … Obamacare will now join Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as another unaffordable, unsustainable, runaway, unaccountable social program. Our entitlement programs have bankrupted America. We have dug a financial crater so deep that many doubt we can ever climb out of." He also suggested that President Barack Obama invite Roberts “over for dinner, give him a ride on Air Force One and apologize for not voting for him during his confirmation hearings. It’s the least the community-organizer- in-chief can do for the turncoat chief justice who saved the president’s socialist health care program.” Finally, Nugent wrote, “Limited government is dead. The smothering era of socialism is here.”
In a July 3, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote, “In a sea of soulless, sheeplike dependency, it’s easy to spot the fiercely independent people who continue to declare our independence. We are the producers, the people who make the country work. We are business owners and hardworking employees. We are fiercely American; we believe in self-reliance and rugged individualism … Fiercely independent Americans are shocked and saddened by how far our beloved country has slid into socialism … Defiance is in the DNA of fiercely independent Americans. We defy the notion that the wealth we create through our hard work, sweat and risk can or should be spread around for others. We find that concept to be abhorrent—anti-freedom and anti-American … Fiercely independent Americans expect no charity but are the first in line to give generously when charity is needed. We are givers, not takers. We can always be counted on to offer a hand up to those who want to help themselves. We don’t give handouts, as we know that destroys self-reliance.” He added, “As we continue to slide further into the big-government abyss that our Founding Fathers warned us about, we must either reverse course and embrace the ideals of freedom and limited government our founders envisioned, or we choose big government, unsustainable debt and ultimately, tyranny.”
At a June 29, 2023 concert in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Nugent told the crowd, “The way that a--hole in the White House hates me, I must be perfect.” He also stated that if concert goers wanted to help out the military, this November they should “vote the constitution-violating pieces of s--t out of the White House … We’re either independent or dependent pieces of s--t.”
In a June 29, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent praised a 14-year-old boy from Phoenix, Arizona who shot and nearly killed an intruder who broke into his home and pulled a gun on him while he was watching his three younger siblings. Nugent wrote, “Today I’m screaming with joy. A young man saved himself and his three young siblings by using his father’s gun to blow a hole in the maggot, who probably is a paroled punk with an arrest record 3 feet long … We should honor the actions of this young man by training an army of other young people how to use guns so, God forbid, if they are ever in a similar situation to this Phoenix teenager, they, too, will blow holes in maggots. You want a safe, prosperous America? The first thing we need to do is remove evil instead of releasing it time and time again to prey on law-abiding Americans … Smile, America. Good conquered evil in spite of the liberal anti-freedom agenda.”
In a June 22, 2023 radio interview on KMOX, a St. Louis news radio station, Nugent told the host, Mark Reardon, “You notice, I just get up in the morning, I go to work, and idiots blow up. I don’t try to make idiots blow up. I just do the right thing, state the truth and celebrate logic and idiots go berserk. I’ve never been more proud of myself in my life.” When Reardon asked Nugent about threatening remarks he made against President Barack Obama and Democrats at the 2012 NRA Convention, Nugent replied, “Like I said, I just get up in the morning and I go to work and I make the national news because I dare to celebrate self-evident truths and, more importantly in 2012, more importantly now than ever, because remember there’ve been more criminals in our government right now, to spotlight the cockroaches. There are more cockroaches, more criminals, more corrupt power abusing punks in our government right now. And if you don’t get that, move to Canada. It’s just unbelievable. So I, as a ‘We the people’ guy, obligated by the heroes of the military who sacrificed so I can have these First Amendment freedoms, I’m gonna use my First Amendment freedoms and I’m gonna identify that the number one cop in this country is a felon … [U.S. Attorney General] Eric Holder is the enemy. Obama is the enemy. [Secretary of the Treasury Tim] Geithner is the enemy … I stand by every word I said.” Nugent also spoke about the “soulless, spineless weenies” at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, stating that he was charged with illegally shooting, killing and transporting a black bear for “dar[ing] to stand up for my Second Amendment rights.” He signed a plea agreement with federal prosecutors and agreed to a $10,000 fine and a two-year probation. Nugent then turned his attention to female Democrats in the House of Representatives, stating, “The [U.S. Congresswoman Debbie] Wasserman-Schultz and the [U.S. Congresswoman] Sheila Jackson-Lees, by the way, have you ever watched all of my haters talk? Each and every one of my critics is an absolute subhuman buffoon. If you watch the way they speak and the little spittle forming in the corners of their mouths, these are entrenched, addicted haters of freedom. Which is why they hate me. They’re on record to quote and worship Mao Tse-tung.” In fact, neither Congresswoman has quoted Mao Tse-tung. Nugent also added, “I love killing game with guns. I have my own Ted Nugent ammo coming out so, I’m gonna do a lot more gun hunting.” When asked when the ammo was coming out, Nugent replied, “That should be on every vegetarian store’s shelf by mid-July.” When Reardon remarked on Nugent’s endorsement of the 2012 Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, Nugent replied, “My conversation with Mitt Romney convinced me…he will get this Mao Tse-tung gang out of the destructo-derby suicide mission that Barack Obama’s steering this country.”
In a June 21, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote, “Regretfully, there are Americans who actually want to maintain President [Barack] Obama’s socialist course that will lead to our ultimate destruction, just as it has for every other country that embraced this form of government control. Socialism restricts. Freedom rocks. It’s 'We the people,' not 'We the sheeple' … Boil it down to its core, and the upcoming election is simple: Do you want more freedom or less freedom? It isn’t any more complicated than that … The president wants to continue growing the federal government, continue borrowing and spending at record levels, and he wants to advance a socialist agenda. This is a recipe for disaster.”
In a June 15, 2023 op-ed for Newsmax, Nugent wrote, “America’s funny man, Bill Cosby, is dead wrong.” Nugent was referring to an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” aired on April 15, 2012, in which Cosby addressed the killing of Trayvon Martin by concealed carry permit holder George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida on February 26, 2012. Cosby said that the race of Trayvon Martin was less important than the fact that the neighborhood watch volunteer who killed him was carrying a gun. In Cosby’s words: “When a person has a gun, sometimes their mind clicks that this thing...will win arguments and straighten people out.” Nugent wrote, “Maybe that logic applies to drunks, dope heads and recidivistic gang bangers, but it doesn’t apply to the hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Americans with concealed carry permits such as George Zimmerman … Americans with concealed carry permits are tremendously responsible citizens, maybe the most responsible citizens of all.” In reality, at least 447 Americans were killed by concealed carry permit holders between May 2007 and June 2012. Nugent continued, stating, “Advocating that only the police should be armed in public is advocating a senseless and wrong-headed policy of the slaughter of innocent Americans. Mr. Cosby is dead wrong here. His unarmed son was murdered for God's sake.” Bill Cosby’s only son, Ennis, was shot and killed during a mugging along an interstate in Los Angeles while changing a tire in January 1997. Turning to the issue of race, Nugent wrote, “I do agree with Mr. Cosby that the Trayvon Martin shooting has nothing to do with race. Only empty-headed racists such as our black-panther loving Department of Justice believe otherwise. Race does, however, play a significant role in the percentage of black Americans who are killed and wounded every single day in America. The overwhelming majority of blacks are slaughtered by other black hoodlums, the overwhelming majority of whom are involved in gangs and drugs—you know, that ‘victimless crime’ thing.”
In a June 13, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent offered presidential candidate Mitt Romney advice on attracting the Latino vote. He stated, “The key to attracting Latino voters is to appeal to their sense of independence and to inform them the GOP believes in the power of the individual, not Fedzilla whose track record is one of dependence and destruction.” Nugent continued, stating, “Mr. Romney should continue to press for education reform, and remind Latino voters that education is vital to success. He should illustrate the importance that Americans of Asia-Pacific descent place on education and how fast their children move into the middle class. It doesn’t have to be an Asian thing … Mr. Romney should also hammer away at the welfare state that Democrats have largely created and continue to support. He should tell Latinos the welfare state is fiscally unsustainable and creates dependence instead of independence. Mr. Romney has little to lose by illustrating how Fedzilla has wreaked untold havoc on black America.”
At a June 9, 2023 performance at the Republic of Texas Biker Rally in Austin, Texas, Nugent told the audience, “There's an American Dream. There's no French dream. There's no Cuban dream. There's no Spanish dream. Is there a Mexican dream, except 'Get the f--k out of Mexico?’ I can't blame you." He then asked the “Republic of Texas Motherf--kers" if they were "ready to dance with Uncle Ted." Nugent explained that his collection of Gibson guitars, which were displayed at the performance, was meant to be a message to the federal government, which is "infested with f--king criminals.” He continued, “Any pussies from the [U.S.] Fish and Wildlife out there, you want to take my guitars? F--k you!” Nugent was referring to several U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department raids on Gibson for importing endangered wood. Finally, Nugent gave a shout-out to the "NRA gun nut motherf--kers out there … Put a f--king gun in your hand, Texas, stormtroopers [are] coming … They, unfortunately, are the real enemies right now. We're gonna fix it in November, aren't we boys and girls?"
In a June 5, 2023 radio interview on WJBC, a central Illinois station, Nugent stated, “The whole world sucks, America sucks less. But we’re catching up because we have a president who will quote the founder of communism and recommends that the government redistributes people’s earnings. Then he’ll visit the Vietnam Memorial Wall and lie claiming that he wants to thank 58,000 dead American soldiers and Airmen and Marines and Seamen while he quotes the man they fought against.”
In a May 22, 2023 editorial for Human Events, Nugent wrote, “If it were not for this crazy out of control corrupt government, my life would literally be perfect…the enemies of America infesting our government have got to go.” Nugent assured readers that he is doing his part to make that happen, stating, “I fight with all my might and resources on a daily, if not hourly basis to spotlight the cockroaches everywhere I go, and it is getting scarier and more dangerous all the time to speak out in America like I do.” He praised Texas politicians, such as Governor Rick Perry, but warned, “We also have America hating Obama clones like [Congresswoman] Sheila Jackson Lee who represent all that is wrong with America and Texas.”
In a May 17, 2023 editorial for the Washington Times, Nugent offered the following “words that no tenured professor ensconced in an ivory tower could possibly have taught” to 2012 college graduates:
- “If becoming the best was easy, everyone would do it. Instead, only a few become the very best. Equality is for sheep and Mao fans.”
- “The world is full of cheats, liars, lazy bloodsuckers and people who cut corners.”
In a May 15, 2023 editorial for the Washington Times, Nugent lamented “California’s financial nightmare (and the nation’s)” which he attributed to “a terminal addiction to bloated and expensive government completely out of control, with zero accountability.” He announced “Liberalism has failed around the world, and it has failed here, too. Big government has been a big bust. Yet, for liberals, the solution is even bigger government.”
On May 7 2012, Christopher Hecker, whose last known address was in suburban Philadelphia, was charged with threatening to kill President Barack Obama after emailing the following threat: “I sent a bomb to the White House today and to several radio stations. Sooner or later I will grab someone, maybe in the woods, on the trail, and beat the life out of them.” Hecker also wrote, “[Obama] is the one that is destroying patriotism in the U.S.A. Ted Nugent is right. So, Obama is allowing me to be tortured to the point that I may murder someone, rather than deal with the mess he made. Your president is a coward.” Nugent had made national headlines just three weeks earlier after making threatening remarks toward the president and Democrats at the 2012 NRA convention in St. Louis. After being charged, Hecker pled no contest and asked to be sentenced to the death penalty immediately.
In a May 4, 2023 appearance on "CBS This Morning", Nugent steadfastly stood by threatening remarks he made about the Obama Administration and Democrats three weeks earlier. When interviewer Jeff Glor suggested that Nugent would have a difficult time attracting moderate voters for Mitt Romney, who he formally endorsed for president, Nugent responded by stating “ "I’m an extremely loving, passionate man, and people who investigate me honestly, without the baggage of political correctness, ascertain the conclusion that I’m a damned nice guy, and if you can find a screening process more powerful than that, I’ll suck your d--k. ” Nugent then turned to an off-camera female CBS producer and said to her, “"Or I’ll f--k you, how’s that sound?” At the urging of his wife, Nugent later apologized to the producer and explained his outburst by noting “"he was rushed to the emergency room and had a kidney stone removed ” immediately following the interview.
In an April 23, 2023 editorial for the Washington Times, Nugent made several observations about the “War on Poverty,” stating, “Poor people are poor because they make poor decisions. That’s the root cause of poverty … Poor people will quit being poor when our government quits enabling, bribing, training and rewarding them to be poor.” Nugent went on to claim that “condemn[ing]” Americans to a life of poverty “is one of the driving political platforms of the Democratic Party.”
In an April 19, 2023 editorial for the Washington Times, Nugent defended threats he made against President Barack Obama and Democrats at the 2012 NRA Convention in St. Louis, stating, “By no stretch of the imagination did I ever threaten anyone’s life, or hint of violence or mayhem.” In response to the national controversy his remarks have generated, Nugent said, “I personally have never been prouder … I stand by my statements. The line is drawn in the American sand.”
During an April 17, 2023 radio interview with Dana Loesch , a Tea Party activist and CNN contributor, Nugent stood by the threatening remarks against President Barack Obama and Democrats he had made three days earlier at the NRA Convention, calling his message “ 100 percent positive .” Nugent continued by calling the Obama Administration’s policies “ toxic ,” “ corrosive ,” and “ an abuse of power ” that are carried out by Obama’s “ czars and his henchmen .” Nugent added derogatory comments about Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, calling Wasserman-Schultz a “brain-dead, soulless, heartless idiot ” and Pelosi a “subhuman scoundrel ” and “ wicked witch .”
On April 17, 2012, commanders at Fort Knox announced the cancellation of an upcoming performance by Nugent at the installation, referencing recent threatening remarks made by Nugent against the president. Nugent responded to the cancellation by telling the Associated Press: "To think that there's a bureaucrat in the United States Army that would consider the use or abuse of First Amendment rights in determining who is going to perform at an Army base is an insult and defiles the sacrifices of those heroes who fought for the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights … There is nothing in my spoken word that could be even wildly considered by any stretch of the imagination to be a threat to anyone .” Asked to clarify his threatening remarks from the recent NRA Convention in St. Louis, Nugent said, “A whole bunch of us…believe…we are in danger of being improperly and criminally jailed–I mean criminally—on the part of the government .”
On April 14 2012, Ted Nugent signed a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, admitting that he had illegally shot, killed and transported a black bear in southeast Alaska in May 2009 and transported it in violation of the federal Lacey Act. Nugent agreed to a $10,000 fine and a two-year probation. He also agreed to pay Alaska $600 . After signing the agreement, Nugent advised fellow hunters, “ even when you are aghast at a maniac, inexplicable, illogical law, please abide by those laws at all costs .” According to Nugent, his prosecution for killing the black bear was the result of a “ witch hunt” inspired by his political activism. “ We are the people turning up the heat, and that’s why I’m being singled out by certain fish and game agencies and certain U.S. attorneys ,” he stated.
In an October 9, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote, “In a world strangled by the curse of politically correct denial, dopey liberals in media and academia have brainwashed a strange subspecies of beings into accepting and embracing the pathetic condition of being unarmed and helpless. The slaughter rages on in gun-free zones around the world. Shame. Here’s a lifesaving alert to the dependent masses: Unarmed and helpless is unarmed and helpless. The evil guys running amok here, there and everywhere appreciate you very much, for they are assured in your gun-free zones that you are incapable of doing a darned thing when they decide to eat you alive, beat you to death, rape, rob, assault, torture and do with you as they wish, for you, my poor pathetic sheep, have chosen to be unarmed and helpless. To bow before evil is as soulless as soulless gets. No thank you. Those of us who dearly appreciate the precious gift of life follow our powerful instincts for self-preservation and have made it a priority to be ready to defend ourselves. Those on the lunatic fringe can squawk and moan all they want; the rest of us need no interpretation of ‘keep and bear.’ ‘Keep’ means it’s mine, and you can’t have it, and ‘bear’ means one thing and one thing only: I have one or two on me, and they’re loaded. Drive safely … For the brainwashed cult of denial drooling in the shadow of a gun-hating media and White House: With all this unprecedented increase in guns and ammo in American citizens’ hands, the use of guns in crime is at an all-time low.”
During a live interview at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting on April 14, 2012, Nugent called the administration of President Barack Obama “vile,” “evil,” and “America-hating.” He also stated, “If Barack Obama becomes the president in November again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year.” Continuing on the topic of the 2012 presidential elections, Nugent added, “We need to ride into that battlefield and chop [Democrats'] heads off in November. Any questions?” In the wake of Nugent’s comments, a spokesperson for the Secret Service confirmed that he had been placed under investigation. The campaign of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney—who sought and received Nugent’s endorsement—released a statement saying, “Divisive language is offensive no matter what side of the political aisle it comes from. Mitt Romney believes everyone needs to be civil.”
On April 5, 2012, Nugent conducted a wide-ranging interview on KFYI’s “Mike Broomhead Show.” He made the following comments:
- Nugent was first asked to respond to a Department of Justice investigation into allegedly unconstitutional and discriminatory practices employed by anti-immigrant hardliner and Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. “Well it’s an ongoing manifestation of a government out of control. And there is no better warrior, there is no better American hero, to stand up against Fedzilla than the greatest sheriff in the world, Sherriff Joe Arpaio. I would like to take this opportunity if I might, Mike, because you’re bringing up an important global story that’s coming right out of Phoenix. So I want to establish my absolute heart and soul support for Sherriff Joe and all the heroes of the Maricopa County Sherriff Department.”
- Nugent then turned to his appearance the previous night on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight,” where he discussed the killing of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by neighborhood watch “captain” George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida, stating, “[Piers Morgan] attempted to get me on the gun issue but I let him have it. I kept it civil and I let him know that the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman situation is anything but what most of the media was attempting to depict it as. We should be ashamed of ourselves that our media in the United States of America is convicting this man. Convicting him of quote ‘cold-blooded murder’ when the facts are still not in.” He went on to falsely characterize English Common Law, saying, “Piers Morgan tried to relate the English law would have not stood for George Zimmerman defending himself. And I had to clarify to the CNN viewing public that in England, by law, if someone breaks into your house, you have to retreat like a cowardly sheep out the back door, Mike. People listening right now to you and I on KYFI might not believe this, but in England if someone breaks into your house you have a lawful duty to get out of it. To escape. To not defend yourself. To not defend your home. That’s anti- human, its absolutely repulsive, and it encourages crime.” Nugent was then asked to address the racial implications of the Trayvon Martin incident (Martin is African-American while Zimmerman is Caucasian/Hispanic) leading him to respond, “[Piers Morgan] is convinced that the vast majority of Americans want this guy [George Zimmerman] arrested and convicted. And I cleared him up on my intro. I said Piers, ‘The vast majority of Americans do not want this guy arrested and convicted. The vast majority of Americans are like the Nugent family. Were not only praying for Trayvon Martin’s family and George Zimmerman’s family, but were still busy praying for the families of the ten black children slaughtered in Chicago on the same weekend that Trayvon Martin was killed.’ Forty-nine shootings in Chicago that weekend. Ten dead. But according to Jesse Jackson and Al ‘Not So’ Sharpton and all these left-wing Marxist media pundits, that all those dead black kids don’t matter because they were killed by black people. The only black life that matters to Al Sharpton is when a black person is killed by maybe, not a Hispanic, but a white Hispanic … Nobody cares about race. There’s only a handful of nutcases like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson that care about race. The rest of us value human life regardless of the color.” In a March 24-25, 2012 CNN poll, 73% of Americans said that George Zimmerman should be arrested.
During an April 4, 2023 appearance on CNN’s "Piers Morgan Tonight," Nugent discussed the killing of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by concealed carry licensee and self-appointed neighborhood watch “captain” George Zimmerman on February 26, 2023 in Sanford, Florida. “Piers you have expressed that you don’t want to try this on television. I also do not want to try this on television. I think we both agree that there is a tragedy that it is being tried and that Zimmerman has been convicted across the media in many instances. So let’s not do this here. So let me propose to you a scenario that I think you can grasp and support. You must be aware, and if not ill inform you now, how many professional law enforcement heroes are killed every year with their own weapon. I’m not juxtaposing this with the Trayvon and the Zimmerman situation, but it does happen where an assaultant will start beating a person so badly that those of us that are armed, we have a responsibility to keep that new assault from taking our weapon. Because if the assault escalates to that degree, certainly the fist can go into a deadly situation if they get ahold of the gun bearer’s gun. So we have to be cognizant of that. If it wasn’t for backup guns in law enforcement and in civilian hands oftentimes, that the perpetrator and the person getting beat up is killed with his own gun. So let’s not dismiss that reality that is documented over and over again across this country,” stated Nugent. Morgan then asked him, “Do you believe that a neighborhood watch official acting in that capacity should be armed and using that firearm?” to which he responded, “Yes.” In a March 24-25, 2012 CNN poll, three-quarters of Americans said that neighborhood watch volunteers should not be armed.
In a March 5, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote, “Just as the homosexual community has co-opted the word ‘gay,’ various leftists, socialists and Marxists have co-opted the word ‘progressive.’ Words mean things. If you read the definition of ‘progressive,’ conservatives and the Tea Party are the real progressive force in America, as we are the ones advocating substantive upgrade, improvement and reforms in the stinky, status-quo swamps of Washington … As President Reagan would surely have said, Mr. Obama and his left-wing cohorts are not the solution, they are the problem. Alternatively, the real progressives, the Tea Party, advocate a more fiscally responsible federal government and a government that stays in its constitutional lane that was very carefully spelled out by our Founding Fathers.”
On February 27, 2012, Nugent conducted a wide-ranging interview on KFYI’s “Mike Broomhead Show.” He made the following comments:
- Commenting on the position of the administration of President Barack Obama that the wealthy should pay more taxes, Nugent stated, “Let’s call a spade a spade. I mean the entire current administration under the America-hating Barack Obama, and the America-hating Joe Biden, and the American Constitution criminal Eric Holder. Tim Geithner is the perfect example of what the current American government stinks like. Because Tim Geithner is a tax thief. Tim Geithner was caught not paying his taxes. So instead of being in jail, Tim Geithner, the tax thief, is actually in charge of our financial system. Are you kidding me, why don’t we just hire [serial killer] Jeffery Dahmer to be in charge of the children’s playground? I mean this whole administration is so corrupt. It abuses power like no one in the history of the United States of America has ever done. And Tim Geithner is a poster child. Just like Eric Holder. Running guns to the Mexican drug kings. Are you kidding me? Could it get crazier? Could it get more criminal than this? We have criminals. We have American-hating maniacs in our government. And Tim Geithner’s latest nonsense is a perfect example of that.” At one point, while pronouncing U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s last name, Nugent appeared to call him a “kike.”
- Commenting on 2012 Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Ron Paul, he stated, “I have great admiration, in varying degrees, for each and every one of them. Each and every one of these candidates have some really really quality positive points about them. And each one of them would make a vastly superior president of the United States than the current mess that we’re in right now. That should be perfectly clear to anybody with a brain. But ultimately these guys got to go down to the Army-Navy surplus store and buy themselves a box of scrotums. They’ve gotta get some balls … These four presidential candidates have to get a little tougher, a little bit more fist pounding on the bully pulpit, and identify the curse, the abject curse that is the United States government the way it stands right now in the hands of Barack Hussein Obama and Eric Holder, et al.”
- Continuing on the topic of the Obama administration, Nugent stated, “Speaking of ridiculous policies, anti-American policies, this current anti-American monster in the White House, this administration is blatant and flagrantly abusing the Constitution, violating the Constitution, and continuing on a death march for America.”
- Turning to the topic of entitlement programs, Nugent claimed, “The entire welfare program is slavery. We are literally enslaving people to feed off of a government and rewarding people to be the worst that they can be, to not try something. Get rid of this embarrassment that there is a list of jobs that Americans aren’t willing to do. Are you kidding me? How about the condition where Americans have actually given up looking for work. That is so embarrassing, why don’t these people just move to France.”
On February 20, 2012, Nugent wrote an op-ed for the Washington Times criticizing MSNBC for firing conservative pundit Pat Buchanan. Buchanan, who has a long history of bigoted statements against minorities, was suspended and then released from the network after he appeared on a white-nationalist radio program to promote his book (which featured a chapter entitled, “The End of White America”). In defending Buchanan, Nugent claimed he “was fired by MSNBC for doing nothing more than voicing his rock-solid conservative thoughts on the otherwise failing network.” He went on to write, “The real message of the left is intolerance, zealotry, bigotry and hate. The left has no use for the First Amendment or the rest of the Constitution unless it fits their multicultural, euro-socialist agenda, which is failing all across Europe and everywhere it is practiced.”
In a February 16, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote, “There remains a segment of the American public who would rather shovel junk into their mouths and sit on the couch than follow a healthy lifestyle. When these Americans become ill, they want others to pay for their health care, which is a key reason why America is broke and in debt. We live in a La-La Land entitlement society where poor choices are condoned and rewarded and individual responsibility and accountability are largely ignored by the bloodsuckers who want the rich to ‘pay their fair share.’ Unbelievable.”
In a January 30, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent praised Republican presidential contenders Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich, writing, “I am impressed with each of them for a variety of reasons and adamantly believe that any one of them would be monstrously superior to President Obama, who has charted a course for the destruction of America as we know it.”
In a January 23, 2024 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote, “The real reason [2012 GOP presidential candidate Mitt] Romney is being pressured to release his tax returns is because his fellow GOP presidential candidates, his hateful critics and crazy Demoncrats live to wage class warfare against him for being successful. This is so very wrong. We should respect a person’s financial privacy and celebrate any American who succeeds … There is this toxic, anti-American idea that has surfaced that financial success is something that should be questioned, maligned and condemned and is somehow malicious. This is dangerous and dumb. The Occupy idiots who condemn and blame Wall Street for America’s stagnant economy are simpletons. Let’s hope these morons just keep getting stoned and forget to vote in November.” The release of Romney’s tax returns led to the disclosure that he earns most of his multi-million dollar income in capital gains and placed millions of dollars in offshore investments in an account located in the tax haven Cayman Islands.
In an op-ed entitled “God Bless BP” for the Washington Times published on January 13, 2012, Nugent wrote, “The [cleanup] results have been nothing short of amazing in such a short amount of time since the disaster. The Gulf’s economy has rebounded dramatically, and it appears the environment is well on its way to a healthy recovery. We owe a huge debt of gratitude for the herculean efforts of BP for this … Thanks, BP. Keep up the good work. The Gulf needs you. America needs you.” Nugent did not address the fact that marine oil spills can have effects on an ocean ecosystem decades after they are contained. Additionally, scientists have warned that the spill will have a negative health impact on the health of people living in the Gulf region “for generations.”
In a January 9, 2024 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote, “Diversity is America’s greatest strength, according to the left and its socialist, Marxist, commie cohorts and co-conspirators running rampant across the country. If you listen carefully to these America-hating, social-engineering liberals, virtually all behavior, conduct, morals and beliefs make America stronger. This, of course, is toxic, brain-dead logic that leaves ordinary Americans shaking and scratching their heads in confusion and disgust. We recognize bull dung when we hear, see and smell it, and we have no desire whatsoever to embrace it … The left is forcing its version of diversity throughout our society and culture. According to the left and its acolytes, we are supposed to respect people who refuse to respect Old Glory or learn English, look for a job or put forth the effort to do an honest day’s work. We are supposed to respect all cultures, values, laws and religions—even when they have proved throughout history to be dangerous and diametrically opposed to our American way of life, customs, laws and traditions. It will be a cold day in hell before I embrace voodoolike religions and unclean stone-age cultures that retard progress instead of advancing it. The real issue is that by forcing diversity and multicultural nonsense in our workplaces, schools and government agencies on people who still cherish common sense and traditional American values, we’re ripping the nation apart.” Nugent went on to claim that Attorney General Eric Holder’s statement that some critics of President Obama are motivated by race is “the ultimate act of racism.” He continued, “I respect diverse people who respect and cherish basic American customs, traditions, goodwill and values. I have no respect for left-wingers who employ intimidation to make multiculturalism or diversity mandatory as the law of the land. The diversity punks believe in racial set-asides and preferences. You won’t ever solve discrimination by engaging in reverse discrimination. Maybe a racist like Jesse Jackson or Mr. Holder believes in reverse discrimination, but ordinary Americans do not. We are much too focused and intelligent to buy into such Jabberwocky. Real diversity, real change, real progress is accomplished by promoting and embracing Western culture, values and traditions, which is what made America great and created the greatest quality of life ever. Weakening this proven methodology under the artful guise of diversity, multiculturalism and political correctness is every bit as insidious a threat to America as are voodoo-inspired terrorist punks.”
In a December 16, 2023 Washington Times op-ed, Nugent stated, “The majority of people who are poor in America are poor because they knowingly have made poor decisions. That may be ugly and uncomfortable to the soulless, politically correct masters of denial, but it’s the truth nonetheless. Being poor is largely a choice, a daily, if not hourly, decision … We need to punish poor decisions instead of rewarding them. We cannot continue to offer a safety blanket to those Americans who make poor choices. The fewer social welfare programs, the better. This, too, may be ugly and uncomfortable, but we must make hard choices that force people into making smart, responsible decisions … Our schools need to be dramatically restructured. I advocate that our kids go to school year-round from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. We need to make it easier to fire poor teachers and reward good ones and bust up the National Education Association [union] … If you can’t afford to have kids, quit having them and expecting the taxpayers to pay for them. Men and women with no visible means of support other than the taxpayer dime shouldn’t be having children. That may sound ugly and controlling, but it’s much uglier to expect the taxpayer to pay for mindless baby-making machines, which guarantees the cycle of poverty.”
In a December 14, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote, “At least the Three Stooges were hilarious. The Occupy [Wall Street] stooges are much different, though they certainly qualify for classic numskull stooges nonetheless. They are dirty, political punks. I seriously doubt the majority of them could identify five reasons why they are protesting. No one else in the country can. You don’t need to search the Internet far to read story after story of the Occupy stooges committing crimes, fighting the cops, destroying personal property, stinking the place up and engaging in other noble expressions of First Amendment rights. I find that beautiful—priceless, actually. Only human cockroaches spotlight themselves … What America is witnessing is the Democratic Party on parade. I say let the parade of simple stooges continue. Let them continue to demand something for nothing, try and close down streets, fight with the cops, live in filth, dance like Timothy Leary zombies. It’s beautiful. It’s so Democratic Party. Let working hard, playing hard mom-and-pop America witness the Democratic Party in all its shameless, numskull and dirty glory. As the party clowns work tirelessly to falsely paint conservatives as heartless, cold, evil, sexist and racist, I say conservatives should do whatever we can to encourage the Occupy stooges to stay on course, painting themselves for what they are. While I don’t condone violence, watching the cops pounce on and pepper-spray a few Occupy stooges and then drag the dirtballs off to jail in shackles is good for my conservative soul and gold for my sense of humor. Everyone needs at least one hearty laugh every day … What America is witnessing by watching the Occupy clown brigades is the future of America if the Democratic Party is in control.”
In an October 14, 2023 Washington Times op-ed about the 2011 Occupy Wall Street protests, Nugent wrote, “From what I can tell, the softheaded numskulls of Occupy Wall Street want investment bankers to give up their wealth, as in ‘spread the wealth around’ … Poster boy for the morbidly obese and natural leader of the hygiene-challenged, uber-lefty America-haters, Michael Moore spoke out in favor of Occupy Wall Street. What he didn’t tell the crowd of useful idiots and what they are too stupid to grasp is that he is one of the wealthy individuals whom he and they supposedly despise … Occupy Wall Street is nothing more than anti-American socialism on parade. Yes, people, especially young people, have a right to be angry, and the smart ones are focusing their anger on [Democrats] President Obama, Rep. Barney Frank, former Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, and other anti-free-market socialists. They are the ones who have wrecked the economy … Of course, the uninspired, uneducated, unskilled and stoned have been conditioned for generations to expect something for nothing. They will always be in the tank of the left-wing movement - and they will always be unmotivated and poor and will continue to blame others for their condition … Smart people know that Mr. Moore and Miss [Roseanne] Barr represent a fringe movement of people who are poor because they have made a lifetime of poor choices.”
In an October 7, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent described the country of Iran as “the land of Allah freaks” and added, “Convert to Islam or die is the mantra of many of the world’s Muslims … It may be a religion of peace, but the religious voodoo whack jobs who embrace the faith are an oppressive, cruel and violent lot … A quick search of the Internet reveals hundreds of instances of Muslims terrorizing and killing Christians and destroying their churches. And we are supposed to believe that Islam is the religion of peace. I think not. Go to jihadwatch.com and read about Islam, the religion of persecution, death and destruction.” He concluded by writing, “Green energy ain’t cuttin’ it. Tilting at windmills is for idiots. Like it or not, America still runs on oil. I’m all for clean energy, such as nuclear, but I’m also a realist who understands that it is brain-dead to be doing business with voodoo extremists when we have access to so much oil and so many other energy resources that we could be mining but aren’t because of our own environmental extremists.”
After blaming President Barack Obama for all of the nation’s economic woes in a September 30, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent stated, “Quite honestly, I couldn’t blame young people if they began to riot in the streets. I don’t want to see that, but I could understand it ... The president will try to con young people again into believing that he and his fantasy-driven socialist policies will somehow magically create an environment where the economy will improve and jobs will reappear … Young Americans looking to start their lives are learning some cold, hard lessons. Things could get ugly, and I wouldn’t blame them if they began fighting in the streets. The conditions are perfect.”
Nugent authored a September 27, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times to take issue with comments that actor Morgan Freeman made about the Tea Party movement. Nugent wrote, “If Mr. Freeman could further remove his racist blinders and study the historical condition of black America, he would find the black community was vibrant and strong 60 years ago. This is not the case today. Instead of leaping to ugly and unfounded charges of racism, Mr. Freeman should ask some fundamental questions about what has happened to black America and who is responsible for the destruction. The real architects of the destruction of black America are Democratic Party members who have lied to and manipulated black Americans into believing that the federal government is the answer to improving their condition when, in reality, it is the destroyer of black America. One has to wonder if Mr. Freeman could admit this obvious conclusion.”
During a September 15, 2023 appearance on NRA News radio, Nugent referred to federal law enforcement agents as “jack-booted thugs” and stated, “The curse of apathy has a name, and it’s ‘we the people.’ We have bent over so far as a citizenry in this country that we have allowed a communist-raised, communist-educated, communist-trained—a churchgoer to the hate America church—we have allowed him to become the president of the United States of America because we bent over that far.” The term “jack-booted thugs” dates back to 1995, when NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre used the phrase to describe law enforcement agents in the wake of federal sieges at Waco and Ruby Ridge. LaPierre’s comments were widely criticized, and former President George H.W. Bush publicly resigned his lifetime NRA membership because of them.
During a September 9, 2023 appearance on BBC Radio, Nugent said, “The American dream is based on putting your heart and soul into being the absolute best that you can be. I am convinced that the Republicans in general—and [2012 Republican presidential candidate] Rick Perry, specifically—represent that spirit and that spirit is alive and well across this country. And if we just went to the core of those that are collecting unemployment checks that will look you right in the eye…and go, ‘Yeah, there’s a bunch of jobs I can take, but why bother? I’m getting a pretty good check as it is and they’ll give it to me for two years.’ Do you realize that curse is widespread in this country? But Rick Perry, as a servant of we the people in Texas, respects the basic premise that an able-bodied American should dedicate themselves to be productive.” Nugent also stated that Rick Perry “is the great white buffalo. The fact that it is ‘great white buffalo’ has nothing to do with ethnicity. The great white buffalo was a Native American legend of a mystical beast that found the battered herd and led ‘em across the land.” Finally, Nugent predicted that “America will come to grips that America needs to look like Texas ... Some of the greatest hunting in the world plus there’s no income tax plus I can carry a machine gun in my truck. I mean, how could you not move there?”
In a September 2, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote, “[AFL-CIO President Richard] Trumka knows that much of the trillion-dollar stimulus package is nothing more than President Obama using our tax dollars to provide artificial employment for union workers. It is a giant, taxpayer-funded payoff for labor unions to vote for Democrats. What a scam.” Nugent also blamed the United Auto Workers for problems in the American car industry and the National Teachers Union for problems with the nation’s educational system. Nugent concluded: “Public-sector employees should be banned from joining a union, paid a wage commensurate with the private sector and provided with the same benefits as their private-sector peers. Only a goon would think otherwise.”
During an August 27, 2023 concert in Peoria, Illinois, Nugent “invited his audience to storm down to [the Illinois state capitol in] Springfield and take it over.”
During an August 25, 2023 concert in Houston, Texas, Nugent told the crowd, “I cause Liberals to shit themselves. I make music for those assholes to kill themselves to.”
In an August 23, 2023 interview with the Houston Press, Nugent described his musical inspirations by saying the following: “So many other maniac, black animals continue to drive me and my band and my music wild.”
During an August 20, 2023 concert in Nashville, Tennessee, Nugent said, “The whole world sucks, but America still sucks less, you know? And as soon we get rid of those cocksuckers in the White House, we won’t suck at all.” Nugent then implored the crowd to raise their middle fingers to send “a message for the White House … A message for those pieces of shit who are fucking up this country.” Nugent also said, “There is a Mexican dream. Get the fuck out of Mexico. That’s the fucking Mexican dream. In case we got any of our import motherfuckers out there, when you come to America leave your fucking baggage at home. You came here because where you come from sucks. Don’t turn this place into the place you got away from, because where you got away from sucks shit.”
In an August 18, 2023 interview with conservative talk radio host Vicki McKenna, Nugent said the following:
- Nugent called himself the “funniest black man in America.”
- “You have a warrior [in Wisconsin] now. Scott Walker, the [Republican] governor of Wisconsin, is a warrior. He is a great man. He is upgrading the quality of life in Wisconsin—bringing accountability, pragmatism, and rugged individualism back to the forefront of a great state.”
- “There’s a lunatic fringe. There’s always been a lunatic fringe. Unfortunately and heartbreakingly, the lunatic fringe now has a president. The lunatic fringe has given the green light to corruption, fraud, deceit, lying, the abuse of power the likes of which I’ve never seen… Let’s be perfectly honest—we have a president of the United States of America who was raised by communists that hate America. Went to a church regularly—well, they call it a church, I call it a voodoo cave. They went to a voodoo church where they preached hate for America, where it was racist worse than the Ku Klux Klan. Are you kidding me? This guy is the president of the United States?”
- “America has the dumbest, fattest, most disconnected, slovenly children in the world thanks to the [National Education Association (NEA)]. NEA, unions, no thank you. Move to Canada. They already have policies that reward slovenliness up there.”
- “Let me tell you who the goons are, who the lunatic fringe is: Eric Holder, Tim Geithner, Hillary Clinton, who side with the goons, the savages, the rapists, the murderers of the U.N.”
- “By voting in [Republican] Scott Walker as Governor of Wisconsin you just said thank you to the family of a dead soldier.”
In an August 12, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times entitled “Rise of the Goons,” Nugent argued, “The basic role of the federal government was simply to protect [Americans] from invasion by another country. Now we are a nation of wussies and stupid goons who have suckled on the teat of Aunt Sugar Momma for so long that many Americans know nothing different. When the teat runs dry, gangland rioting follows. Kicking the habit of dependency is an obviously painful process. Americans need to ask their politicians one simple, fundamental question: What is the role of government? Those political punks who give some glib answer about providing for the good of the people have given rise to the rioting goon squads. Vote every one of these modern-day slave masters out of office."
In an August 5, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times entitled “Hiroshima’s Lesson Remembered: Ending War with Overwhelming Force is Quickest Path to Peace,” Nugent wrote, “We face new enemies today, many of whom belong to voodoo terror cells that will use any weapon or means to kill as many Americans as possible. Let us pray that we have a plan to kill every one of these voodoo maggots before they kill another American.”
In a July 28, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent commented on the National Educational Association (NEA), the nation’s largest union, writing, “It’s not that our children are dumb, but rather that they are tossed into a dumb, antiquated system that is controlled by one of the largest and most powerful unions in the nation, the National Education Association.”
Nugent, who was rejected by a draft board during the Vietnam War, claimed in a July 25, 2023 interview with Military.com that he has trained with the Navy Seals, Green Berets and Army Rangers in both an official and unofficial capacity since the late 1970s. Nugent claimed his military experience included “sniper work and some various combat type-training.” Referring to the administration of President Barack Obama, Nugent said, “over my dead body will I let this current regime continue in their abuse of power.”
In a July 21, 2023 interview with The Other Paper, Nugent expressed the following feelings about President Barack Obama: “Here is a man raised by avowed communist/socialist, America-hating parents; surrounded by avowed socialist/communist America-hating terrorists like Bill Ayers; attending an America-hating church; being preached to and married by a vicious, America-hating maniac; implementing proven economy- and America-destroying fundamental transformation policies; promising to cause our energy costs to skyrocket; and following the [Richard] Cloward/[Frances] Piven playbook on how to take down America. I'll tell you what I think of people like the president. I am convinced he is the enemy of America, the enemy of freedom and the enemy of our Constitution. He is a bad, evil, rotten human being.” Nugent also stated that, “The tea party may be America's only hope.”
On July 21, 2011, Nugent tweeted, “HumaneSocietyOfUnitedStates is vile criminal scam liars.”
In a July 18, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote that the Democratic Party is the “modern-day slave master” of low-income Americans, and the Republican Party “wants to liberate them.”
Asked on July 10, 2023 why he was wearing a Confederate flag shirt, Nugent said, “It’s cool.”
In a July 7, 2023 interview with The Spokesman-Review, Nugent suggested that the United States “wipe out” anyone who lived within 1,000 square miles of a terrorist. Nugent also said that if he had one week to live he would spend it “crushing liberals, destroying animal rights people, eating backstraps, and doing charity work.”
In a July 6, 2023 Washington Times op-ed about the economy entitled “Obama punks America,” Nugent made an allusion to the lynching of the President by writing, “Blame George W. Bush if you want for all this bad news, but it is Mr. Obama’s political neck in the economic noose.”
During a July 5, 2023 concert, Nugent told the crowd, “Everyone in the White House...can suck my tiger dick.”
In an interview with Michael Butler of “The Rock and Roll Geek Show” on July 5, 2023 Nugent made the following comments:
- “I’m only semi-Caucasian tonight so I might dance on your skull.”
- “I was in a helicopter in Northern Texas in April with my M4 machinegun killing 169 pigs and 11 coyotes in one morning.”
- Nugent complained about a perceived liberal slant in the music press by comparing himself to “a black Jew at a Nazi-Klan rally.”
- Throughout the interview, Nugent burped President Barack Obama’s name saying, “That’s the only decent use of toxic gas by the way. Stating the President’s name.”
- “It’s almost like 1776 again. We have the enemies of America in charge.”
In a 2011 Fourth of July Washington Times op-ed, Nugent commented on the research of gun rights advocate John Lott and said, “Apparently the socialist stooges and terminal voodoo freaks at the U.N. didn’t read it. Perhaps some of the soulless voodoo punks at the U.N. can’t read. Based on their personal hygiene shortcomings, it wouldn’t surprise me.”
In a June 30, 2023 op-ed for Washington Times, Nugent wrote, “On this Independence Day, sit down with your children, loved ones, friends, neighbors and co-workers and read the Declaration of Independence and discuss it. Get them to commit to a new uprising in which our King George politicians are dethroned and run out of Washington. Be a patriot and save America.”
In a June 23, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote that while he “condemn[s] violence of any kind,” he is “stunned that [young people] are not participating more in the Tea Party, even rioting in the streets, clashing with the cops, conducting sit-ins at their colleges, interrupting political events and so on.”
In June 2011, during an interview with the Philip Friedman Outdoors radio program, Nugent said the following:
- He referred to people of Japanese descent as “Japs.”
- “So when you’re on these kind of mind-altering drugs and you’re mentally ill to think that animals can have rights like human beings do, you can also succumb to the criminal urges and the subhuman anti-life urges of murderers.”
- “If a person can think that an animal has rights, then they can think that a human doesn’t have any rights. And we have to watch out for these people and if necessary neutralize them.”
- Nugent called President Barack Obama “a community organizer gangster from Chicago” and his administration the “Mao Zedong Fan Club.”
- “There are plenty of whales … Tell [environmental activist] Paul [Watson] that I’m gonna’ go whale hunting this year. And I’m going to kill an extra 20 of them just for him. What a punk. I’ll tell you what. Hey Paul, bring your “Whale Wars” [cable television program] to the Ted Nugent concert and I’ll show you how we handle threats.”
In a May 2011 interview with CNN host Piers Morgan, Nugent asserted, “Anybody that wants to make me unarmed and helpless, people that want to literally create the proven places where more innocents are killed called gun-free zones, we're going to beat you. We're going to vote you out of office or suck on my machine gun … Anybody who would take away our individual rights and individual freedoms, they're the enemy. They need to be killed.” Nugent also urged Americans to “do what the Tea Party is doing.” Finally, on the subject of homosexuality, Nugent said, "I'm repulsed at the concept of man-on-man sex. I think it's against nature. I think it's strange as hell, but if that's what you are I love ya’.”
In an April 2011 op-ed published in the Washington Times entitled “America Needs Fox News,” Nugent wrote, “The American public is not nearly as naive or easily manipulated as what the liberal reporters in the newsroom believe. Thanks to the new media and cable news giant Fox News, there is now competition for viewers and readers, and the believability factor at Fox is kicking major butt. ”
In an April 2011 Washington Times op-ed, Nugent defended Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant’s use of an anti-gay slur against a referee during a basketball game. Nugent sarcastically suggested that the NBA host a "Homosexual Night" where gays would come onto the court and “prance” to the music of the Village People before being awarded pink basketballs.
In a March 24, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times entitled “Multicultural Rot in the Melting Pot,” Nugent wrote, “While Europe and America, to some extent, were embracing multiculturalism, Muslims were murdering Christians and burning down their churches in Muslim countries...The definition of Islam is subjugation.” The editorial was accompanied by an image of a man wearing a mosque as a dunce cap.
In a March 21, 2023 op-ed published by the Washington Times, Nugent wrote that “Africa isn’t called the Dark Continent for no reason,” opining that “genocide is a way of life” on the “international scab” continent.
In an op-ed published in the Washington Times on March 14, 2011, Nugent called Attorney General Eric Holder a “racist punk.” Nugent also claimed that Holder gave the New Black Panthers organization free reign to “legally intimidate white citizens without fear of reprisal.”
On February 28, 2011, Nugent tweeted, “So the union fools in WI r ok hanging with communists + other America haters?”
During a featured speech at the 2011 NRA Convention, Nugent told the audience, "If it was up to me, if you uttered the word 'gun control,' we'd put you in jail."
During a February 2011 interview with Salt TV, Nugent said, “The thing is the unions and the Democrats and the Liberals have literally said, ‘No, you can be a feeble lazy whiner. We’ll send you a check.’ How about this? Under the Ted Nugent administration, welfare? Done. Zero. Unemployment? No such thing. Stop at the help wanted sign and do one of the jobs Americans aren’t willing to work … Get a fucking job.”
Five days after a January 8, 2024 mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona left six dead and thirteen wounded (including Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords), Nugent authored a Washington Times op-ed stating, “I say conservatives should turn up the rhetoric … Political debate has always been spirited, hot and sometimes nasty.” He added, “In order to defeat liberals on the political-ideology battlefield, conservatives must be clear in purpose and then get after it by targeting (yes, I said targeting) and attacking Democratic nostrums that have weakened America.”
In a November 9, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote, “If we are to save the country for future generations of Americans and ensure they have more opportunity than we do, we must address entitlement spending and address it now. Then kill it all.”
In an October 2010 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent wrote that African Americans “are suffering the worst economically and jobwise because they looked to Mr. Obama and others for their hope instead of themselves…That’s how a culture of safety nets operates.”
In a September 23, 2023 Washington Times op-ed, Nugent wrote, “If there are in fact moderate Muslims, they have been quiet as mosque mice regarding their views.” He also expressed his concern about “Shariah law slowing poisoning our legal system.” “What the Obama administration and Muslims will not tell Americans is that the ultimate goal of Islam is to take over the world and replace representative, constitutional governments with Shariah,” wrote Nugent.
On September 10, 2010, the Washington Times published an op-ed written by Nugent entitled “A Salute to Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, et al.” In the piece Nugent praised the entire Fox News team for their “sensible, courageous and reasonable voices.”
In an August 19, 2023 op-ed in the Washington Times, Nugent wrote, “The Muslim community is being tremendously rude and stupid for wanting to build a mosque so close to Ground Zero in New York City. Instead of using the $100 million for their proposed mosque, I recommend that the Muslims donate the cash to the U.S. military so we can build more smart bombs to kill more radical, voodoo Muslims. That would earn my respect and admiration … If Islam is the religion of peace, then I’m a malnourished, tofu-eating anti-hunter.”
In August 2010, Nugent pled no contest to 11 misdemeanor charges and was fined $1,750 for illegally baiting and killing an undersized deer. California game wardens reported the incident after observing Nugent using illegal hunting techniques on his television program “Spirit of the Wild.”
In a July 1, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times about members of the Supreme Court who favor gun control, Nugent wrote, “Heads up, black-robers. I am in charge of my life, survival, thoughts, statements, writings, religious practices and, without a shadow of a doubt, my God-given individual right to keep and bear arms to defend myself from evil in any shape or form. With all due respect, I see and know clear and present evil in tyranny, dictatorships, emperors, kings, despots, slave drivers and the history of abuse of power. And I defy it out of hand.”
In a June 11, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent compared the spirit of his upcoming “Trample the Weak Hurdle the Dead” tour to “the world’s bravest men when they charged up those inflamed stairways on Sept. 11, 2001, to try to save as many innocent lives as they could.”
In a May 7, 2023 op-ed in the Washington Times, Nugent called for the racial profiling of Muslims using the following analogy: “Word on the streets of our otherwise quiet little neighborhood is that random packs of Dalmatians have been attacking kids all over town. Numerous eyewitness reports, video, citizens’ testimony and documentation conclusively identifies these black-and-white-spotted dogs violently biting, maiming, and in some horrific instances, actually killing children and then viciously attacking responding animal-control officers … And the list of dogs with little black and white spots goes on and on and on. We are waging a war on terror and terrorists - Muslim monsters whose self-avowed “religion” is to wipe out Americans. They say it and they do it every chance they get. They are not inconvenient or rude - they are deadly. We know who they are, how they live and we know what they look like. And they are everywhere.” He also added, “First rule from my hometown of Detroit - you don’t bring a net to a dogfight. You bring a silenced .22 Magnum scoped rifle and take out the dangerous animal with a head shot at the very first opportunity … My name is Ted Nugent, and I profile.”
In a March 8, 2023 op-ed for the Washington Times, Nugent mocked high profile individuals who have been killed or injured by animals including, “Steve Irwin, brain-dead hippie grizzly bear neighbors, religious voodoo rattlesnake witch doctors, homosexual Las Vegas lion huggers, and the Orca handlers at Sea World.” Regarding his practice of riding a buffalo on stage during concerts, Nugent said, “I carried a 10mm handgun in my belt during those stage rides, just in case the beast decided to go buffalo on me. A quick 200-grain armor-piercing slug through the back of his head would have made the difference between a momentary increase in entertainment value and a few dozen or more trampled rock fans. I knew this, and I was prepared.”
During a March 2010 interview with Fox New’s Neil Cavuto, Nugent condemned supporters of health care reform and stated, “They’re pigs, Neil. We gotta’ kill the pig.” When Cavuto asked Nugent if he was speaking humorously, he responded “not really.”
In an October 2008 interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Nugent spoke about undocumented immigrants, stating, “In an unauthorized entry, armed like they are right now, invading our country, I’d like to shoot ‘em dead.”
During a March 6, 2023 appearance on “NRA News,” Nugent discussed how he donated a hunting trip to a family with four disabled children and no health insurance, saying, “The anti-hunters are against compassion. The anti-hunters are gonna’ protest that Ted Nugent is gonna’ take the Clark family hunting and I’m just going to say, ‘Don’t talk to me. Talk to that young man in the wheelchair over there. And you, Mr. PETA [People for the Ethnical Treatment of Animals] punk, you Mr. HSUS [Humane Society of the United States] mindless whore, you tell the little boy he can’t go hunting and then come see me.’” Nugent also bragged about firing fully automatic machine guns with “inner city” youth, stating, “You want to get a kid high? Give him a machine gun with Uncle Ted.” Finally, Nugent commented, “The only difference between [deceased Nirvana frontman] Kurt Cobain’s quail gun and mine is I use mine on quail.”
During a concert on August 22, 2007, Nugent called then-Senator Barack Obama a “piece of shit” and then-Senator Hillary Clinton as a “worthless bitch.” Wielding an assault rifle in each hand, he suggested that Senators Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein “suck on” his guns.
During a June 2007 appearance on Fox News, Nugent compared the illegal immigration issue to the Battle of the Alamo, saying, “Davy Crockett had to shoot Santa Anna’s men. It was the right thing to do. Everybody knows that Davy Crockett was doing the right thing. But he wouldn’t get the Hispanic vote.”
In a March 20, 2023 interview with KLRU (an Austin, Texas-based PBS affiliate), Nugent stated, “Instead of arresting people for molesting children twenty-four times, I would rather the dad walked in the room, found a person molesting that child, and blew his brains out.”
During a concert at Texas Governor Rick Perry's Inaugural Ball on February 17, 2007, Nugent, "using machine guns as props appeared onstage as the final act of the inaugural ball wearing a cutoff T-shirt emblazoned with the Confederate flag and shouting offensive remarks about non-English speakers.” Responding to Nugent's performance, Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas chapter of the NAACP, said, "Whenever someone sports the Confederate battle flag, many Texans will be offended, and rightly so, because of what it symbolizes—the enslavement of African-Americans and more recently the symbol of hate groups and terrorists."
The pre-release cover for Nugent’s 2007 “Love Grenade” album featured a photo of a nude woman on a platter. The woman is bound with rope and has a hand grenade in her mouth.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Independent in May 2006, Nugent—who shared that both he and his teenage son have experienced accidental firearm discharges—fired a handgun out of window of the truck he was driving and made the following comments:
- “I say if somebody robs you, shoot 'em. I'd like all thieves killed. And all rapists. And carjackers. No more graffiti. No
more...” - Speaking on the Iraq War: “Our failure has been not to Nagasaki them.”
- “How do you get peace, love and understanding? First of all you have to find all the bad people. Then you kill them.”
- When asked if his fellow NRA board members think that he goes too far in his public comments, Nugent said, “Most of them. I say that I want the rape victim to shoot the rapist. They agree with me privately. They think stating this publicly is bad PR. They're wrong.”
During a 2006 performance of his song “Kiss My Glock,” Nugent called both gun control advocate Sarah Brady (whose husband Jim Brady was seriously injured in an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan) and former Attorney General Janet Reno “a dirty whore” and civil rights activist Jesse Jackson “a piece of shit.” Nugent also shot a crossbow at an effigy of Reno, causing its pants to fall off and reveal a giant phallus.
During a featured speech at the 2005 NRA Convention, Nugent told the audience, "Remember the Alamo! Shoot 'em! To show you how radical I am, I want carjackers dead. I want rapists dead. I want burglars dead. I want child molesters dead. I want the bad guys dead. No court case. No parole. No early release. I want 'em dead. Get a gun and when they attack you, shoot 'em."
On March 22, 2004, rock star/musician Courtney Love appeared on the “Howard Stern Show” and stated that she performed oral sex on Nugent when she was 12 years old.
In 2004, Nugent was sued for child support by a woman he fathered a child with while married to his current wife. During the proceedings, the woman’s lawyer accused Nugent of “trying to intimidate his client into withdrawing questions about Nugent's finances.” In 2005, Nugent was ordered to pay $3,500 a month in child support.
Regarding controversial comments he made during an April 2000 concert in Houston, Texas, Nugent explained, "What I said is, 'If you can't speak English, get the fuck out of America.' Spurred by a first-person, hands-on, eyewitness experience in America, where I've gone to enough fuckin' convenience stores where the cocksucker behind the counter can't translate 'doughnut' for me. I never mentioned the word 'Hispanics.' I never mentioned the word 'Mexicans.' I never mentioned the word 'Latinos.' I never mentioned the words 'Spanish language.' I merely said, 'If you can't speak English, get the fuck out of America.”
During an appearance on the Fox News show Hannity and Colmes in 2000, Nugent described homosexuality as a “despicable act” performed by “guys that have sex with each other's anal cavities.”
During a 2000 concert in Greenville, South Carolina, Nugent addressed an ongoing controversy concerning the flying of the Confederate flag at South Carolina’s statehouse by telling the audience, “Those politically correct motherfuckers can take the flag down but I am going to wear it forever.”
In a 1995 interview with Bob Mack for Grand Royal magazine, Nugent suggested that “real America” is populated by “working hard, playing hard white mother fuckin’ shit kickers who are independent” and challenged the host to name a similar black American. Nugent later used the N-word and said, “The black guys with this rap, electronic, make-believe, talentless music makes me want to throw up.”
In a 1994 interview with Westword newspaper, Nugent called then-First Lady Hillary Clinton a “toxic cunt” and a “two-bit whore for Fidel Castro.” Commenting on the immigration issue, he said, “We should put razor wire around our borders and give the finger to any piece of shit who wants to come here.” Finally, Nugent offered that LSD users should be caned and “go to prison in an overcrowded cell where a huge, unclean black man will fuck [them] in the ass every night.”
On November 19, 2023 Nugent said the following on WRIF-FM in Detroit, Michigan: “Foreigners are assholes, foreigners are scum. I don't like 'em. I don't want 'em in this country.”
Interviewed in late 1992 on WRIF-FM in Detroit, Michigan, Nugent referred to animal rights activist Heidi Prescott as a “worthless whore” and “shallow slut” before asking, “Who needs to club a seal, when you could club Heidi?”
While guest DJing for WRIF in Detroit, Michigan, in 1992, commented about a previous encounter with a Hare Krishna, saying, “In my mind, I'm going, ‘Why can't I just shoot this guy in the spine right now, shoot him in the spine, explain the facts of life to him?’”
On September 25, 2023 Nugent said the following on WRIF-FM in Detroit, Michigan: “I met a couple guys in line yesterday who go, 'Write something to my girlfriend, she won't let me go hunting.' I wrote her something and I said, 'Drop dead, bitch.' What good is she, trade her in, get a Dalmatian. Who needs the wench?" During the same show, Nugent said, “Saudi Arabia, man, and see if we can't get a four iron and knock people's laundry off the top of their heads. Wear laundry on your head and die.”
While guest DJing for WRIF in Detroit, Michigan, in 1991, Nugent said: "Anybody that doesn't think it is better to blow someone’s brains out than to be raped, deserves to be raped. If you don't think your life is worth it, then please go out there, don't wear any underpants, and get raped, ‘cause you deserve it.”
In 1990, Nugent conducted an interview with the Detroit Free Press Magazine and stated, “Apartheid isn't that cut and dry. All men are not created equal. The preponderance of South Africa is a different breed of man ... They still put bones in their noses, they still walk around naked, they wipe their butts with their hands ...These are different people. You give 'em toothpaste, they fucking eat it.” Nugent also defended his use of the N-word, saying it was a natural result of “hanging around with a lot of niggers.”
In 1978, Nugent began dating a 17 year old girl when he was 30 years old. To avoid any legal repercussions, Nugent convinced the girl’s parents to sign over legal guardianship rights to him. The move was ranked #63 in a Spinmagazine list entitled, “The 100 Sleaziest Moments in Rock.”
In an interview with High Times in October 1977, Nugent explained how he avoided being drafted for the Vietnam War: “So I got my notice to be in the draft. Do you think I was gonna’ lay down my guitar and go play army? Give me a break! I was busy doin’ it to it … I got my physical notice thirty days prior to. Well, on that day I ceased cleansing my body. No more brushing my teeth, no more washing my hair, no baths, no soap, no water. Thirty days of debris build. I stopped shavin’ and I was 18, had a little scraggly beard, really looked like a hippie. I had long hair, and it started gettin’ kinky, matted up. Then two weeks before, I stopped eating any food with nutritional value … Then a week before, I stopped going to the bathroom. I did it in my pants. poop, piss the whole shot. My pants got crusted up. See, I approached the whole thing like, Ted Nugent, cool hard-workin’ dude, is gonna wreak havoc on these imbeciles in the armed forces. I’m gonna’ play their own game, and I’m gonna’ destroy ‘em. Now my whole body is crusted in poop and piss. I was ill. And three or four days before, I started stayin’ awake. I was close to death, but I was in control. I was extremely anti-drug as I’ve always been, but I snorted some crystal methedrine. Talk about one wounded mother *****. A guy put up four lines, and it was for all four of us, but I didn’t know and I’m vacuuming that poop right up. I was a walking, talking hunk of human poop. I was six-foot-three of sin. So the guys took me down to the physical, and my nerves, my emotions were distraught. I was not a good person … So I went in, and those guys in uniform couldn’t believe the smell. They were ridiculin’ me and pushin’ me around and I was cryin’, but all the time I was laughin’ to myself. When they stuck the needle in my arm for the blood test I passed out, and when I came to they were kicking me into the wall. Then they made everybody take off their pants, and I did, and this sergeant says, ‘Oh my God, put those back on! You *****’ swine, you!’ Then they had a urine test and I couldn’t piss, but my poop was just like ooze, man, so I poop in the cup and put it on the counter. I had poop on my hand and my arm. The guy almost puked. I was so proud. I knew I had these chumps beat. The last thing I remember was wakin’ up in the ear test booth and they were sweepin’ up. So I went home and cleaned up. They took a putty knife to me. I got the street rats out of my hair, ate some good steaks, beans, potatoes, cottage cheese, milk. A couple of days and I was ready to kick ass. And in the mail I got this big juicy 4-F. They’d call dead people before they’d call my ass. But you know the funny thing about it? I’d make an incredible army man. I’d be a colonel before you knew what hit you, and I’d have the baddest bunch of motherfuckin’ killers you’d ever seen in my platoon. But I just wasn’t into it. I was too busy doin’ my own thing, you know?” A Selective Service form that chronicles Nugent’s draft history can be viewed here.
ted Nugent (Board Member)
In a July 31, 2023 op-ed for World Net Daily, Nugent endorsed the conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama’s birth certificate is a forgery, stating, “More of us believe in the American hero Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s thorough investigation into your phony birth certificate and phony history than the phony media’s smoke and mirrors.” In July 2012, Joseph Arpaio, a controversial Arizona sheriff, announced that a "Cold Case Posse" under his direction determined that Obama's "long-form birth certificate was manufactured electronically and that it did not originate in a paper format as claimed by the White House." The "Cold Case Posse" reportedly attempted to uncover evidence that Obama was born in Kenya.
In the same editorial, Nugent said to President Obama, “[W]ith all due respect, your holy phoniness, who can’t see the terminal phoniness of wasting more tax dollars with more phony charges against George Zimmerman in defiance of your own FBI investigation and the same exhaustive evidence that proved his obvious innocence to the jury of his peers and everyone paying attention who was not blinded by your phony racism?” On July 13, 2013, George Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter after shooting and killing unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida on February 26, 2012. After the trial, the U.S. Justice Department began investigating whether to file civil rights charges against Zimmerman.
Finally, Nugent suggested that Nidal Malik Hassan, the man responsible for a 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, is President Obama’s “Allah Ahkbar buddy.” Hassan allegedly yelled "Allahu akbar!” which means “God is Great” in Arabic, before opening fire.
On July 23, 2013, Nugent spoke on entertainer Nick Cannon’s podcast, discussing the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who was tried after shooting and killing unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida on February 26, 2012. Nugent stated that a "little old white lady" who "clutches her purse tightly and shivers" when an African-American man joins her on an elevator has not wrongly "prejudged.” Nugent was referring to President Barack Obama’s July 19, 2023 speech on the Zimmerman trial verdict, in which he stated, “There are very few African Americans who haven't had the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she had a chance to get off. That happens often.” Nugent continued, stating, “I think when we see stormy clouds, and we've witnessed a number of storms that have destroyed homes, and threatened lives, and tipped over cars, I don't think we're prejudging those storm threats. I don't think we are prejudging. I think we are taking evidence, and going, 'Uh-oh black clouds coming in, wind is picking up, I think I better head for a shelter.’ … I think when you use the word ‘profile,’ if a Dalmatian has been biting the children in the neighborhood, I think we're going to look for a black and white dog. The gangs of blacks lately that have been just been going down the downtown streets and breaking windows on cars. Over and over again, I watch the news, and here's a rape and here's a burglary and here's a murder in Chicago. Twenty-nine shot, 29 blacks shot by 29 blacks. At some point, you've gotta be afraid of black and white dogs if the Dalmatian is doing the biting."
On July 22, 2013, Nugent tweeted, “Damn shame TavisSmiley Sharpton et al r blind drunk on terminal racism.” Nugent was referring to Tavis Smiley, a liberal political commentator and Reverend Al Sharpton, a civil rights activist and television/talk radio show host. Nugent also tweeted, “We sincerelypray for black America but enuf[sic] of the self indlictedracism[sic] already.”
On July 16, 2013, Nugent tweeted, “Dear black America-reject the racist hate denial & join with truth & justice. Stop destroying urselves[sic].”
In a July 15, 2023 op-ed for World Net Daily, Nugent Nugent spoke about the acquittal of George Zimmerman. Zimmerman was charged with second degree murder for shooting and killing unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida on February 26, 2012. Nugent wrote, “[A]ll thinking people are very relieved that George Zimmerman was found not guilty by the intelligent, justice-driven women of the jury, in spite of the façade presented by the prosecution and forced by the threat of racism by everyone from President Obama, to Eric Holder, the New Black Panther gangstas, NAACP, excuse-makers of every stripe and even the governor of Florida, but still this innocent man who simply defended his life from a violent, life-threatening, bloodying, head and face slamming attack by an enraged black man-child has so wrongly paid an inexplicable price financially and emotionally … George Zimmerman and his entire family, innocent of any wrongdoing, have lost everything and will be in debt for a long, long time for having to fight the trumped-up charges that he ‘profiled’ and/or set out to murder the poor, helpless, dope-smoking, dope-peddling, gangsta wannabe, Skittles hoodie boy.” Zimmerman’s lawyers set up a website last summer titled “George Zimmerman Defense Fund” to accept donations and raised almost $500,000 by the July 10 start of the trial. There is no evidence that Trayvon Martin ever sold drugs or was a member of a gang.
On July 14, 2013, in an interview with Newsmax, Nugent spoke about the acquittal of George Zimmerman. Zimmerman was charged with second degree murder for shooting and killing unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida on February 26, 2012. Nugent stated, “The entire prosecutorial team should be ashamed of themselves and disbarred for kowtowing to the hateful anti-justice racist pressures.” Nugent praised the jury, saying, “Smart and honest America rejoices that the jury got it right. This was the purest case of self-defense you could have ever asked for.” Nugent added, “The ultimate lesson for anyone paying attention is ‘Be sure you educate your children to not attack people for no reason whatsoever.’”
In a July 2, 2023 interview in Washington Post Magazine, Nugent stated that it was at his suggestion that Texas Governor Rick Perry, dealing with feral hog populations that were destroying crops, signed a law allowing private hunters to shoot the animals from helicopters. During a paid appearance in San Antonio, Nugent repeated the story and stated, “Lots of places have a hog problem. In Texas, the hogs have a Ted problem … And now if they would just take me to South Central. Okay! I kid.” After the 1992 riots that broke out in South Central Los Angeles following the verdict in the Rodney King trial, the New York Times characterized the area as a "national symbol of rage in a poor black neighborhood." Rodney King was an African-American construction worker who was beaten by Los Angeles police officers during a traffic stop. Today, the area is mostly Latino and is officially known as South Los Angeles.
On May 8, 2013, in a column for World Net Daily, Nugent wrote that his "Nuge Immigration Plan" should be implemented because "We don't need any more bloodsuckers." He also suggested that America "apply Sherriff Joe Arpaio justice" to anyone who has been deported for committing a crime and caught trying to re-enter the country. According to Nugent, "The anchor baby scam should be immediately rescinded. You don't need to be a constitutional expert like our President to know that the original intent of the 14th Amendment was not to provide citizenship to illegal women or their babies who are born on American soil."
The “Anchor Baby” narrative pushed by Nugent is largely a myth. Most families immigrate to the United States for simple economic reasons, not to have children. Sheriff Joe Arpaio is a sheriff working along the Arizona-Mexico border. In 2011 a Justice Department report found that Arpaio had committed wide ranging civil rights violations and instituted racial profiling. In May, 2013 a federal judge ruled that Arpaio had violated the rights of Latinos by targeting them during raids and police stops.
Nugent also derided government efforts to communicate through Spanish language documents saying, “The most racist thing our government does is to print literature in Spanish, thereby encouraging people not to learn English and deny themselves all the American Dream has to offer.”
In a February 10, 2023 op-ed for World Net Daily, Nugent wrote that if a Republican President had the same policy on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) as President Barack Obama, “[Reverends] Jesse Jackson and Al Not-So-Sharpton would be lisping their ebonic mumbo-jumbo that the policy and the President are racist and bigoted … The ‘99-percenter’ crowd of intentionally unemployed Americans would move into Lafayette Park across the street from the White House, where they would pitch their tents and refrigerator boxes, ingest massive amounts of mind-altering chemicals and then try to storm the gates of the White House … The residents of East St. Louis, Detroit, Chicago and other cities would burn their own neighborhoods in protest … Representatives from NARAL, the pro-abortion group, would say had they known the Republican president was going to issue such an order, they would have wished their parents had aborted them … Liberalism is hypocritical poison, and it’s on full parade for all the world to see.” Drones have been used to kill foreign citizens as well as U.S. citizens overseas with alleged ties to terrorist activities. President Obama ruled out the use of drones to kill U.S. citizens on United States soil stating, “The rules outside of the United States are going to be different than the rules inside the United States.”
On January 30, 2013, Nugent tweeted, “Animals hav rights to garlic & butter over mesquite coals.”
On January 22, 2013, Nugent tweeted, “Reed Exhibitions Harrisburg PA event blew it royal by banning America's #1 sporting competition self defense rifles. Braindead cannibals.” The Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, Pennysylvania was postponed and eventually cancelled in February 2013 when Reed Exhibitions, a British event organizing company, announced that assault rifles, and products associated with assault rifles, would not be allowed at the show.
In a January 18, 2024 interview with Noisecreep, a music news and media website, Nugent discussed proposed gun violence prevention legislation which arose in the wake of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 first-graders and six adults were killed. When asked how universal background checks and firearms registration infringes on the Second Amendment, Nugent replied, “One would have to live under a giant boulder of denial to pretend registration has not and will not lead to confiscation. Whoever asked this question must be dangerously ignorant of history.” In fact, throughout U.S. history, federal and state laws have required registration of certain firearms, and such measures have never led to any confiscation of firearms from those in compliance with the law.
In a January 13, 2024 radio interview with conservative radio host Aaron Klein, Nugent addressed a gun violence prevention task force created by President Barack Obama in the wake of a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 first-graders and six adults were killed. Nugent stated, “Well, you’re asking for quite an adventure delving into the psychotic behavior of the President … A person who lives by logic and studies history and tries to implement the lessons learned by history cannot begin to rationally explain the conduct of this President or his attorney general or this administration … It is psychotic, it is crazy, it's illogical. I believe it's clearly and dangerously anti-American, anti-humanity … [President] Obama’s dream already exists, and those are called gun-free zones, and that is where the most innocent lives are lost. What kind of monster would want more of these? Because if you ask for more gun-free zones, if you further disarm innocent Americans, you are literally engineering slaughters.” Despite Nugent’s claims, one study found that only one-third of mass shootings (in which four or more innocents are killed) occurring between January 2009 and January 2013 occurred in “gun-free zones.”
In a January 8, 2024 interview on the Peter Schiff radio show, Nugent stated, “I drive the left batty. My mere existence causes them much and anguish so I couldn’t be more proud … We could go on and on about the virtual insanity of this Democrat, leftist, socialist liberal cult of denial … I’ve spent too much time with the heroes of the military, and especially the heart-wrenching moments where we salute flag-draped coffins, who have died because they sacrificed everything for the U.S. Constitution and what it stands for. It’s as simple as that. And we have a government so out of control, so corrupt, so abusive of power and so unjust and illogical and anti-American in their every thought and action that I am dedicated more and more patriots across this country to show respect for these heroes of the military that sacrificed everything for the Constitution while our government offends the Constitution that they’ve taken an oath and avowed to.” Nugent, by his own account, avoided being drafted for the Vietnam War in the 1970s by taking controlled substances and smearing his body with feces before a fitness exam. In the interview, Nugent added, “The importance of focusing on the right to keep and bear arms really is the deciding factor in America versus the rest of the world. If the people in power, [New York Mayor] Michael Bloomberg, [House Minority Leader] Nancy Pelosi, [Senator] Dianne Feinstein, [Attorney General] Eric Holder, when the people in power are dedicated to flagrantly, blatantly, unflinchingly, to force American citizens into unarmed helplessness and that’s their agenda, the Pelosis and the Eric Holders and the [President] Barack Obamas of the world, they don’t wanna save lives. They don’t care about reducing crime. They are absolutely obsessed with their hatred for firearms and the freedom that goes with it … It is gun-free zones, it is [Senator] Barbara Boxer’s dream, it is Dianne Feinstein’s and Barack Obama’s dream called the gun-free zone where the most innocent lives are slaughtered every time … Unarmed and helpless is an irresponsible and suicidal condition. If you believe that being unarmed and helpless is a desirable condition, then quite honestly, you have no soul. You must not respect the gift of life. You must not care about your family’s life.” Despite Nugent’s claims, one study found that only one-third of mass shootings (in which four or more innocents are killed) occurring between January 2009 and January 2013 occurred in “gun-free zones.”
In a January 4, 2024 radio interview on the Rusty Humphries show, Nugent spoke about the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut in which 20 first-grade students and six adults were killed. Nugent stated, “We must all finally demand that we ban the environment where all these violent attacks and murders take place, and Rusty, they always take place in gun-free zones. What kind of mongrel would want more gun-free zones.” Humphries replied, “Well, it appears to be the entire Democratic Party.” Nugent then remarked, “That would be the mongrels, yes.” Despite Nugent’s claims, one study found that only one-third of mass shootings (in which four or more innocents are killed) occurring between January 2009 and January 2013 occurred in “gun-free zones.”
In a January 3, 2024 radio interview on KMOX, a St. Louis radio station, Nugent spoke about the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut in which 20 first-graders and 6 adults were killed. He stated, “Anyone who would think that by increasing the environment, increasing the circumstances by which these horrific slaughters have taken place, 100% of the time. Gun-free zones are where these slaughters occur. What kind of mongrel—[New York] Mayor [Mike] Bloomberg—what kind of subhuman punk—[California Senator] Dianne Feinstein—would dare request more gun-free zones?” Despite Nugent’s claims, one study found that only one-third of mass shootings (in which four or more innocents are killed) occurring between January 2009 and January 2013 occurred in “gun-free zones.” Radio host Mark Reardon asked Nugent to respond to claims that individuals do not need semi-automatic assault weapons to hunt. Nugent replied, “You’d literally have to have traded your soul and your brain in for a sunbaked turd to make that kind of statement.”
In a January 2013 interview with Guns.com, Nugent stated, “I'm part of a very great experiment in self-government where we the people determine our own pursuit of happiness and our own individual freedom and liberty not to be confused with the Barack Obama gang who believes in we the sheeple and actually is attempting to re-implement the tyranny of King George that we escaped from in 1776. And if you want another Concord Bridge, I got some buddies.” Nugent was referring to the Revolutionary War Battle of Concord, which was fought on the North Bridge. Nugent continued, stating, “But here is what is wrong with America today … The President of the United States goes to the Vietnam Memorial Wall and pretends to honor 58,000 American heroes who died fighting communism and then he hires, appoints and associates with communists. He pretends to pay honor to men who died fighting communism, and then he hangs out with, hires and appoints communists. He is an evil, dangerous man who hates America and hates freedom. And we need to fix this as soon as possible.” There is no evidence that President Obama has ever hired a communist. As for Nugent, he admitted evading the draft for the Vietnam War by taking controlled substances and smearing his body with feces before a fitness exam.
On August 14, 2012, at a performance in Chicago, Illinois, Nugent stated, “Freedom ain’t f--kin’ free. And I tell you what, all my friends in the military, I bow. I bow to you. I will use every ounce of spirit, energy, and attitude I have, to use the freedoms you provided at great sacrifice, to get these criminal cocksuckers out of the White House … There’s a soldier in a box. There’s an airmen with no legs. There’s a marine with his skin burned off. There’s a Navy hero with no arms. They did it fighting for the Constitution, while our President [Barack Obama] wipes his f--kin’ a-- with the Constitution … So, I will use that freedom to get people to get their head out of their a—and tell [U.S. Attorney General] Eric Holder, ‘you’re under arrest mother--ker … Hey Obama, go to Cuba and organize some f--kin’ communities.” As Nugent and his band-mates performed a reenactment of the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima during World War II, Nugent stated, “The whole world sucks, but America still sucks less … Semper fi mother--kers.” After the reenactment, Nugent and the rest of his band held up assault style rifles.
Johnny Nugent (Board Member)
In May 2011, the Indiana Supreme Court held that individuals do not have a right to use force to resist police officers who enter a home illegally. The ruling, which is consistent with laws in most other states, precipitated an increase in threats against police officers and judges. The Indiana Supreme Court ruled that a civil lawsuit against a police department was preferable to a violent confrontation when the legality of a police visit is in dispute. Nugent, who vowed to fight the ruling in the state legislature, said, “Hoosiers should not feel powerless in their own homes. They must be able to protect themselves and their families when they think it’s needed.”
In 2003, Nugent supported legislation that would have required public schools in Indiana to conspicuously display the words, “In God We Trust.”
In 2002, Nugent was arrested for driving under the influence. He registered a blood alcohol content of .13, which is well over Indiana’s .08 limit. Police stopped Nugent after receiving a report that he was driving erratically. Nugent apologized for his conduct, but also said that he “felt fine” and that he “didn't really drink any more wine at dinner than regularly.”
In 1997, Nugent sponsored legislation to ban same-sex marriages in Indiana. The bill was signed into law that year.
In 1996, Nugent led opposition to a proposed piece of legislation that would have “made it illegal for adults to leave a loaded handgun where children could have easy access to it.”
Johnny Nugent has served in the Indiana State Senate since 1978 and is a former Republican Majority Floor Leader.
Richard Pearson (Nominating Committee Member)
In a December 17, 2023 interview with the Chicago-Sun Times, Pearson spoke about the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 first-graders and six adults were killed. Pearson stated, “The problem we have is a gun-free zone. We have a gun-free zone around a school. Every crazy person knows that. And so, the gun-free zone is like a magnet for the lunatics. He or she knows there won’t be any resistance there … Had there been a teacher who was armed, this wouldn’t have happened.” Despite Pearson’s claim, one study found that only one-third of mass shootings (in which four or more innocents are killed) occurring between January 2009 and January 2013 occurred in “gun-free zones.”
In a November 2, 2023 interview for Campus Campaign, Pearson stated, “The firearms are the basis of freedom in the United States. Firearms are what got our freedom and firearms are what maintains our freedom. Those who are deprived of their use, generally fall under the control of the government. In the United States, there is one thing that we know. That is, the government can’t protect [you] and if it gets in a tough spot, it won’t protect you. The only thing you can do is protect yourself … We own arms to resist any type of take over, and we will do that.”
Controversial Actions and Statements
Controversial Actions and Statements:
Controversial Actions and Statements:
Jim Porter (President)
On December 4, 2013, during an interview with NRA News, Porter claimed, "People are not interested in this government going into their records. That's why we are so concerned about everything they are doing to register people in firearms. Even when you go to register for Medicare or under these new programs they ask intrusive questions about—that they have no business asking, they invade your privacy, and they also are asking questions about whether or not you have firearms in homes." In fact, no such question about gun ownership is included in the Medicare enrollment application.
During an interview on NRA News on May 16, 2013, Porter suggested Presidents Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter held sweeping anti-gun views, stating, “You look at the so-called discussion that you’re having now, it’s the same discussion we were having in 1968, when that Congress and that President wanted to disarm the American citizenry. It’s the same arguments demonizing gun owners, demonizing law-abiding citizens who are going to work every day, paying their taxes, following the law and they’re still the ones where they’re concentrating their regulation on instead of dealing with the problems the criminal presents. President Nixon tried to take guns, President Carter [tried], so this conversation is certainly not new." Porter was making reference to the 1968 Gun Control Act, which established categories of prohibited firearms purchasers (i.e., convicted felons, substance abusers, those under active restraining orders, etc.), which the NRA supported. Neither Presidents Nixon nor Carter pursued any major gun violence prevention initiatives during their time in office.
On May 5, 2013, speaking at the NRA’s annual convention, Porter told those in attendance, "President Barack Obama is AWOL on virtually every critical threat facing this nation. He’s AWOL on border security. He’s AWOL on the deficit. He’s AWOL on national defense. He’s AWOL on terrorism. But there’s one issue where Obama is not AWOL—gun control. But there is something Obama will never understand. You, me, our friends, neighbors, co-workers, colleagues, and family, and the larger family of patriots who know that the Second Amendment—the freedom of our Republic—trumps the Chicago political machine and its gun ban agenda every time." Porter went on to say, “Revenge is what is motivating the President's unrelenting attacks on gun owners today … His step-at-a-time gun owner registration under the guise of universal background checks.” Porter’s reference to universal background checks came two weeks after a Senate vote on background check legislation that contained multiple, explicit prohibitions against the creation of a federal database of gun purchasers. The NRA opposed the legislation, citing the same false claim as Porter.
On May 4, 2013, in his first act as NRA president, Porter told attendees at the NRA’s annual convention that it was their responsibility to wage a new “culture war.” Porter’s words echoed Charlton Heston, the NRA’s President from 1998-2003, who stoked controversy with a series of culture war speeches that were described as “bigoted” and “homophobic” by critics.
Jim Porter (First Vice President)
Tracing the history of the NRA, Porter added, “You know, the NRA was just a glorified shooting club up until about 1968. At that time, Thomas Dodd, father of Chris Dodd, was a Senator, and Stuart Symington, and some other Senators, got together and they tried to ban all firearm ownership. And we were able to craft a compromise.” The legislation to which Porter is referring to, the Gun Control Act of 1968, never included any provision to ban firearm ownership. Senator Dodd and other supporters did reach a compromise with the NRA prior to the bill’s passage, but provisions that were lost in that compromise included federal licensing of gun owners, federal registration of gun and ammunition sales, and a complete ban on mail-order and interstate gun and ammunition sales.
Addressing the administration of President Barack Obama, Porter stated, “I get so sick and tired of all these people with this fake president that we got who wants to say, ‘Well, you know he hadn’t done anything bad for gun owners.’ I say, let me tell you something bad that he’s done. His entire administration is anti-gun, anti-freedom, anti-Second Amendment.” Porter accused U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder of being “rabidly un-American” and involved with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in “trying to kill the Second Amendment at the United Nations.” He explained, “Right in the United Nations today, they have an initiative that would make it illegal for individuals all over the world to own firearms. And that’s what they’re passing. And that’s what this administration is supporting.” In truth, the U.N. Small Arms Treaty to which Porter is referring would set only international standards for the export of conventional weapons—leaving domestic laws regulating the possession of firearms untouched.
Finally, Porter warned, “The whole authority and the power of that administration is to disarm each and every one of us sitting here.” “The President of the United States—Let me tell you the danger of re-electing this man,” he told his audience, explaining that one vote at the Supreme Court “stood between freedom and tyranny” in the Second Amendment cases of District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago. The Court, in Heller, held for the first time in U.S. history that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to firearm ownership for self defense in the home; striking down D.C.’s handgun ban. In McDonald, the Court held that the Second Amendment, as interpreted in Heller, applied to the States through the Due Process Clause.
In a May 1, 2023 interview with NRA News at the NRA Convention in Pittsburgh, Porter told host Cam Edwards, “I get a little antsy when we’re in there at the actual meeting. I want to get out and go to the store and play with all the toys like everybody else,” referring to the firearms displays in the convention’s exhibit hall. When Edwards asked him to address some of the “threats facing gun owners” Porter replied, “We’re still being treated like second class citizens by the United States government. And we’re going to make a concerted effort to really put some teeth into these legal victories that we’ve had. We still get nickel and dimed on some of these legal issues, and there’s no excuse in it … Now the trend is, with our enemies when they go into court, and the United States government’s position is this, is that the right to keep and bear arms is merely to keep a pistol for self defense in your home. I mean, you know, how silly is that? But, each and every road block they throw up in front of us, we’re going to knock it down and we’re going to more aggressively go after these impediments put up in front of us … There’s a small minority of people who happen to be governing now that are not for anyone possessing or having firearms other than themselves and it’s really an elitist type of viewpoint. But, we’re going to be more aggressive in bringing home these legal victories in Heller and McDonald to the rank and file member and to the everyday citizen in this country.” The Supreme Court, in District of Columbia v. Heller, held for the first time in U.S. history that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to firearm ownership for self defense in the home. In McDonald v. Chicago, the Court held that the Second Amendment, as interpreted in Heller, applied to the States through the Due Process Clause.
On April 30, 2011, in a speech at the NRA Convention in Pittsburgh, Porter stated, “Just in case there are any elected officials or candidates listenin’, and the White House better hear us, there’s a big election coming. And you’ve got about a year and half to prove you’re on the right side of freedom … We’re vigilant. Always have been, always will be … We elect freedom’s friends and set out to defeat her enemies.”
In an interview with NRA News at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. on February 11, 2011, Porter stated, “When you got all the pig’s squealing, you know you’re doin’ somethin’ right. And that’s what we’re doin’ here. The more good things that we do, the more the opposition hollers and screams about it. You know we’re doin’ the right thing when we have them so worked up.” When asked about legislation promoted by the NRA that would force states to recognize the concealed handgun permits of other states, Porter said, “The government cannot protect us. People want the right to protect themselves, and it is just a basic human right.” Turning to the topic of the November 2012 elections, Porter stated, “Elections do have consequences and it’s vitally important to get a president in there that’s gonna appoint more people in the vein of John Roberts and Sam Alito rather than Elena Kagan … I think everybody got a wake up call after the Democrats took over Congress in 2006, and I think they had a huge shock when President Obama was elected in 2008. Most folks never would believe that there would be a run on our rights, our individual rights like there’s been in this country. And people are so concerned that where this government wants to take us is to a European socialistic, bureaucratic type of government. And it’s been a wake up call.”
In a January 5, 2024 interview with NRA News, Porter responded to a statement that no restrictive gun laws were being enacted under the administration of President Barack Obama, stating, “You say that nothin’ has happened, but you look in the State Department and the issue of the Korean military weapons, that they wouldn’t allow to be imported back into this country. I mean, how can you imagine the M-1’s and M-14’s that were used to fight for freedom in Korea in the Second World War and they wanna sit there and have the gall to tell you, ‘Well, those guns could be dangerous, so we’re not gonna allow them to come back into this country.’ Well, you know, I just refute the premise that gun owners are second class citizens.” Porter then turned to the subject of Mexican President Felipe Caldéron’s May 2011 speech before Congress in which Caldéron asked lawmakers to consider reinstating the Assault Weapons Ban which was allowed to expire in 2004. Porter commented, “I can’t think of anything that really makes the rank and file American, and to sit there, as you say, and to applaud Caldéron who’s talkin’ about our country and people apologizing for that, and I think a lot of that spoke in [the 2010 Congressional elections]. People just refuse to believe that we have anything in this country to do to the problems that you have in Mexico. Mexico has been having problems for over a hundred years, and it’s nothing new.”
Jay Printz (Board Member)
Printz is a member of a number of Facebook groups that feature racist, misogynistic and/or violent imagery:
- “The Unorganized Militia.” The group features a number of violent images suggesting that insurrection might be necessary against a “tyrannical” federal government, including a poster that urges group members to perform a citizen’s arrest on President Barack Obama for treason.
- “I hate it when I wake up in the morning and Barack Obama is President.” This anti-Obama group features a large number of racist depictions of the President, as well as a picture of a sign above a toilet that reads “Free Obama Dolls.”
- “Impeach Nancy Pelosi.” The Facebook group includes a large number of sexist representations of the former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, including one doctored photo where she is depicted as a prostitute.
- “Obama’s Healthcare Plan is Unconstitutional.” This anti-healthcare reform Facebook page features a number of racist representations of the President, including one doctored photo where he is portrayed as an aborigine witch doctor with a bone in his nose.
- “SICK of Muslim intimidation – F Mohammed.” This virulently racist Facebook page features a myriad of offensive images, including one of a plane crashing into Muslims gathered at Mecca for the Haj pilgrimage. The group also features an image captioned, “Muslim Mothers: Teaching children to become murderers for thousands of years.”
In September 2011, Printz posted a photo. for his Facebook profile picture that depicts the barrel of a revolver facing the viewer. The caption on the image reads: "Liberals: This is the only view you need to see."
In September 2011, Printz posted a photo for his Facebook profile picture that depicts the barrel of a revolver facing the viewer. The caption on the image reads: "Liberals: This is the only view you need to see." View the screen captures..
On January 16, 2010, Printz wrote a blog for the American Daughter Media Center and suggested that a states’ rights argument could be used to invalidate the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. Printz wrote, “The only way the Dems can [implement health care reform] is to drag out the constitutional challenges until Obama, in a second term as president, may have a chance to replace two conservative Supreme Court justices with liberals. The American public must deny Obama a second term, and the certain destruction of states’ rights.”
Three days after U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) died of brain cancer on August 25, 2009, Printz posted a photo on his Facebook Wall of a hearse driving off a bridge, captioned “Kennedy Funeral.” Below the image, Printz commented, “This is shown with the same amount of respect that the senator had for Mary Jo Kopechne.” On the day that Printz posted the photo, Kennedy was lying in repose at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum.
On June 29, 2023 Printz posted a photo on Facebook that depicts George W. Bush and Dick Cheney using the waterboarding torture technique on then-Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi. Below the image, Printz commented, “I had a dream last night!!”
On June 25, 2009, Printz posted a photo on his Facebook Wall that reads, “You think healthcare is expensive now? Just wait till it’s FREE!”
Printz posted a photo on Facebook on June 24, 2023 that depicts two clouds with their middle fingers extended. He captioned it, “Hey Al Gore, Here is what Mother Nature says about your global warming.”
On June 23, 2009, Printz posted an image on Facebook that reads, “Liberalism is a mental disease.”
On June 23, 2009, Printz posted an image on his Facebook Wall that asks, “Why should I pay for your healthcare?”
In a March 23, 2023 blog for the American Daughter Media Center entitled, “What Obama Has Just Done,” Printz quoted an article that stated, “I guarantee you we will now be descending more and more into the abyss of socialism and marxism. On March 19, 2023 [President Barack] Obama had the Treasury invest 1 trillion dollars that we do not have. The fed created this out of thin air in an imitation of Germany in the 1920s and 30s. ALERT: Price of Gold up $80 almost immediately, everyone is abandoning he (sic) dollar and we are about to be slammed like a third world nation.”
On a November 5, 2008, the day after Barack Obama was elected president of the United States, Printz authored a blog for the American Daughter Media Center. The blog promoted a conspiracy theory that President Obama would implement a massive gun confiscation scheme. Printz wrote, “Well, my friends, it looks like we had better put in a good supply of powder and lead!!!!” and posted an image that stated, “When they come for your guns…give them your bullets!”
In an October 15, 2023 blog for the American Daughter Media Center, Printz wrote, “The FBI reports that justifiable homicides are at their highest in more than a decade. This includes killings by police officers acting in the line of duty and killings by private citizens acting in self-defense. I say this is good news. Criminals BEWARE!!!!”
In an October 12, 2023 blog entitled, “More on Global Warming…”, Printz implied that an early snow in Boise, Idaho refuted the phenomenon of climate change.
In a September 6, 2023 blog for the American Daughter Media Center entitled, “Fraternal Order of Police Endorses McCain!” Printz wrote, “Just to let you all know, there’s a thin blue line behind McCain.”
Printz contributed a July 8, 2023 blog to the American Daughter Media Center win which he praised a t-shirt that read, “The difference between [then-Democratic presidential candidate Barack] Obama and [Al Qaeda leader] Osama [bin Laden] is just a little B.S.” The shirt, which featured a picture of Barack Obama in a turban, made a play on the similarity between the spelling of Obama and Osama.
In a November 1, 2023 blog on the American Daughter Media Center, Printz called U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-MA) a “worthless piece of human debris.”
Printz wrote an October 27, 2023 blog for the American Daughter Media Center entitled “They Never Give Up,” in which he stated that the United Nations “just never stop in their attempts to disarm us all.”
Printz reposted an article entitled “Rape of Europe” that called Muslim immigrants, “plagues that will turn the old continent [Europe] uninhabitable” on his American Daughter Media Center blog. The article featured an interview with Henryk M. Broder, who compared acceptance of multiculturalism to “the stupid blonde woman author with whom [Broder] recently debated. She said that it is sometimes better to let yourself be raped than to risk serious injuries while resisting. She said it is sometimes better to avoid fighting than run the risk of death.” Commenting on the article, Printz added, “This is not good news. But it should be no surprise to the socialist, everybody’s the same, no borders, muticultualist (sic), left-wing liberal [so-and-sos] that are trying to ruin this country.”
In a May 22, 2023 blog on the American Daughter Media Center, Printz praised NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre’s book, The Global War On Your Guns, which claimed that the United Nations was plotting to ban private firearm ownership in the United States. Printz wrote, “The United Nations is quietly, insidiously planning to strip American citizens of their Second Amendment rights, which are the keystone in the Bill of Rights. Because without the rights of citizens to keep and bear arms, all of the other rights can easily be taken away.”
Todd Rathner (Board Member)
On February 1, 2013, Rathner tweeted, “The Million #Muslim March???? This is what this country has become. #Muslims marching on Washington on 9/11/2023 SICK!” Rathner was referring to the American Muslim Political Action Committee’s (AMPAC) planned “Million Muslim March” on September 11, 2013, the 12th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. AMPAC’s website stated that the march was planned to “demand that our civil rights be protected by our government.” In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Muslims experienced discrimination, harassment and violence in the United States.
On October 8, 2012, Rathner tweeted, “#RomneyCampaignin3Words Gonna Whip Obama #ObamaCampaignin3Words Ouch My Ass!” Rathner was referring to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama.
On September 25, 2012, Rathner tweeted “[Senate Majority Leader]@HarryReid is a disgusting human. How dare he attack [Republican presidential nominee] @MittRomney on #Mormonism. Reid is a disgrace. Proves #Dems will do anything to win.” Rathner was referring to a comment Harry Reid, a Mormon, made in September 2012 in which he agreed with a blogger who accused GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney of having "sullied" Mormonism with comments made in a hidden camera video. At a private fundraiser in May 2012, Romney was recorded saying, “There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it—that that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. ... These are people who pay no income tax. ... [M]y job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."
On August 27, 2012, Rathner tweeted, “Calling illegal aliens 'undocumented' is like calling rape 'legitimate'#illegalaliens, #immigration, #gop2012, #dnc2012.” Rathner was referring to controversial remarks made by U.S. Representative Todd Adkin (R-MO). On August 19, 2012, Akin commented on the issue of pregnancy induced by rape, stating, “It seems to be, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, it’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down.”
On August 26, 2012, Rathner tweeted, “#IfWeHadARealMedia we would know that #Islam is not even close to being a religion of peace!”
On August 22, 2012, Rathner tweeted at the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV), “Islam wants us all dead.”
On August 3, 2012, Rathner tweeted, “@davidaxelrod When are you gonna tell your crook of a boss to release his college transcripts, fast and furious documents, & his birth cert?” David Axelrod is the senior strategist for President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign. A report released by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General on September 19, 2023 found that there is no evidence that Attorney General Eric Holder was aware of the tactics used in “Fast and Furious” until after it was concluded in 2011.
On August 2, 2012, Rathner tweeted, “#HarryReid is a dirt bag shill for [President Barack] #Obama, hopefully he has only a few more months as [Senate] majority leader.”
On July 22, 2012, Rathner tweeted, “A society in which life has been so cheapened a sicko can shoot up a movie theatre & the President keeps on fundraising #LiberalsBuiltThat.” Rathner was referring to a mass shooting that had occurred in Aurora, Colorado two days earlier. In that shooting, severely mentally ill gunman James Holmes killed 12 people and wounded 58 others. Holmes wore full body armor during the attack and was armed with two handguns, a shotgun, and an AR-15 assault rifle with a 100-round drum magazine. All of this equipment was legally purchased.
On July 8, 2012, Rathner tweeted, “So do all these dead Jihadis have to share 72 virgins, or do they each get a fresh set of 72? I am so confused...” and linked to a video entitled “Hellfire missile sends a Taliban fighter to his 72 virgins.” Rathner was referring to a passage of the Qur’an which states that the prophet Muhammad said, “The smallest reward for the people of Heaven is an abode where there are eighty thousand servants and seventy-two [virgins].”
On July 2, 2012, Rathner tweeted, “My fellow Jews better wake up soon, the self hating [U.S. Representative and Democratic National Committee Chair] Debbie Wasserman Schultz has allied herself with today's Nazi’s.” Debbie Wasserman Schultz is Jewish. One of the “allies” Rathner was referring to was Evelyn Garcia, a critic of U.S. military support for Israel and a Palm Beach County representative to the Democratic National Committee.
On June 5, 2012, Rathner Tweeted, “[Wisconsin Governor Scott] Walker is gonna smack down the unions in the Wisconsin recall election tonight. Public sector unions should be against the law.” He Tweeted again later that day, “Scott Walker and Republicans win in what looks like a landslide in Wisconsin Recall handing the unions their greedy heads on a plate!”
On May 25, 2012, Rathner tweeted, “If SECupp was my sister Larry Flynt would be lying in the street bleeding out.” Sarah Elizabeth Cupp (S.E. Cupp) is a conservative political commentator and writer. Rathner was referring to a faked explicit photo of S.E. Cupp which appeared in Hustler Magazine, which is owned by Larry Flynt. Flynt released a statement about the photo, saying, “That’s satire. I’m able to publish this because of the Supreme Court case I won in 1984, Flynt v. Falwell.” Hustler Magazine v. Falwell was a 1988 U.S. Supreme Court decision that held that the First Amendment protects parodies of public figures as long as they could not be reasonably taken as true.
On August 8, 2011, Rathner tweeted, “Recovering and catching up after ALEC in Nawlins. It was fun to see all my fellow lobbyists and legislator friends.” The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) was founded by conservative stalwart Paul Weyrich in 1973 and provides model legislation to politicians. While ostensibly a nonpartisan organization, the model legislation offered by ALEC promotes only a conservative agenda. According to The Nation, “ALEC’s priorities for the 2011 session included bills to privatize education, break unions, deregulate major industries, [and] pass voter ID laws.”
On June 16, 2011, Rathner tweeted, “TUSD [Tucson Unified School District] smacked down over La Raza program. When will we get America back in our schools?” Rathner was referring to an optional course in Mexican-American Studies offered by the Tucson Unified School District, which is 60% Latino. The course—which is open to students of any ethnicity—may be discontinued under a 2011 Arizona state law, HB 2281, that bans classes designed for students of a particular ethnic group. Defenders of the course—which has been tied to higher academic achievement—have filed a lawsuit alleging that HB 2281 violates the free speech and due process protections of the U.S. Constitution.
Just weeks after the January 8, 2024 shooting rampage in Tuscon that left six dead and 13 wounded, Rathner lobbied aggressively in the Arizona legislature to have the Colt single action Army revolver declared the state’s official firearm. The legislation was widely criticized, including by lawmakers (Republican state Senator Adam Driggs called the legislation an “advertisement for Colt”) and Native Americans with the Navajo Nation, who said the Colt was a tool used by white settlers to push them off their ancestral lands. "If you want to symbolize something and shove that something...in their faces, this is what it is," said Albert Hale, an ex-Navajo president. "The gun symbolized the extinction of those Indians who were here." The bill was signed into law by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer in April 2011.
On December 3, 2010, Rathner tweeted, “Looks like Campus Carry will be a big issue in AZ this year. Maybe people in these defenseless vicitms [sic] zones will now have some protection.” He was referring to SB 1467, a bill that sought to force the states’ public colleges and universities to allow students and faculty to carry guns on their campuses. After being amended substantially, the bill was passed by the Arizona state legislature and sent to Republican Governor Jan Brewer. She vetoed the legislation on April 18, 2011, however, calling the bill “poorly written.” Among those who opposed SB 1467 were the following: the Arizona Board of Regents; the presidents and chiefs of police of the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, and Northern Arizona University, and; the Joint Council of Presidents of Arizona’s public community colleges and universities. "Guns have no place in schools," said Arizona State University President Michael Crow.
On February 22, 2011, Rather posted a photo on Facebook of a sign that prohibited eating, drinking, and smoking in a hearing room, and then complained that Spanish-speakers were not abiding by the sign. He also indicated that he doesn’t consider what Spanish-speakers eat to be real food.
On December 3, 2010, Rathner tweeted, “Looks like Campus Carry will be a big issue in AZ this year. Maybe people in these defenseless vicitms [sic] zones will now have some protection.” He was referring to SB 1467, a bill that sought to force the states’ public colleges and universities to allow students and faculty to carry guns on their campuses. After being amended substantially, the bill was passed by the Arizona state legislature and sent to Republican Governor Jan Brewer. She vetoed the legislation, however, who calling it “poorly written.” Among those who opposed SB 1467 were the following: the Arizona Board of Regents; the presidents and chiefs of police of the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, and Northern Arizona University, and; the Joint Council of Presidents of Arizona’s public community colleges and universities. "Guns have no place in schools," said Arizona State University President Michael Crow.
Rathner called then-MSNBC host Keith Olbermannn a “dirty Nazi” via Twitter on November 5, 1010.
On Election Day 2010, Rathner tweeted, “For some reason there were no Black Panthers at my polling place this morning. I don't think they'd do well intimidating anyone in AZ!” Rathner was referring to two members of the New Black Panther Party who were accused by conservative media outlets of intimidating voters outside a polling station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Election Day in 2008. No complaints of voter intimidation were ever received from individuals at that polling station, however, and a criminal investigation of the matter by the Department of Justice was dropped during the George W. Bush administration.
On November 18, 2010, Rathner tweeted, “The gov't will happily grab our private parts in the name of security, but won't violate the ‘rights’ of muslims for fear of offending them.”
On the eve of the November 2, 2023 congressional elections, Rathner tweeted, “Just hours till our "Hopey, Changey" experiement [sic] with socialism is over, I can almost hear the Constitution sighing with relief,” and, “I wonder how the ‘Astro Turf’ is gonna feel when [then-House Speaker] Nancy [Pelosi], [Senate Majority Leader] Harry [Reid], and BHO [President Barack Hussein Obama] land smack in the middle of it tomorrow.” Rathner was defending Tea Party organizations that had been accused of being “astroturf” (i.e., corporate-backed interests) rather than true grassroots groups. Hope and change were two persistent themes of Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.
As a result of Rathner’s efforts on behalf of the knife lobby, there are now no restrictions on the carrying of knives in Arizona and local municipalities are prohibited from enacting their own knife regulations. Even openly carrying a samurai sword in public is now legal in Arizona.
On March 25, 2010, Rathner posted a photo of then-First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Fidel Castro on his Facebook Wall with the caption “Well somebody's happy about Obamacare!” He was referring to the "Patient Affordability and Protection Act," which had been signed into law by President Barack Obama two days earlier.
On March 24, 2010, Rather posted an image on his Facebook Wall of a board game called “Obamopoly” (a parody of the popular game Monopoly). The game board suggests that the President can use a “Race Card” to “Get Off Scot-Free.” Other board squares rail against "Cap and Trade" legislation and "Socialized Medicine," and mock Americans who collect welfare.
Rathner lobbied for a 2005 bill that sought to allow concealed handgun permit holders in Arizona to carry loaded, concealed handguns into establishments that serve alcohol. The guns in bars bill was opposed by all major law enforcement organizations and a large segment of the tourism industry, including the Arizona Restaurant Association. The legislation was passed by the Arizona legislature, but subsequently vetoed by then-Governor Janet Napolitano, a Democrat. Rathner vowed that the legislation would come up again, and suggested that the Second Amendment rights of Arizona residents were being infringed upon if they could not carry guns into bars (in reality, laws prohibiting such behavior date back to Arizona’s Frontier Era. The bill did come up again, and was eventually signed into law in 2009 by Arizona’s Republican Governor, Jan Brewer. It took effect on September 30, 2009.
Rathner posted a photo of President Barack Obama made to look like the Batman villain The Joker on his Facebook Wall on August 4, 2009. At the bottom of the image is the word “SOCIALISM.” The image has been denounced as racist for showing an African American in “whiteface” in a reversal of traditional minstrel roles. A writer for LA Weekly commented, “The only thing missing is a noose.”
The T. Jeffrey Safari Company is a participant in the NRA’s “round-up” program, which allows customers to round up their safari trip purchases to the next round dollar increment, with the excess funds going directly to the NRA.
Kayne Robinson (Executive Director of NRA General Operations Division)
Commenting on the 2000 presidential election, Robinson promoted the candidacy of Republican George W. Bush, stating, “If we win, we'll have a Supreme Court that will back us to the hilt. If we win, we'll have a president … where we work out of their office. Unbelievably friendly relations.”
Wayne Anthony Ross (Board Member)
In March 2011, five members of the Alaska Peacemakers Militia, including leader Francis Cox, were arrested for planning to kill Alaska State Troopers and a federal judge. The group—which had stockpiled firearms and explosives—advocated the violent secession of Alaska from the United States. Five days after Cox and his co-conspirators were arrested, Alaska Citizens Militia "supply sergeant" William Fulton disappeared—but not before signing over his two houses to Ross, who in 2009 shared the stage with Cox at a Peacemakers meeting. In July 2011, it was reported that authorities were looking for Fulton, who they believe supplied weapons to Cox’s militia.
Ross opposed federal efforts to protect polar bears and beluga whales during a 2009 confirmation hearing before Alaska’s Senate Judiciary Committee, stating, “We were promised in the statehood contract that we would get a certain percentage of the resources we would develop in the state and then suddenly the federal government seems to be closing the door and preventing us from reaching those resources.”
During Ross’ 2009 confirmation hearings for the position of Alaska Attorney General, a woman testified that Ross made sexist comments at an Alaska Women and Children in Crisis panel discussion. Ross reportedly said that domestic violence was on the rise because the equal rights movement had emasculated men. He also opined that many allegations of domestic abuse are fabricated. Former Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Richard Burton called for Ross to withdraw his nomination and wrote a letter saying that Ross “speak[s] and act[s] like the kind of bully I met many times when responding to domestic violence calls—some of the most dangerous situations police officers are often in.”
The Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) strongly opposed Ross’ nomination as attorney general because he had actively advocated against giving native Alaskans a preference in using certain bodies of waters for subsistence fishing (over those who fish for sport). AFN Co-Chairman Tim Towarak said then-Governor Sarah Palin’s nomination of Ross was equivalent to “rubbing our face on the ground, saying, 'Here, take this.’”
In April 2008, Ross emailed then-Governor Sarah Palin to ask for “a personal favor.” Ross wanted the governor to get Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to issue a permit to a construction company owned by his friend, Rex Close. DNR had initially denied the permit because of environmental concerns (Close wanted to place an asphalt plant in the flood plain of a river). Palin had Randall Ruaro, her special assistant, look into the matter. Shortly thereafter, the Department of Transportation (DOT) helped Close appeal the permit denial. DOT officials told Palin’s staff that they were “very confident” the appeal would be successful. Palin told a staffer that she “really couldn't follow all that Ross was requesting help on” but had her staff work to assist him nonetheless.
Ross, who has frequently opposed the efforts of Alaska’s Native population to obtain greater autonomy, complained in December 1996, “People are being taught to be more proud of being a Native than of being an Alaskan.”
In March 1993, Ross described gay individuals as “degenerates.” Commenting on a proposed ordinance that would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, Ross said, “This bill seems to give extra rights to a group whose lifestyle was a crime only a few years ago, and whose beliefs are certainly immoral in the eyes of anyone with some semblance of intelligence and moral character.”
In December 1991, Ross awarded a student artist an “'A' for courage” for a project consisting of “a hooded and robed stick figure of a KKK member, bearing a cross in one hand and a flag in the other.” He criticized an African American student who objected to the “art” project, saying she “was obviously letting her inner hostilities rise to the surface.” In the editorial, Ross claimed that his membership in sham civil rights organization Congress on Racial Equality precluded him from being a racist.
In 1991 at a meeting of Dads Against Discrimination at an Anchorage, Alaska Denny’s restaurant, Ross was overheard saying, “If a guy can’t rape his wife…who’s he gonna rape?” and “There wouldn't be an issue with domestic violence if women would learn to keep their mouth shut.”
After the National Park Service (NPS) expressed concern about “people vs. bear confrontations” at an Alaska fishing camp, Ross wrote a 1990 op-ed entitled, “Bears Will Be Bears—Can We Allow It?” In the piece, he suggested, “All you have to do is shoot a few of the bears! The cost of the ammo should be less than ten dollars. You can then tack those bear hides up on the wall of your headquarters, which would look real nice, and the rest of the bears would get the message to leave people alone … But when, through its unnatural policies, the NPS causes the bears to feel that human beings cannot or will not fight back, I draw the line. Bears need to continue to realize that human beings are dangerous, just like we realize that bears are dangerous.”
In response to the Exxon-Valdez oil spill, Ross wrote a September 1989 op-ed titled “It’s Time We Quit Crying Over the Oil Spill.” “We see almost every day, the same films of what appears to be the same oil-soaked duck pulled out of the water,” he wrote. “The state claims to have a number of refrigerated vans filled with about 30,000 carcasses of waterfowl killed by oil. No doubt some of these birds were casualties of oil. But had several thousand people combed Prince William Sound for dead waterfowl any prior summer, as they did in the summer of 1988 [sic], there is no doubt that an equal number of dead birds could have been accumulated.”
Ross authored a poem titled “The City of Brotherly Love”, where he complained about a trip that he and his wife took to Philadelphia. “Wished I had my .45 with me/In the City of Brotherly Love?/While returning to the hotel/Through city squalor/Two separate panhandlers/Asked me for a dollar,” is among the poem’s passages. In another Ross poem, “Comments of an Alaskan Attorney in California on his Hotel’s ‘Continental’ Breakfasts,” he wrote, “In this land of fruits of nuts/I’d just like to kick some butts.”
Ron Schmeits (Board Member)
After promoting the conspiracy theory that the United Nations is attempting to ban private firearm ownership in the United States in a February 2011 column for America’s 1st Freedom, Schmeits wrote, “Thomas Paine once said, ‘It is the responsibility of the patriot to protect his country from its government.’ NRA will heed his warning even if no one else will … If foreign powers insist upon pushing their idea of ‘global norms’ across our borders, NRA will be the first to alert and mobilize the American people to stop them.” The Paine quote used by Schmeits is bogus—it has no legitimate source.
During a speech at the 2011 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Schmeits said, “You look at a national level, we had 90-some changes [during the November 2010 elections] when you look at both houses [of the U.S. Congress], and you look at the state levels, it’s between 600 and 800 [in state legislatures]. When you look at the numbers out there that have changed for, you know, kind of the freedom rights of the citizens of the United States. You look at CPAC … you know, CPAC I think has gained more national news as we go along. We’ve got some of the greatest individuals making presentations here. You know, we have [Mitt] Romney who will be later on today. Donald Trump will be here. You know, so we got some people and then we look out at the crowd. That’s the future of our political system is those young people sitting out there listening and being a part of this great function that we’re at here today.”
Schmeits wrote a “President’s Column” for the November 2010 issue of America’s 1st Freedom, in which he proclaimed: “The political class in Washington today wants to make you dependent upon them. They want to be the sole source, or controlling authority, over every aspect of your life. They want you to be beholden to them—so that you’ll vote them back into office for fear of losing their supposed ‘benevolence.’ And everything a firearm represents—independence, self-sufficiency, personal security, even the notion of a free and armed society—goes against everything they want to impose on this country.”
In a September 2009 column for America’s 1st Freedom, Schmeits wrote, “You’ve heard how ‘animal rights’ radicals have tried to booby-trap deer stands, vandalize duck blinds, poison hunting dogs and drive game away from hunters.”
Tom Selleck (Board Member)
In a contentious interview on “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” in 1999, Selleck indicated that gun violence is a price we must pay for freedom in the United States by saying, “What I’m talking about is, are we a responsible enough society, in terms of television, in terms of guns, in terms of everything else, to be this free? That should frame the debate. My answer, unfortunately, in this culture, is ‘probably not.’ But I’m going to go down with the civil liberties ship.” He also asked O’Donnell, “Do you really think the Second Amendment is in the Constitution to guarantee hunting and target shooting?”
In 1995, Selleck told Cigar Aficionado magazine, “There are a lot of things about cigars I love because of the anarchist in me.” Regarding the antismoking movement, Selleck said, "Solutions to problems in a free society are messy. There are no magic bullets, no bumper-sticker solutions. If we want an authoritarian state, we can continue to do the kind of stuff we're doing now about smoking." Speaking more broadly about his philosophy, Selleck added, “I don't like to characterize anybody, but I think Liberals tend to have collectivist solutions. The twentieth century has been a collectivist century. Most of our solutions to social problems—even the term ‘social problems’—are collectivist. We've had this global experiment, and we're starting to see the end of the chain letter … It's just time to reassess things and say that maybe this idea of ‘the common good’ has to be translated through the individual.”
Selleck endorsed the Republican presidential candidate, U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), in 2008
John Sigler (Board Member)
On August 27, 2012, in an interview with NRA News, Sigler stated, “The [Republican Party] platform is going to be much different than you’ve ever seen in the past. There’s an entirely new section in the platform that’s never been there before. It’s called ‘Restoring Constitutional Government.’ And it’s not just the Second Amendment, it’s the Ninth Amendment, it’s the First Amendment, it’s all about restoring constitutional government. Of course [President] Barack Obama and [U.S. Attorney General] Eric Holder have been thumbing their noses at the constitution for the last four years. And for someone who claims to have been a constitutional law professor God save us from what [President Obama] might have been telling his students, because he doesn’t get it. The Second Amendment is alive and well in the platform. In fact, this is the strongest Second Amendment platform that I can ever remember … I think we’ve gotten just about everything in the platform, not just in this section but in other sections, that we can hope for … Let’s begin with the first line of the Second Amendment section, it says, ‘We uphold the right of individuals to keep and bear arms, a right which antedated the Constitution and was solemnly confirmed by the Second Amendment. We acknowledge, support, and defend the law-abiding citizen's God-given right of self-defense.’ And it goes on from there. It is a very, very strong statement that the Republican Party recognizes not just what we said in [D.C . v.] Heller and McDonald [v. Chicago] but that which we’ve always been saying here at the NRA and that is that without the Second Amendment there wouldn’t be a First [Amendment], without the Second Amendment we wouldn’t have the freedoms that we have today.” When asked what Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney needed to do in his convention speech, Sigler replied, “I think Governor Romney can and will explain to the American people his dream for the American future which is different from the [President Barack] Obama nightmare we’ve been living through … There is a vast difference between Mitt Romney’s vision of American and Barack Obama’s vision of America.” When asked if vice presidential picks matter, Sigler responded, “Oh, I think it matters a lot … Anybody who’s willing to stand up on the stump and make part of his speech that he’s a proud Roman Catholic deer hunter, man after my own heart … I think [Romney’s] choice of Paul Ryan, Congressman Ryan, is very, very loud testimony that he understands, that he gets it, that he understands that the Second Amendment is in fact the First Amendment when it comes to protecting the rights of the American people and our form of government … [President Barack Obama] and his administration have been a disaster for the United States and we cannot afford four more years of Barack Obama. We cannot afford not to win this election … This [Republican] Party is united behind the concept that Barack Obama has destroyed the American dream and turned it into an American nightmare and its time to return to the American dream and that Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney are the people to do it.” Sigler referred to two cases; District of Columbia v . Heller and McDonald v. Chicago. The Court, in Heller, held for the first time in U.S. history that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to firearm ownership for self defense in the home; striking down the District of Columbia’s handgun ban. In McDonald, the Court held that the Second Amendment, as interpreted in Heller, applied to the states through the Due Process Clause.
On November 8, 2023 Sigler, in his capacity as chair of the Delaware GOP, issued a statement about the “Occupy Wall Street” protests, which address increasing income disparity in America. Sigler was unhappy that the city of Wilmington, Delaware granted permits to protestors, writing, “I am very disappointed, but not surprised, that the City of Wilmington has allowed this so-called ‘occupation’ to go forward.” Additionally, Sigler claimed that the Occupy protest movement is tied to “selected radical and extremist causes, and certain left-wing organizations of questionable credentials.”
On September 25, 2011, Sigler attended and spoke at a “Take Back Our State Event” hosted by controversial Delaware radio personality Bill Colley. Three days before the event, Colley published an op-ed on the WGMD website—which was cross-posted on the hate website Aryan Nation—in which he compared death penalty opponents to “the liberal women of another generation who believed crawling into bed with exotic peoples was mission work. It wasn’t necessarily because you believed in equality; it was because it was the liberal version of White Man’s Burden. Heck, Dr. Stanley Ann Dunham [President Barack Obama’s mother] traveled the globe linking up with ‘savages’ and civilizing them in the sack! Her efforts even created a President of the United States.” He added, “I’m exhausted with the lists of hyphenated Americans and the people insisting they deserve a reparations payment because 200 years ago, 300 years ago, 400 years ago a guy who looked like me was mean to someone who looked like them. Where does it end? You want a reparations cheque? Fine, we’ll issue it in the form of airline tickets. We’ll send you off to a peaceful ancestral home. Much of the planet remains a lawless killing ground. You won’t even have juries and appeals. Some night when you’re sleeping a fellow looking a lot like you will creep across the compound and hack you to bits with a machete. Why? Because some warlord promised an extra ration of bush meat or some jewels or first dibs on the surviving 8 year old female children and it’s the law in most corners of the world.” Colley also Tweeted that African-Americans would be lynched and homosexuals would be burned at the event. The Delaware Liberal wrote that Sigler’s attendance—in his capacity as the chair of Delaware GOP—gave an air of legitimacy to a “racist” event.
In 2011, Sigler warned that there is a widespread effort amongst Democrats to abolish the Electoral College and replace it with the
popular vote. Sigler warned that using the popular vote to elect U.S. presidents “would lead to rule by tyranny.”
During an interview with NRA News at the 2011 NRA annual meeting, Sigler said, “Our education system in this country is not [teaching children to become informed voters.] Our parents need to do that. That’s one of the things that the NRA does really well, without getting into partisan politics, but just educating as to the history of this country, and what it is that we as citizens have a responsibility—not just a right to do, but a responsibility to do.”
Sigler spoke to NRA News on September 30, 2023 in support of the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act Improvements Act of 2010, a bill that increased the concealed carry privileges of retired law enforcement officers. He imagined a hypothetical scenario where, “If I have the right to carry, not just in my home state, but while I’m traveling, I could, if I needed to, stop that terrorist attack.” When asked if he had encountered any real-life situations where he wished he was carrying a concealed firearm, Sigler answered, “Probably about three or four months ago, I was coming around the corner, I had just come out of a store and was walking down the street, and ran face to face into a guy that I thought was still in jail. He posed no threat to me. But it came as a surprise. And guess where my hand went first thing? And it wasn’t there.” Speaking on the immigration issue, Sigler said, “It’s ridiculous. Every day that passes these folks down there find more and more reasons to hate America, when in fact they should be glad we’re north of their border.”
In a September 18, 2023 appearance on “NRA News,” Sigler said, “You and I both know there are only two reasons to register [private firearms]: one is to confiscate and the other is to tax.”
In the June 2009 edition of America’s 1st Freedom, Sigler wrote, “American firearm freedom is under attack on many fronts. Obama, Biden, Holder, Clinton Pelosi, Feinstein and other federal officials have evil designs on that freedom … They are all biding their time, waiting for the right opportunity to strike—and strike they will, unless we are united and prepared.”
At a Second Amendment rights rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 2009, Sigler proclaimed, “Gun registration leads to gun confiscation, as surely as thunder follows lightning.”
In the October 2008 edition of America’s 1st Freedom, Sigler told hunters, “People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Humane Society of the United States and other anti-hunting groups nationwide are working to kill off your traditions forever.”
Sigler’s first “President’s Column” in the NRA’s America’s 1st Freedom magazine in May 2008 quoted from the opening lines of The American Crisis, a Thomas Paine work read to the Continental Army before the Battle of Trenton to encourage resistance against the British. Sigler compared Paine’s call for the Continental Army to oppose the tyrannical British monarchy to the need for NRA members to oppose the federal government, writing, “Right now, storm fronts are advancing within all three branches of government—executive, legislative and judicial—and threatening to combine into a catastrophe for your Second Amendment freedom.”
In an August 2006 column for America’s 1st Freedom, Sigler suggested that America was heading towards “the old European model, where police power answer to ‘the crown,’ and where the people often live in fear of criminals on one side and government officials on the other.” He also asked NRA members to demand that their local law enforcement officials sign a pledge swearing that they will never participate in firearm confiscation campaigns.
On August 25, 2012, in an interview for Delaware Online, Sigler stated, “A supermajority of Democrats in the [Delaware] House and Senate have made it very difficult in some of those races for any Republican, or any person, to logically believe they could win.” He also accused the General Assembly’s Democratic leadership of using the legislative redistricting process that followed the 2010 U.S. Census to pad registration numbers in their incumbent districts, stating, “That’s called gerrymandering. I would be very concerned if a Republican candidate came to me and said ‘I can win in that district despite 70 percent registration against me.’”
Linda Walker (Board Member)
In a July 12, 2023 interview with NRA News, Walker spoke about the presidential election in November, stating, “To me, the thought of [President Barack] Obama getting elected to a second term–and, you know, we’ve seen what he’s done in the first term. I don’t like the way in which he interprets our Constitution. You know, he’s gonna have free rein in a second term. And, you know, it doesn’t only scare me, his second term, it frightens me for–you know, what I do with all of this is for my grandchildren. I want my grandchildren to grow up the way I got to grow up, having freedoms. And another term could mean we lose our Second Amendment rights as we know ‘em for the rest of our lives.”
In an April 15, 2023 interview with NRA News at the NRA Convention in St. Louis, Walker stated, “It is vitally important in this election that we get people out on campaigns. We cannot sit still. If [President Barack] Obama’s reelected, he is going to appoint one to three more U.S. Supreme Court justices and a lot of people don’t think about the Supreme Court are who are supposed to be upholding the U.S. Constitution … And, the [District of Columbia v.] Heller case, we won it five to four. I don’t like that ratio. If Obama appoints one more Supreme Court justice we will lose our Second Amendment Rights as we know them for the rest of our life and without the Second Amendment all of our other rights are gonna go down the hill right behind ‘em.” The Supreme Court, in its 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, held for the first time in U.S. history that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to firearm ownership for self defense in the home.
In a March 5, 2023 interview with NRA News, Walker stated, “If [President Barack] Obama’s elected again, he’s going to have the opportunity to two to four U.S. Supreme Court justices and if he does that–we won [District of Columbia v.] Heller by one vote–and it’s a sad day when we’ve got to pray for the health of our pro-gun justices. And, as Wayne LaPierre says, if [Obama] appoints one more justice we will lose our Second Amendment rights as we know ‘em and we’ll never get ‘em restored.” The Supreme Court, in District of Columbia v. Heller, held for the first time in U.S. history that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to firearm ownership for self defense in the home. Walker added, “You know, what I’ve found with as many gun sales as there’s been, and I’ve gotta assume that guns and ammo sales leading up to the election are just gonna go through the roof again … I need to get a little more stockpile here shortly, too.”
In a February 3, 2023 interview with NRA News, Walker claimed that sales of firearms to American women were on the rise, stating, “There is not a definitive reason but there’s a lot of components that are going into this equation. I think the political climate, with the economy, crime has gone up ... I think women have figured out that they can’t rely on their husband, boyfriend or a police officer to be there to protect them 24/7. So, women are takin’ it into their own hands … Being able to carry a firearm and having your own self defense is a great equalizer.” Neither Walker nor NRA News produced any retail gun sales data to support this claim. Furthermore, violent crime declined for the fifth year in a row in the United States in 2011, according to the FBI
In a September 29, 2023 interview with NRA News, Walker spoke about a bill in the Ohio state legislature which allows individuals to carry firearms into restaurants that serve alcohol. The bill had been signed into law and was to go into effect the following day. Walker remarked, “I am as about as giddy as a four-year-old–no wait, let’s revise that. I am about as giddy as a first-grader tiger cub going on a camp out.”
In an April 28, 2023 interview at the NRA Convention in Pittsburgh, Walker responded to a question about why she is an NRA certified firearms instructor, stating, “You know, I think it’s a love of your country, a love of your Constitution and wanting to make sure, you know, our government isn’t what it was thirty years ago and, you know, that love for the Second Amendment to bring our country back to what it is meant to be, what our forefathers meant it to be, is very important. And, you know, without the Second [Amendment] all the rest of our rights are gone.”
Dave Workman (Former Board Member)
In a July 25, 2023 article for the Examiner.com, Workman claimed that gun sales had increased nationwide in the wake of a mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado five days earlier in which James Holmes killed 12 people and wounded 58 others. Holmes wore full body armor during the attack. Workman wrote, “Even with police less than two minutes away from the Aurora theater where last Friday’s massacre occurred, people who have been following that case got a nasty reminder that in a life-threatening situation, it is the private citizen, not the police officer, who is typically the first responder. Among gun rights activists, there is an axiom: ‘When seconds count, police are minutes away’ … While one cannot attribute all of these gun sales to concern over the possibility of being caught in a similar situation, the fact that [Concealed Pistol License] CPL applications and renewals, and gun sales have spiked upward since the movie incident suggests people here take a lesson from what they have seen.” Workman was unable to cite any primary source data on retail gun sales or CPL application/renewals to support his claims.
In a July 21, 2023 article for Examiner.com, Workman wrote about a mass shooting that had occurred the day before in Aurora, Colorado. In that shooting, severely mentally ill gunman James Holmes killed 12 people and wounded 58 others in a span of two minutes. Holmes wore full body armor during the attack. Workman argued that no law could have prevented the tragedy, writing, “Murder suspect James Egan Holmes, 24, purchased his firearms over the past two months at two large retail outlets, Bass Pro Shops and Gander Mountain. He cleared the required background checks. According to Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates, Holmes bought some 6,000 rounds of ammunition for his firearms over the internet. That’s not unusual. A lot of shooters do that, without hurting anyone in the aftermath … The Cinemark cinema corporate policy is to prohibit firearms in its theaters. Northwest firearms advocates contend that Friday’s slaughter of innocents—as have previous attacks at schools and shopping malls—demonstrated just how fatally delusional that false sense of security can be.”
In a July 20, 2023 article for examiner.com, Workman wrote about a mass shooting that had occurred that same day in Aurora, Colorado. In that shooting, severely mentally ill gunman James Holmes killed 12 people and wounded 58 others in a span of two minutes. Holmes wore full body armor during the attack. Workman stated, “The theater chain does not allow firearms. The gunman ignored this prohibition, and walked into what was essentially a risk-free environment, set off two smoke and/or teargas bombs to distract the crowd, and opened fire. Translate this to mean there were no armed citizens to interrupt the gunman and return fire … Determined killers are going to ignore laws, get around them, and–if they are like the suspect–be essentially invisible until they commit what may be the first and likely last criminal act of their lives … If we begin to monitor every purchase that every citizen makes…then we will shift from being the United States to a police state.”
In a May 31, 2023 interview with KUOW.org, Workman addressed a mass shooting that had occurred a day earlier in and around a Seattle café. The shooting was perpetrated by a severely mentally ill concealed handgun permit holder, Ian Stawicki, who killed five and wounded one. Prior to the shooting, Stawicki’s family had attempted to have his concealed handgun permit revoked by law enforcement, but was told there was nothing that could be done because of Washington’s “Shall Issue” law, which denies law enforcement any discretion in the permitting process. When asked what might have been done to prevent the tragedy, Workman replied, “I don't know that there's anything you can do in these situations. We can't treat [Stawicki] like a child. He's got his own life to live and he can make his own mistakes no matter how horrific those mistakes turn out to be."
In a February 4, 2023 article for Examiner.com, Workman wrote about the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence’s campaign urging Starbucks to prohibit open carry of firearms in their stores. Workman stated, “Social bigotry against gun owners is just as insidious as bigotry against any other group. What would the public reaction be if someone demanded that a private business refuses service to say, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Jews, Arabs, Native Americans, Samoans, disabled people, overweight people, gay or women? Got a tattoo? Stay out!”
In a November 25, 2023 article for Examiner.com, Workman discussed the killing of a young African American teenager in a confrontation with police officers in New York City. The youth, Dashawn Vasconcellos and two others were spotted leaving a city park in Queens at about 11:30 p.m. Saturday by four officers in an unmarked car. Vasconcellos ran and was pursued by three officers. He then turned and pointed a 9mm semiautomatic pistol at them, an NYPD spokesman stated. The mother of Derby Michel, one of the young men who accompanied Vascanellos, stated that Vascanellos carried the gun for self-defense. Workman wrote, “As one delves further into this shooting, one will see all of the telltale signs of an all-too-typical bad boy story from the ‘hood.’ He was ‘turning his life around.’ He was carrying the gun ‘for his own protection.’ Rubbish.”
In an August 9, 2023 article for Examiner.com, Workman addressed renewed calls from the Violence Policy Center to restrict or repeal concealed carry weapon statutes in the wake of a shooting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Workman wrote, “Nowadays, about the only form of acceptable overt social bigotry is against gun owners … While they are loathe to admit it, there is really no difference between gun bigots and racial or religious bigots. One form of class hatred is no less divisive than another.”
In a May 29, 2023 article for Examiner.com, Workman discussed gun violence prevention legislation in the wake of a shooting in Tacoma, Washington. He wrote, “First, you cannot rehabilitate wanton killers, so stop trying. Thugs at 16 who kill people do not deserve freedom ever again in their lives (and there should be some kind of special punishment for their parents).”
In an April 29, 2023 article for Examiner.com, Workman wrote about an editorial in the Times Union calling for a new gun permit system under which New York permit holders would have to re-apply every five years. Workman wrote, “Contrary to what the editorial suggests, gun owners are not being ‘asked’ to do something. This legislation would require them to re-apply for a permit every five years. That falsely gives the impression that gun owners would have a choice in the matter, sort of like Ted Bundy asking his victims if they minded being raped and murdered.”
In an April 13, 2023 article for Examiner.com, Workman wrote, “It has never been clear why some sheriffs and police chiefs associate self-defense with vigilantism. It is a though they are looking down their noses at the public they serve, telling citizens that they cannot take care of themselves, that they need caretakers … Four hundred years ago, pirates on the high seas were summarily executed, frequently by hanging from the yard arm. We are hardly barbarians. Today, we should give them a trial…and then hang them. Unless we can shoot them first.”
In a March 4, 2023 article for Examiner.com, Workman wrote about a press release from the Violence Policy Center which warned law enforcement about the .500 Smith & Wesson Magnum revolver (which can penetrate police body armor). Workman stated, “Don’t sucker for the new campaign to demonize a class of guns. In a society that condemns racial or religious bigotry, anti-gunners should not get a pass by practicing social bigotry against firearms, and the people who own them. Consider the racist origins of gun control, one would think that new attempts to demonize specific firearms might be met with the same disgust we would feel about demonizing specific classes of people.” According to a Pew Research Center Poll, conducted in April 2009, an overwhelming majority of African Americans, 71%, said it was more important to control gun ownership than to protect the right to own guns.
Rep. Don Young (Board Member)
On November 6, 2013, Young spoke during a Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce luncheon. He stated, “This state has got to say, we’re not following the rules of the federal government unless you can show where there is no detrimental effect to the constituents in the State of Alaska.” Young was expressing support for the concept of nullification, a theory that a state may unilaterally decide when a federal law is “unconstitutional” and refuse to abide by it. The theory of nullification has been repeatedly discredited throughout American history.
In a March 2013 town hall-style meeting in Ketchikan, Alaska, Young spoke to constituents about proposed gun violence prevention legislation, stating, “How did Hitler take over Germany? He took the weapons away from the people. How did the Jewish people get put in those ovens? They had no weapons,” he said. “How did Stalin (kill) 15 million people in his own country? Because he took the weapons away. Well I have people say that would never happen in the United States. Well. Don’t take that for granted … The millions of weapons in households deters any concept of ever trying to take away what little freedoms we have left. Now, if you want to pick off the Second Amendment, we might want to pick off the First Amendment, and the Fourth Amendment, and all the other amendments.” (Conspiracy Theory, Political Violence, Religion)
In a March 26, 2023 interview with Ketchikan Public Radio, Young stated, “My father had a ranch. We used to have 50-60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes. It takes two people to pick the same tomatoes now. It’s all done by machine.” The term “wetback” is a slur often used to refer to undocumented immigrants, especially those from Mexico. On March 28, 2013, Young apologized for using the racial slur, stating, “During a sit-down interview with Ketchikan Public Radio this week, I used a term that was commonly used during my days growing up on a farm in Central California. I know that this term is not used in the same way nowadays, and I meant no disrespect. Migrant workers play an important role in America’s workforce, and earlier in the said interview, I discussed the compassion and understanding I have for these workers and the hurdles they face in obtaining citizenship. America must once and for all tackle the issue of immigration reform.” On March 29, 2013, Republican House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) commented, “Congressman Young’s remarks were offensive and beneath the dignity of the office he holds. I don’t care why he said it—there’s no excuse and it warrants an immediate apology.”
On March 19, 2013, the House Ethics Committee announced it had launched a formal investigation to determine whether Young improperly received gifts, used official and campaign resources for personal use, and/or made false statement to federal officials. This is not the first instance in which Young has been under investigation for this kind of behavior. In 2010, the Justice Department declined to prosecute Young on allegations that he improperly accepted gifts and political contributions from oil services industry executives. At the time, Young was also under investigation, though never charged, for helping steer $10 million to a road project in Florida favored by a campaign supporter.
On June 19, 2012, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Conservation and Economic Growth Act, which included the Southeast Alaska Native Land Entitlement Finalization and Jobs Protection Act, a bill sponsored by Young. The bill would allow Sealaska Native Corporation, which harvests timber and markets wood products, to exchange land which they have already harvested for 65,000 acres of pristine land in Alaska’s Tongrass National Forest. On the House floor, Young stated, “It’s very important to understand something. Alaska’s Tongass National Forest is 17 million acres of land. We’re asking for 77 [thousand] acres of land to be transferred to the Sealaska Corporation that’s already been cut. There’s no old-growth timber involved in this … It’s land that’s already been cut … If I was doing it myself, I’d cut the old growth timber. It’s dying anyway! But nobody wants to do it. They don’t recognize it.” Audubon Alaska, a conservation organization, released a report which estimated that “24–27 % of Sealaska’s proposed selection acreage is composed of very-large-tree old growth,” and “57–59% of Sealaska’s proposed selection acreage is composed of large-tree stands.”
During a November 18, 2023 House Natural Resources Committee hearing, Young called the testimony of Rice University professor Doug Brinkley “garbage” and told him, “I'll call you anything I want to call you when you sit in that chair. You just be quiet.” Brinkley angered Young by expressing opposition to oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Later in the hearing, Young compared oil extraction at ANWR to “the hair on your head. You pull one hair, you’re not going to miss it.”
On October 13, 1011, Young voted in favor of H.R. 2250, “The EPA Regulatory Relief Act of 2011.” The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warned that the bill, which proposes to loosen regulations on mercury levels in incinerators, will lead to 20,000 premature deaths due to pollution if enacted.
On October 13, 2011, Young voted in favor of H.R. 358. The bill—labeled by pro-choice groups as the “Let Women Die Act of 2011”—proposes to effectively prohibit private insurance plans from covering abortion. It would also allow hospitals to deny treatment to women seeking abortions—even in circumstances where an abortion would be necessary to save the life of the mother. U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) slammed the bill, stating, “When the Republicans vote for this bill today, they will be voting to say that women can die on the floor of health care providers ... It's just appalling. I can't even describe to you the logic of what they are doing today.”
In September 2011, Young appeared before the House Natural Resources Committee to advocate for oil exploration in the Alaska National Wildlife Preserve. He testified, “Let’s be honest and say that there will be some consequences to exploring and producing in ANWR. But let’s also be honest and say that if we import the oil it will arrive in the U.S. in foreign ships that sometimes are not up to our standards. And our environmental safeguards for oil production are much more stringent than theirs are. So if you are really concerned about the environment you should prefer oil to be produced here rather than somewhere else in the world.”
The House of Representatives passed Young-authored legislation in July 2011 limiting the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate water quality. Young said he wrote the legislation “in response to Conoco Phillips' CD-5 issue on the North Slope, the Kensington Mine outside Juneau, and other such issues where the EPA has gotten in the way of projects that are clearly environmentally sound.” Natural Resources Defense Council attorney Steve Fleischli called the bill "the single worst assault on clean water protections in a generation.”
In July 2011, Young was praised by the timber industry after introducing legislation to repeal some federal restrictions on road construction in Alaska’s national parks. The legislation was opposed by the environmental group Earthjustice, whose attorney Tom Waldo said that—in addition to concerns about losing federally protected forest lands—past logging roads built in Alaska’s national parks cost more money to construct than the value of the timber that became accessible.
In June 2010, Young commented on the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, writing, “This is not an environmental disaster, and I will say that again and again because it is a natural phenomenon. Oil has seeped into this ocean for centuries, will continue to do it. During World War II there was over 10 million barrels of oil spilt from ships, and no natural catastrophe … We will lose some birds, we will lose some fixed sealife, but overall it will recover.” The disaster was the largest accidental marine oil spill in history.
In March 2011, five members of the Alaska Peacemakers Militia, including leader Francis Cox, were arrested for planning to kill Alaska State Troopers and a federal judge. The group—which had stockpiled firearms and explosives—advocated the violent secession of Alaska from the United States. The Peacemakers had earlier distributed a “Letter of Declaration” which called for armed insurrection in response to the federal government’s enactment of gun control laws. Representative Young signed the letter at a Peacemakers “Open Carry” event in a Fairbanks restaurant. When asked during the event, “If any government should decide that we have to register certain of our arms or turn them in, what would your recommendation be?” Young replied, “Don't do it...I sincerely mean that. Don't turn them in.”
Fraser Verrusio, hired by Young to work on the House Transportation Committee that he chaired, was convicted of accepting an illegal gratuity and other crimes in February 2011. While working as a policy director, Verrusio received gifts— including an all-expenses paid trip to the 2003 World Series—from a client of Jack Abramoff’s lobbying firm that had business before the committee.
In January 2011, Young introduced legislation that proposed to remove the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate a large open pit mine in southwest Alaska. Opponents of the mine warned that its operation could result in the dumping of up to 10 billion tons of toxic waste into the Bristol Bay watershed. Democratic U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell also indicated that the project could harm the wild salmon population in her home state of Washington.
In February 2010, Young called global warming “the biggest scam since the Teapot Dome [bribery incident].” Young questioned why “we’ve got to make everything colder” because “ice grows nothing.”
On April 13, 2009, Young signed an insurrectionist “Letter of Declaration” at an “Open Carry” event in Fairbanks, Alaska. The Declaration, drafted by Francis “Shaeffer” Cox of the Second Amendment Task Force/Alaska Peacemakers Militia, stated, “Let it be known that we, the people of Alaska, stand in recognition of the true principle that whenever a government abandons the purpose for which we have created it and even becomes hostile towards that which it was once a defender of, it is no longer a fit steward of the political power that is inherent in the people and lent to this government with strict conditions. These conditions are clearly defined in the United States Constitution and understood by the common man. Furthermore, to the extent that our government violates these conditions, they nullify their own authority, at which point it is our right and duty, not as subjects but as sovereign Americans, to entrust this power to new stewards who will not depart from the laws we have given them. This being the case, let it be known that should our government seek to further tax, restrict or register firearms or otherwise impose on the right that shall not be infringed, thus impairing our ability to exercise the God-given right to self-defense which precedes all human legislation and is superior to it, that the duty of us good and faithful people will not be to obey them but to alter or abolish them and institute new government laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to us shall seem most likely to effect our safety and happiness.” Cox and four other members of the group were arrested on March 10, 2023 on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and kidnapping. The group had stockpiled firearms and munitions and was planning to kill Alaska state troopers and a federal judge.
In 2008, a genetically distinct species of Beluga whale that live in Alaska’s Cook Inlet was designated by the federal government as an endangered species (against the protests of Young and then-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin). A 2007 count estimated that only 375 whales remained. Young disputes that the protected Belugas are actually genetically distinct from Belugas living outside of the inlet, despite clear scientific evidence to the contrary. Because of the endangered designation, commercial projects in parts of the inlet are subject to increased government regulation and possible proscription by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Young continues to oppose the endangered designation and is worried about the effects of regulation on commercial activity within the inlet.
On November 13, 2007, Young voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. The bill, which passed the House of Representatives but not the Senate during the 111th Congress, sought to prohibit discrimination by employers against individuals on the basis of sexual orientation.
On July 18, 2007, during a speech on the House floor about a contentious education bill, Young said, “If we continue this we'll be called biting one another, very much like the mink in my state that kill their own. There is always another day when those who bite will be killed, too. And I'm very good at that.” He then suggested that Members of Congress “have a big donnybrook [brawl] right here. I’m ready. I’m really ready … And those that bite me will be bitten back.”
A June 8, 2023 fundraising email sent by Young’s chief of staff to 27 supporters in Alaska—23 of whom were lobbyists—warned that “you and your clients will be impacted by [the results of Young’s 2008 congressional reelection campaign].” The email generated at least $90,000 in fundraising for Young’s campaign.
In April 2007, Mark Zachares, a former top aide to Young, pled guilty to bribery charges in connection to the Jack Abramoff scandal. Zachares accepted thousands of dollars in illegal gratuities from Abramoff in exchange for using his employment on two subcommittees chaired by Young to advance Abramoff’s interests.
Young was the subject of a 2007 Justice Department criminal inquiry on the basis of his association with employees of the VECO Corporation that were convicted of bribery. VECO CEO Bill Allen, who hosted a yearly fundraiser for Young called “The Pig Roast,” pled guilty to charges that he bribed three Alaska state legislators. Between 1996 and 2006, VECO fundraisers raised over $150,000 for Young. According to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), VECO benefited from earmarks and legislation proposed by Young during this period.
A 2007 guide for interns in Young’s Washington office distributed by paid staff suggested that interns allow an “A Team” of nine transportation lobbyists to “talk to whomever they want” when they called the office. When anyone else called the office, including other Members of Congress, interns were to check with the relevant staffer before putting the call through.
A 2006 article in Rolling Stone reported that Young once called environmentalists a “self-centered bunch of waffle-stomping, Harvard-graduating, intellectual idiots" who "are not Americans, never have been Americans, never will be Americans."
On September 25, 2005, Young voted in favor of a House bill to amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The legislation sought to prevent the federal government from designating “critical habitat” areas for endangered species. A spokesperson for the Natural Resources Defense Council said of the legislation, “It would be scandalous to pass this bill into law. This legislation would do nothing to protect wildlife and, in fact, would lead to more extinctions. Of the many damaging provisions in this bill, one of the worst would repeal rules that protect endangered species from pesticides like DDT, which nearly killed off the bald eagle years ago. The bill also would fleece U.S. taxpayers by paying wealthy developers to comply with endangered species protections. Under a loose compensation scheme, land developers would be able to name their price for lost profits. In America we don't pay people not to pollute.”
In 2005, Young secured a $223 million earmark for a construction project that became known as “The Bridge to Nowhere.” The bridge was designed to connect Ketchikan, Alaska (pop. 8,000) with Gravina Island (pop. 50) and would have been nearly as long as the Golden Gate Bridge and taller than the Brooklyn Bridge. At this time, a ferry ran every 30 minutes between Gravina Island and the mainland. Young also secured a $231 million earmark in the same bill for a bridge that would have connected Anchorage to Knik, Alaska (pop. 22). This bridge was to be named “Don Young’s Way.” Young openly bragged that the appropriations bill in question was stuffed “like a turkey.” When Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and others suggested that funds from the bridge projects be diverted to provide relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Young responded, “They can kiss my ear! That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” In response to national outrage over the earmarks, plans to construct both bridges were canceled, but Alaska was allowed to retain the earmarked funds in the state’s general federal highway allotment fund. In 2007, Young warned then-Governor Sarah Palin, “Don’t even think of giving that money back” in response to a Congressional proposal to send some of Alaska’s funds to Minnesota in the wake of a bridge collapse in that state. An August 2007 Palin email indicated that Young continued to work behind the scenes to construct Don Young’s Way. Young was sharply criticized by commentators on both the left and right wing of politics.
In 2005, Young secured a $10 million earmark for the improvement of Coconut Road, a street that runs near Fort Myers, Florida. The Republican House Member responsible for the area where Coconut Road is located did not request the funds. Local planning officials rejected the federal money three separate times because they did not want to undertake the project. The connection of the street to Interstate 75 would have been a windfall to developer Daniel Aronoff, who owned a large amount of land near the expansion project. Aronoff, whose lobbyist was to be put directly through to staff whenever he called Young’s office, helped raise $40,000 for Young at a February 2005 fundraiser. Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah (a Republican) stated, “It would appear that Don Young was doing a favor for a major contributor.” Beyond accusations of “pay-to-play” on the part of Young and Aronoff, the Coconut Road project was controversial for a number of other reasons. Environmentalists alleged that the project would threaten protected areas. In 2008, the Senate voted 63-29 to ask the Department of Justice to investigate Young because the earmark was inserted after the bill was finalized by Congress. When a reporter approached Young to discuss the Coconut Road allegations, he responded with an obscene gesture.
During the first half of 2005, while a massive transportation bill was being authored in the Young-chaired House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the Congressman went on a nationwide fundraising tour. Individuals, largely representing non-Alaskan transportation interests, raised $316,000 for Young, compared to $37,862 contributed by Alaskans during the same time period.
In September 2002, Young’s PAC received $12,000 from Native American tribes who were clients of (later-convicted) lobbyist Jack Abramoff after he wrote a letter to the General Services Administration (GSA) asking that they receive preferential treatment in the development of the Old Post Pavilion in Washington, D.C.
Young repeatedly used his position as chair of the House Resources Committee from 1995 to 2001 to oppose applying United States labor and immigration laws to the Northern Mariana Islands, a United States Commonwealth. A 1998 Department of Interior report documented widespread human rights abuses associated with a booming sweatshop industry on the islands (clothing made on the islands carries a “Made in USA” label). The report found that women and children immigrant workers were subjected to forced
abortions, sex slavery, and substandard pay and working conditions. Senator Frank Murkowski (R-AK) expressed outrage after personally meeting individuals forced to work without pay and engage in acts of prostitution and became a strong proponent of reform. In 1995 and again in 2000, Young allowed bills (which were unanimously passed by the U.S. Senate) that would have improved conditions for these workers to die in the House Resources Committee. Later-convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff took credit for the failure of the 2000 reform bill, saying “We then stopped it cold in the House.” Between 1994 and 2001, Abramoff was paid $11 million by the Northern Mariana Islands government to lobby in opposition of these reforms. During one 25-month period, Abramoff employees had over 120 contacts with Young or his staff concerning the Northern Mariana Islands. When term limits forced Young to step down as chair of the House Resources Committee, Abramoff wrote the Northern Mariana Island’s anti-reform governor to say, “The loss of Chairman Young's authority cannot easily be measured—or replaced ... We have lost major institutional memory and friendship.” Mark Zachares, who later worked as an aide for Young before pleading guilty to conspiracy as part of the Abramoff lobbying scandal, served as the Commonwealth’s Secretary of Labor and Immigration from 1998 to 2002—during the time that Young blocked immigration and labor reform.
In 2000, Young used lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s MCI Center Skybox to host two fundraisers. The use of the Skybox was not reported to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) until after Abramoff was investigated and indicted for wire fraud.
On July 29, 1999, Young voted in favor of an amendment to the annual District of Columbia appropriations bill that would have banned adoption by gay parents in the District. The amendment failed 215-213.
In 1995, Young gave a speech to high school students about the controversial artwork of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. When asked by a student what offended Young about the photographs, the Congressman responded, “Butt fucking. You think that’s art?”
During a 1994 Congressional hearing, Young angrily waved an 18-inch oosik (walrus penis bone) at Mollie Beattie, the first female director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
In 1988, Young unsheathed his Buck knife on the House floor and threatened political retribution against Representative Robert Mrazek (D-NY) after the Democratic Congressman sponsored a bill to protect Alaska’s Tongass National Forest.
Follow @meetthenra
Drupal theme by Kiwi Themes.