Controversial Actions and Statements:
Jay Printz
Jay Printz (Board Member)
Peter "Jay" Printz served as a sheriff in Montana until 1999 and was the lead plaintiff in the 1997 lawsuit, Printz v. United States. The NRA-backed litigation attempted to void the recently-enacted “Brady Law” that mandated background checks on gun purchases. The purpose of the legislation was to prevent prohibited purchasers—including convicted felons, domestic abusers, and fugitives from justice—from acquiring firearms. The NRA stoked paranoid fears about the “Brady Law,” falsely claiming it would lead to door-to-door gun confiscation. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s majority opinion in Printz said that the federal government could not compel local law enforcement officials to conduct background checks, but left the Brady Law largely intact.
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.”
Jay Printz (Board Member)
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."
Jay Printz (Board Member)
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.”
Jay Printz (Board Member)
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.
Jay Printz (Board Member)
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!!”
Jay Printz (Board Member)
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!”
Jay Printz (Board Member)
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.”
Jay Printz (Board Member)
On June 23, 2009, Printz posted an image on Facebook that reads, “Liberalism is a mental disease.”
Jay Printz (Board Member)
On June 23, 2009, Printz posted an image on his Facebook Wall that asks, “Why should I pay for your healthcare?”
Jay Printz (Board Member)
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.”
Jay Printz (Board Member)
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!”
Jay Printz (Board Member)
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!!!!”
Jay Printz (Board Member)
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.
Jay Printz (Board Member)
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.”
Jay Printz (Board Member)
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.
Jay Printz (Board Member)
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.”
Jay Printz (Board Member)
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.”
Jay Printz (Board Member)
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.”
Jay Printz (Board Member)
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.”