By David Codrea
USA – -(Ammoland.com)-
The problem with Internet quotations is that many are not genuine.—Abraham Lincoln
I began my review of “Proclaiming Liberty,” an indispensable reference for helping ascertain validity of “What Patriots and Heroes Really Said about the Right to Keep and Bear Arms,” with that self-parodying aphorism from some unknown wit. I wrote that review over four years ago, and that in turn cited another column warning against rumors and hoaxes from several years before.
Sometimes it’s discouraging. Each of us on the internet has access to awesome resource tools previous generations couldn’t even dream about. Yet in spite of that, and sure as clockwork, the spurious Washington “liberty teeth” maxim and the fake Hitler “This year will go down in history” boast continue to make the rounds. No matter how many times they’re discredited.
Every so often I feel compelled to throw a flag again, this latest time by seeing the above graphic, purporting to present quotes about guns from Hillary Clinton and George Washington. It’s being circulated not just by those who know it’s a hoax, but also by well-meaning gun owners who are nonetheless helping to spread two falsehoods in one post. And the thing is, it takes less than a minute to debunk both quotes, simply by putting them into a search engine.
The Clinton quote has been exposed as a “pants on fire” fraud by Politifact. As believable as it is that she’d like to, she was never quoted in The Des Moines Register as saying she would shut down NRA and ban handguns.
Likewise, the Washington quote is false. Or at least the “editor in chief of the Papers of George Washington project at the University of Virginia” says he’s “as certain as he can be” that it is.
But wait a minute – didn’t I just get done taking Politifact to task and challenging it to reset its Truth-O-Meter needle for its analysis of gun ownership and suicide? What am I saying, believe them when they agree with me and diss them when they don’t?
No, not at all. My rebuttal offers alternative proofs that you can test for yourself against what Politifact claims. If someone wants to challenge their assessment of the Clinton and Washington “quotes,” all you have to do is come up with a copy of The Register proving them wrong. If it can be done it should be relatively easy, as the paper has archives plus it’s got a fair amount of both hard copy and online readers. As for the Washington quote, all a defender needs do is come up with a verifiable source citation. Which library or collection did you find it in?
We may never know who put together the above illustration and turned it loose in the wild. It could be a sincere gun rights advocate who believed the “quotes” were real and thought he was doing something good by sounding the alarm. The ones doing wrong were the ones who invented the “quotes” in the first place. Perhaps their motives were simple malice and/or just getting off on seeing how many they can dupe and how wide they can spread a hoax. They are liars seeking to erode the credibility of others, which for anti-gunners should be no surprise.
In most cases, it’s easy not to fall for that. If someone promotes a quote, or a claim or an outrageous “news story,” make sure there’s a link to a credible source. If not, either find one or don’t pass the ‘information” on.
Leave the lying and the self-delusion to the gun-grabbers. We have to be about the truth. The way things are going, critical matters may soon hinge on our ability to discern the reliability of information we send and receive.
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.
In addition to being a field editor/columnist at GUNS Magazine and associate editor for Oath Keepers, he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
Another “tactic” of some pro-gun bloggers is to twist the words of our enemies, Raw Story-style.
E.g., at the Oct. 2014 memorial service for James Brady, Joe Biden said:
“What we need is another Jim Brady who has the skill and the ability to convince those who are afraid to walk the halls of Congress to step up and do what they know is right. One will come along. It will happen. I pray that it is sooner rather than later.”
Several conservative bloggers claimed with straight faces that Biden was praying for another high-profile shooting victim.
#!*king idiots.
I’m pretty sure that if Feinstein said this in public, Clinton said it in private.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_LaBJvI0BI
I am sorry, but I disagree with you and the “fact checker” about Washington’s Quote. Immediately they go into the same commie/socialist crap that they just can’t find anything, anywhere, but what they want to find. Sure can find that Jefferson had an affair with a slave though, can’t they ???? Sounds just like their re-write of all History to fit right into their teaching the children in schools and colleges all the commie/socialist crap ever since the Vietnam “Conflict” and NOW that bunch of commie/socialists are in the colleges and schools teaching teacher “wannabes” and more children to hate… Read more »
Surprisingly few college students, and almost no high school students, are properly trained in research and source validation, so it’s no surprise people are easily fooled by something they want to believe. Even when I point out a fabrication, the response is frequently on the order of “Well, they should have said it”, “they probably thought it”, or “You some kind of liberal? Whose side are you on here, anyway?”
Virtually every Founding Era arms quote, along with others relating to the Second Amendment and Bill of Rights, and the militia concept are contained in my book, The Origin of the Second Amendment, which provides literal transcripts of period documents with their source. The entire history of the Second Amendment, based upon those documents, is found in my other book, The Founders’ View of the Right to Bear Arms. Alan Gura, the attorney who won the Heller case before the U.S. Supreme Court, described these two books as follows: “the authoritative books on the subject [Second Amendment history] are David… Read more »
If she did not say, she probably thinks it or wants to say it…and her side kick, the fraud Indian from MA, Elizabeth Warren believes it!
The bull dyke thinks she will shut down the NRA ? Hilarious ! TRUMP 2016 !
I’m always gently berating others for this, and do the best I can to avoid propagating falsehoods. there’s too much of it for sure.