Giffords Gun Group a New Attempt at an Old Divide-and-Conquer Tactic

U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “[F]ormer Representative Gabrielle Giffords went to Minnesota to announce the creation of a gun safety advocacy group,” The New York Times publicized approvingly. “The group’s agenda is predictable … Its composition is not: The members are all gun owners.”

“Gun owners join the push for common sense gun laws.” The editorial board of the Minneapolis Star Tribune follows up. “Some are rejecting the NRA and making their voices heard in the state debate — and just in time.”

You see what’s going on here: Gungrabby Gabby et al. are attempting to make people, and especially politicians, believe gun owners support citizen disarmament. Some do. We call them “Fudds.”

The group, deceptively calling itself “Minnesota Gun Owners for Safety,” is the second state chapter to form so far, the first being in Colorado.  For now, the goals are being presented to appear modest and reasonable, at least to the uninformed” universal background checks” and “extreme risk protection” laws. That the DOJ’s National Institute of Justice has concluded “Effectiveness [of UBCs] depends on the ability to reduce straw purchasing, requiring gun registration,” and that “red flag laws” allow the state to confiscate guns from citizens not even charged with a crime, let alone convicted of one, and presume “guilty until proven innocent,” is left unmentioned.

What’s clear from their web page is that they do nothing to promote actual safe practices for guns, but instead call for infringements and call that “safety.” For now, Giffords is enjoying the free publicity from supportive media, but keeping information about membership close to the vest, making it fair to question if they only have a handful of virtue-signaling Democrat “sport shooters,” oblivious to the reality that they’re being exploited as the useful idiots they are.

“It’s possible to prevent gun violence while also supporting the Second Amendment,” they claim, clueless that the way you do that is by not infringing on the right to keep and bear arms with gun bans and insane “gun-free zones.”

It’s not the first time we’ve seen gun-grabbers create what became known as “Astroturf” gun groups. We’ve seen them come and go over the years, and they all share two things in common: Outside special interest funding and a lack of any appreciable grassroots support.

One notable example of such a fraudulent operation was the now-defunct American Hunters and Shooters Association, a group bankrolled by a gun-hater that failed after five years because it couldn’t  attract a critical mass of “sportsmen.” I wrote extensively about them at the time.

They had a list of positions they advocated, including: “AHSA is committed to supporting the right to keep and bear arms, protecting our homes, and preserving our liberties,” and “Hunting and sport shooting are American values AHSA will vigorously defend.”

That was out of one side of their mouths. Out of the other, they claimed: “an overwhelming majority of hunters support proposals like background checks to purchase guns, keeping military style assault weapons off our streets and the elimination of cop killer bullets.” They advocated that “the FBI should be given reasonable access to National Instant Check System (NICS) purchase records” and promoted “legislative efforts to regulate .50 caliber BMG sniper rifles in the same manner as machine guns.”

AHSA’s president John Rosenthal founded “Stop Handgun Violence,” and was as big a gun-grabber as you would find. Their Board of Directors included honchos from Crime Guns Solutions, ex-BATF careerists who supported suing gunmakers. AHSA had ties with a Democrat consulting group, DCS, whose clients included Nancy Pelosi and John Conyers.

That would be the same Nancy Pelosi who years later would endorse an incremental “slippery slope” for gun grabs. And that’s what Gabby’s gunkapos either fail to realize, or more likely, know full well but are hoping those they’re swindling out of their rights don’t catch on to.

Any hunter who truly believes they can throw EBRs under the bus and their scoped “sniper rifle” won’t be next is a fool. Anyone who believes “progressives” won’t be coming after their “blood sport” when the time is right has not been paying attention.

But don’t take my word for it.  Instead, I’ll ask you to believe a committed anti-gun zealot (and a George Soros protégé at that), Rebecca Peters, who was Director of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) from 2002 to 2010:

“Peters states that civilians should not have ‘rifles that they can kill someone at 100 meters distance, for example. There needs to be a much greater degree of proportionality in the firepower that’s available.’ Clearly, she said ‘single-shot rifles and shotguns’ are all anyone needs to go hunting, one of the few lawful uses of firearms which she recognized. During the debate, she showed little concern for the Britons who had lost their right to compete with modern rifles and handguns. That’s just too bad, Peters said. ‘So get another hobby,’ she advised.”

For some of us, it’s not a hobby.

By dividing gun owners, those bent on disarmament are trying to conquer all, but in stages, one specialized gun owner interest group at a time. I’m reminded of a story from The Odyssey when the Cyclops Polyphemus promised he’d eat Odysseus last.

He still intended to eat him. The only way out was by banding together and fighting with everything they had, like their lives depended on it.

About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.