The NRA released a new ad just as the President began his State of the Union address last night, and claimed Obama’s new gun control push will include “mandatory gun buybacks.” The ad, which was released online will conveniently run in five states where there are Democratic senators up for re-election in 2014.
The ad, starring not thoroughly disreputable Wayne LaPierre but rather Christopher Cox, the NRA’s chief lobbyist, calls the invented buybacks (Obama has not agreed to or even suggested any, and in fact has stated there would be none) “government confiscation of legal firearms owned by honest citizens.â€
“Requiring gun registration with the federal government, that’s an illegal abuse of privacy and freedom unprecedented in our history,†Cox adds.
Actually, it’s not. You’re legally required to register cars, and in some states guns. You’re legally required to register your business, have permits for gas tanks, fishing, driving, even owning a dog.
“One of the NRA’s main talking points for opposing new gun regulations is that the federal government is attempting to take away citizens’ Second Amendment rights to own firearms,” CNN reports:
The NRA will spend about $100,000 in the next 24 hours to run the 1 minute and 40 second video on various news web sites in Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Colorado, South Dakota, and D.C., Arulanandam said. Each of the five states has a Democratic senator seeking re-election in 2014.
Of course, the NRA is fear-mongering, something it does best.
But since they’ve introduced the idea of “mandatory gun buybacks,” why the hell not?