USA: "Celebrities, citizens flock to get on NRA blacklist"

[cuchulainn]

from Reuters via the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/justin/weekly/newsnat-29oct2003-34.htm

Posted :Wed, 29 Oct 2003 16:31 AEST

Celebrities, citizens flock to get on NRA blacklist

Most blacklists are designed to intimidate but thousands of Americans are clamouring to join one drawn up by the National Rifle Association (NRA).

Actor Dustin Hoffman was so dismayed to find his name missing from the NRA's shadowy 19-page list of US companies, celebrities and news organisations seen as lending support to anti-gun policies that he wrote to the powerful pro-gun lobby group begging to be included.

"As a supporter of comprehensive anti-gun safety measures, I was deeply disappointed when I discovered my name was not on the list," Hoffman wrote in a letter to the NRA.

"I was particularly surprised by the omission given my opposition to the loophole that makes it legal for 18- to 20-year-olds to buy handguns at gun shows," he added.

Hoffman's name has now been added to the list, which reads like a Who's Who of American business, culture and religion.

It which ranges from the American Jewish Congress to A&M Records, ABC News America and talk show queen Oprah Winfrey.

An NRA spokesman could not be reached for comment.

A group of grass-roots anti-gun campaigners found the list deep on the official NRA website.

They publicised it two weeks ago to garner support for two pieces of gun control legislation facing Congress.

The campaigners set up their own website (http://www.nrablacklist.com) and urged Americans to voluntarily put their names there.

A full-page ad on Tuesday in Daily Variety, the Hollywood trade magazine, urged movie and music artists to sign up.

"What the site tries to do is turn it into a badge of honour to get on the blacklist by saying 'Hey Julia Roberts is on the blacklist. Why don't you join it?'" said Wendy Katz, a spokeswoman for the group.

"It's been incredibly successful. Since we have launched, 25,000 people have signed on to ask to be put on the blacklist."

The NRA initially denied compiling a blacklist as such, saying it was merely responding to members wanting to know which individuals and corporations opposed the US Constitution's Second Amendment on the right to bear arms.

National Rifle Association executive vice-president Wayne LaPierre said of the list last week: "Our members don't want to buy their songs, don't want to go to their movies, don't want to support their careers."

Ms Katz said the campaigners hoped to expose the NRA's influence in Washington DC, spur opposition to a bill that would grant immunity in civil cases for gun manufacturers and dealers, and gather support for renewal of a 1994 ban on the sale of military assault weapons.

--Reuters

 

[Silver Bullet]

Since some of us boycott products endorsed by or featuring the NRA blacklistees, getting their name on the list means reduced income for these chumps. There's a reason that Levis, Ben & Jerrys, and K-Mart are all hurting. It's to our benefit that the "celebs" are coming out of the closet.

 

[BenW]

Actor Dustin Hoffman was so dismayed to find his name missing from the NRA's shadowy 19-page list of US companies

Aren't Al Franken and a bunch of other dimwits all saying that there is no liberal bias in the media? Shadowy??? What the heck is that? It's simply a boycott list. I have a liberal coworker who invests her money through a stockbroker who keeps a list of companies that are tied to oil, the military, big corporations, etc. so his clients don't invest in companies they have a philisophical problem with. Why isn't this list "shadowy"??? The NRA list is simply a list of people that are biased against freedom. I guess freedom is "shadowy" nowadays...

 

[Langenator]

When the City of Berkeley, CA passes a law that the city won't do business with any company that does work on nuclear weapons, it's a boycott.

When the NAACP tells it's members not to go to South Carolina because of the Confederate flag, it's a boycott.

When PETA puts out of list of companies to be avoided because they do animal testing, or calls for people to not eat at KFC because of how they kill chickens, those are boycotts.

But when the NRA gives it's membership a list of people and companies to avoid because of their anti-2A positions/policies/statements, it's a blacklist.

Entirely hypocritical. Entirely unsurprising.

my opposition to the loophole that makes it legal for 18- to 20-year-olds to buy handguns at gun shows

Dustin, do tell, what loophole is this? My wife is 20 and would love to buy a pistol legally.

 

[Gordon Fink]

“Celebrities, citizens flock to get on NAACP blacklistâ€

Don’t think we’ll see that headline anytime soon, though the real one is equally bigoted.

“As a supporter of comprehensive anti-gun safety measures, I was deeply disappointed when I discovered my name was not on the list,†Hoffman wrote in a letter to the NRA.

So Mr. Hoffman is against gun safety? In that case, his anti-NRA sentiments make perfect sense.

~G. Fink

 

[Old Fuff]

Personally I'm delighted that these folks want to get on what "they" call a NRA Blacklist. I'm sure it will raise their esteem in certain liberal circles, but it may not help their pocketbooks.

Talk about cutting off one's nose to spite their face ......

 

[Pebcac]

Don't ignore this one

The NRA had better wake up to this. Sure, it's utterly ridiculous, but it'll also be damned effective. Everyone who doesn't live under a rock is aware of the effect this kind of thing can have on those millions who sit on the fence waiting for <insert name here> to show them the light - or the way to vote. This kind of thing gave us Bill Clinton. Remember "Rock the Vote" a few short years ago?

 

[Dain Bramage]

Yeah Gordon, I caught Mr. Hoffman's double-negative too. Does that mean he's against the 4 rules? Is he method acting to be a Darwin Candidate?

"Well officer, he had one in the pipe, looking down the barrel with his finger on the trigger, when the gun just went off for no reason."

 

[bogie]

"I was particularly surprised by the omission given my opposition to the loophole that makes it legal for 18- to 20-year-olds to buy handguns at gun shows," he added.

Sadly, this is typical. He DOESN'T KNOW THE LAW, yet he's an "activist."