USA: "Gun lobbying plan backfires in US"

[cuchulainn]

from the BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3238513.stm

Gun lobbying plan backfires in US

By Tom Carver
BBC correspondent in Washington

An attempt by America's National Rifle Association (NRA) to "out" Hollywood stars who support gun control appears to have backfired.

The NRA published on its website a blacklist of famous people who are opposed to certain forms of gun ownership.

But after news of the list leaked out, thousands of Americans have asked to be added to those of the stars.

The 19-page list called Anti-Gun Individuals & Celebrities is displayed on the NRA's website.

The 333 names read like a who's who of Hollywood and the media world in the US.

The NRA says stars like Sean Connery, Lauren Bacall, Sting, Jack Nicholson, Bruce Springsteen and Catherine Zeta-Jones have all "lent their names and notoriety to anti-gun causes, speaking out for anti-gun legislation and providing a voice for anti-gun organisations".

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

Hoffman 'disappointed'

"If those listed are so embarrassed or ashamed about NRA documenting their anti-freedom position," the NRA website says, "perhaps they should reconsider their positions."

But, far from being embarrassed, several of the stars have said they are proud of being on an NRA blacklist.

And others have written to the NRA complaining that they had been left off.

Dustin Hoffman wrote to the NRA's president, Kayne Robinson, saying that "as a supporter of comprehensive gun safety measures, I was deeply disappointed when I discovered that my name was not on this list".

His name has since been added.

Dustin Hoffman is starring in the recently released Runaway Jury - a movie about a lawsuit against a gun manufacturer in America.

Powerful lobby

The gun-control lobby is using the blacklist as the basis for its own website, inviting members of the public to join the stars.

They claim that their website has attracted 50,000 signatures in the first two weeks of operation.

The NRA is one of the most formidable and successful lobby groups in America.

It claims to have four million members and has repeatedly prevented tighter gun control legislation from being enacted in America.

Election issue?

A 1994 ban on assault weapons is due to expire next year.

The Democrats are trying to replace it with a tougher law that would prohibit a wider range of weapons.

So far, gun control has not made much impact in the race for the presidency among Democratic candidates.

When he was governor of Vermont, a state with a large number of hunters, Howard Dean said he opposed any form of gun control.

He has modified that position and now says he supports the ban on assault weapons, along with all the other candidates.

 

[Mark Tyson]

News of the "blacklist" leaked out? The hell it did. It's on their website for everyone to see! And it's been there for years!

 

[cuchulainn]

it's been there for years!

Yep, I remember first seeing it about a decade ago.

But here's the genius of this faux news: It's given every anti-gun columnist a hook to write another piece of anti-gun, anti-NRA propaganda, repetition being key to propaganda. That was the point, IMHO.

 

[Mike Irwin]

Hasn't backfired at all, in my opinion.

 

[Silver Bullet]

Actually, it makes NRA members and other gun rights supporters aware of the list if they weren't aware before. This will intensify the boycotting.

And, the boycotting will continue long after the media moves on to its next Big Lie.

 

[cuchulainn]

I agree, it hasn't backfired. My comment wasn't intended to suggest that.

Although, we ought to use this publicity to make the Brady strategy backfire. We should select one company a day and flood it with letters and calls.

 

[SaintofKillers]

I never gave a S@#T what celebs think about any political issue, so when they open their big fat mouths and start spouting off, thats when I shut them out of my realm of entertainment. The sheeple are the ones that are worried about what Dustin Hoffman and Zeta Jones thinks who cares? I put my faith in people sho do more with their lives than play dress up and pretend for the camera. Condi Rice, Rumsfeld, Powell, Scalia, Thomas, Limbaugh, OReilly., these are the people that the sheep should be listening to. As far as I am concerned the list isnt backfiring, I can tell you I wont be putting down my $20 to see Runaway Jury. I will be putting that to another pro gun org.

 

[Boats]

The BBC can say what it wants, however, I find endless mirth in the fact that UK subjects are extorted an annual forced subscription to pay for the privilege of being badly lied to.

Even a cursory examination of the facts would reveal:

The so-called blacklist was initiated at the request of the NRA rank and file.

The boycott tactic is hardly unique to the NRA.

The list contains only noteworthy actors and some dead ones. Dustin Hoffman is neither the former anymore, or the latter yet.

Most of the actors on the list are hypocrites who have no place for their politics in their movies lest they not make money shooting blanks and brandishing.

They misquoted Hoffman, for whom English must be a second language when he is not memorizing it off of someone's script. He orignally said, "As a supporter of comprehensive anti-gun safety measures. . . ." Of course, Hoffman's idiotic sentence structure has been salvaged by friendly reporters and editors to be less confusing. Those are the same people who'd never let someone like Dan Qualye out form underneath the self-donned dunce cap.

It is easily verifiable that the nrablacklist.com list has been spammed with the likes of Josef Stalin and Adolph Hitler. Heck, I bet were I a reporter from a "reputable" left-wing news organization, (I know--oxymoron), and I requested to simply view the Brady list, I wouldn't get access to it, even if it remained in Brady control whilst I merely scrolled through it. They know what I would see.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Publicity is publicity is publicity, and it's almost always a good thing. I'd guess the N.R.A. has acquired hundreds of new members as a result of the leftist extremists' snivelling and whining over the list of known anti-Second Amendment bigots.

 

[Hkmp5sd]

Let them all on the list...

Just saves us the effort of having to identify each one seperately.

Isn't it interesting that "thousands of Americans have asked to be added to those of the stars" while "They (NRA) claim that their website has attracted 50,000 signatures in the first two weeks of operation.

 

[Old Fuff]

I think the NRA missed a good bet. They should be charging these fine liberal folks for the privilege of having their names added to the list. Since they want "bragging rights" within their own sorry group of like-minded friends let them cough up some bucks.

 

[BenW]

Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for someone in the media to also uncover the sinister "HCI Blacklist" and the "Greenpeace Blacklist" and the "Sierra Club Blacklist" and the "AARP Blacklist."

 

[Mark Tyson]

I think the NRA missed a good bet. They should be charging these fine liberal folks for the privilege of having their names added to the list

Now THAT is a prime idea.

 

[Pilgrim]

I think the NRA missed a good bet. They should be charging these fine liberal folks for the privilege of having their names added to the list.

I think the standard membership fee structure would be just fine.

Pilgrim

 

[jimpeel]

Placed this on the BBCs "Factual Corrections" page.

In your news story at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3238513.stm , you stated:

"But after news of the list leaked out, thousands of Americans have asked to be added to those of the stars."

The fact is that this list did not "leak out". It has been posted on the NRA site for years. nrablacklist.org , which is surreptitiously funded and operated by the Brady Campaign, is, as usual, far behind the curve.

Also, if you were to look at the names of those who have "asked" to be added to the blacklist, you would find the names of Pol Pot, Joseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler, et al. Why don't you ask to see the list of names -- that is, if they will let you see it.

Sincerely,

Jim Peel
Kimball, NE, USA

 

[Travis McGee]

"So many traitors, so little time...."