DALLAS, Texas — In multiple North Florida cities, drivers on major highways have been seeing huge billboards reading “The NRA is a terrorist organization.” That particular campaign was launched by “Mad Dog PAC,” an outfit run by former Bill Clinton staffer Claude Taylor. The group plans to pay for similar billboards in GOP-controlled states across America, including Texas, in the weeks and months ahead. They sell t-shirts accusing the NRA of terrorism, too. 

While the text on the billboards may sound extreme to everyday Americans, and especially to law-abiding gun owners, the fanatical and hateful rhetoric targeting the National Rifle Association and its members has reached a fever pitch this year. Along a major highway in Kentucky, anti-NRA vandals wrote “Kill The NRA” across a billboard. And on television and in newspapers across America, the NRA has seemingly become public enemy number one. 

Speaking on CNN, two of the ubiquitous Parkland students plastered across America’s TV screens by the media described the NRA as “child murderers.” Not only did the host let the incredibly malicious smear slide unchallenged, CNN was more than happy to push the narrative, running the headline: “Shooting survivor calls NRA ‘child murderers’” after the segment aired. Countless anti-gun protesters given a megaphone by the establishment media were allowed to make similarly outlandish accusations, generally without being challenged.    

Indeed, after the Parkland shooting — as usual, carried out in a gun-free zone where law-abiding citizens are disarmed by law — it was open season on the NRA. Many large corporations severed ties with the organization, including First National Bank of Omaha, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Alamo Rent A Car, National Car Rental, Symantec, Hertz, MetLife, SimpliSafe, Avis, Budget, Allied, North American Van Lines, TrueCar, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Paramount Rx, Starkey, and more. A trickle turned into a flood, quickly, as well-funded AstroTurf groups pressured companies to cut ties with the NRA. 

The establishment’s strategy appears to be to relentlessly demonize the NRA as a stand-in for gun owners generally, and the unalienable rights enshrined in the Second Amendment specifically. And if all a person watched were the “fake news” outlets formerly known as “mainstream media,” it would be easy to believe that America was now fervently opposed to guns and the Second Amendment. It would also be easy to believe that the only thing standing in the way of “common-sense gun-safety measures” was the evil but dying “gun lobby” more commonly referred to as the NRA. 

Massive Convention, Political Celebs

But for gun rights, the reality is not nearly so bleak. Instead, as the recent NRA convention in Dallas showed clearly, the media is painting a wildly distorted picture of what is happening in America. Consider that in addition to recent record-breaking fundraising and membership numbers, the annual NRA gathering smashed previous attendance records. In all, close to 90,000 NRA members converged in Dallas for the three-day summit between May 4 and May 6, beating out the previous record set in 2013. In fact, it seems like the anti-gun jihad being bankrolled by establishment billionaires is actually backfiring in a major way. 

Aside from the record attendance by the grassroots members, the NRA convention was attended by President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, both U.S. senators from Texas, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, and countless other state and national political leaders. All of those individuals must deal with voters as they are — not as the media and the establishment wish them to be — in order to win elections. So the fact that virtually all of Texas’ state and national senior political leadership attended the convention is highly significant. It means politicians realize that the NRA (and by extension gun owners who support the Second Amendment) retains enough influence to make or break their campaigns. 

The rhetoric of the political leaders was significant, too. During his well-received speech, Trump showered praise on the NRA and its members for standing in defense of “those sacred rights, given to us by God, including the right to self-defense.” Treating them as crucial allies in his fight to “Make America Great Again,” Trump urged them to remain involved in politics. “The Constitution can’t be changed by judges, bureaucrats, or the United Nations,” Trump added, calling on judges to protect the Constitution and U.S. sovereignty. The president also spoke of how gun control in France and the United Kingdom had turned disarmed citizens into helpless victims in the face of jihad and terror. 

Vice President Mike Pence, who reportedly has his own presidential ambitions, also spoke strongly in defense of gun rights, even touting efforts to arm school teachers in response to mass shootings in gun-free zones. “The quickest way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” said Pence, echoing a longtime NRA slogan. Pence also blasted the media for covering up “the whole story about firearms in America” and how “firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens” make American communities safer.

Other top political leaders made similar comments about gun rights. “The Second Amendment is about the God-given right each and every one of us has to defend our lives, to defend our homes, to defend our children, to defend our family, and when the Second Amendment says ‘shall not be infringed’ it means exactly that!” declared U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas). The other U.S. senator from Texas, John Cornyn, a fellow Republican, told the NRA that there are some three million incidents each year in which guns are used to protect life or families. He urged gun owners to teach others about the benefits of guns, and called for more judges who would respect the Constitution and the Second Amendment as written by the Founders.  

Popular Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a liberty-minded Republican, told attendees at the convention that the answer to gun violence was stronger protections for gun rights. As an example, he spent time talking about hero Stephen Willeford, the man who grabbed his AR-15 to confront the mass murderer who targeted Christians at a church in Sutherland Springs late last year. “Because he had a gun, he saved lives,” Abbott said, speaking of Willeford’s actions. Other speakers also touted Willeford’s armed heroism, and Willeford himself spoke at the convention, too. The establishment media mostly ignored him and those who spoke about his deeds.    

Inside the NRA convention, the massive crowds were enthusiastic, optimistic, and heavily armed. Almost a thousand exhibitors showed off everything from guns disguised as cellphones to high-powered rifles to firearm accessories and all sorts of ammunition. The venue was so packed that the NRA reportedly ran out of space for companies hoping to set up booths. People of all races, ages, colors, and creeds mingled and laughed together. And virtually every attendee who spoke with The New American had a solid understanding of gun rights and the real purpose behind the Second Amendment.

Photo: Alex Newman

This article appears in the June 4, 2018, issue of The New American.