Senate witness on weapons ban funded by gun lobby
Twenty years ago this Thursday, the federal government took a step that remains a call to arms for guns rights hardliners. Many Americans remember the Waco siege as a federal raid against the compound of the Branch Davidians, a religious sect whose leader, David Koresh, was physically and sexually abusing adults and children. But for pro-gun absolutists, the Waco siege was something else. The kind of government tyranny they expect more of during the second Obama administration, and the kind of repression they are already preparing to resist.
“#USA>> Do you want *NAZI #Democrats TELLING you What you can EAT or How many Bullets you can DEFEND YOUR CHILDREN WITH? #STANDandFIGHT #tcot,” tweeted @johnmatthew19 this week using the hashtag #StandandFight encouraged by the National Rifle Association, and the hashtag #tcot or TopConservativesonTwitter favored by the organizers of the Conservative Political Action Conference being held in Washington in two weeks.
At the same time that the gun lobby is helping to fuel threatening language on the Internet, it is trying to keep secret its financial backing for key witnesses testifying about gun violence before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
One witness, David Kopel, who testified on January 30, identified at the hearing as a law school adjunct professor, received more than $108,000 in grants from the NRA’s Civil Rights Defense Fund in 2011. Another witness, David T. Hardy, testifying Wednesday as a private attorney in Tucson, Arizona, received $67,500 in grants from the same NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund in 2011. Another witness testifying Wednesday, Nicholas Johnson, a Fordham Law School professor, spoke a year ago at an NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund scholars’ seminar.
http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/02/27/senate-witness-on-weapons-ban-funded-by-gun-lobby/
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