U.S. News & World Report recently tapped self-proclaimed comedian, sci-fi novelist and supposed gun enthusiast Patrick Tomlinson to write an op-ed that attacks President Donald Trump, the NRA and those who support them.
Tomlinson first talks about his love for guns and how he was introduced to firearm safety through National Rifle Association training counselors, then disparages five-time NRA president Charlton Heston. Not only does he say that the NRA has “lost it,” but says the NRA has long used anti-LGBT, anti-minority fearmongering at the annual convention to drive up firearm sales.
This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Tomlinson failed to mention that the NRA and its members have worked hard to educate and legally arm the LGBT and minority communities.Apparently, however, he is so blinded by his hatred of the hard-working Americans who voted for and support our president that he can’t even see the truth. In fact, in June he tweeted, “There is not a single good person who voted Trump. Not one.”
NRATV host Grant Stinchfield took to his show, “Stinchfield,” to defend the 5 million members of the NRA from the Left’s dangerous rhetoric: “That’s what the Left thinks of the freedom-loving people who voted for our president. It’s how they justify their violence, their hateful rhetoric and their lies. They tell themselves we aren’t good people,” he said.
Tomlinson’s pretentiousness is an insult to his middle-America neighbors in Wisconsin—a state that Hillary Clinton didn’t deem worthy of a campaign stop. Trump did campaign there, and as president, he held true to his America First promise by ushering a $10 billion factory into Tomlinson’s home state. Turns out, those who support Trump aren’t bad people, they just want jobs.
“Tomlinson knows this. He knows what the truth is, but he doesn’t care,” Stinchfield said. “Because he is blinded by his hatred of President Trump, and yes all those who support him.”
Tomlinson took his extremism to another level after using the op-ed to further evangelize his anti-Trump rhetoric. While falsely accusing the NRA of “fearmongering” after using real footage from a violent leftist protest, he crossed the line when he not only misquoted but flat-out lied about NRA Spokesperson Dana Loesch’s video. Perhaps he should stick to writing about space, because that seems to be where his head is.
In truth, all this fake news hack did was confirm something the NRA has known for years—the so-called “mainstream” media has positioned itself as an arm of the Democratic party that will publish just about anyone with a deep-seated hatred for anything that does not fit their liberal agenda. And at the heart of that agenda is a hatred for anyone they can’t control.
Those “contributors,” in turn, feel it’s their vocation to act on this contempt in everything they write. Even before President Trump’s inauguration, there was an unprecedented media firestorm. Publishing standards and ethics since have been trashed in the delirium.
But the lies that Tomlinson published aren’t even the biggest problem; what he decided to omit was.
Tomlinson failed to mention that the NRA and its members have worked hard to educate and legally arm the LGBT and minority communities. Maybe Tomlinson should reach out to Chris Cheng, Colion Noir, Gabby Franco or any one of the millions of people the NRA has fought to defend their rights.
As it turns out, the NRA isn’t only responsible for Tomlinson’s introduction to firearm safety. The very reason Tomlinson can even have his “four firearms of various kinds” or access to the apparent thousands of rounds of ammo he says he shoots each year is because of the very organization he is bashing, and the important work NRA has done over the past several decades.
There is no freedom outside of the truth, and that is why the NRA has been fighting—and will continue to fight—violent lies with the clenched fist of truth.Ironically, after attempting to establish credibility by mentioning his concealed-carry license, Tomlinson goes on to condemn the actions of the Obama-era NRA. In truth, the NRA in 2011 fought for and passed Wisconsin’s Right-to-Carry bill, making it possible for Tomlinson to have a permit.
Ignorance oozes from every pore of Tomlinson’s “think piece.” He refused to acknowledge that the violent crimes rates in Democrat-controlled, anti-Second Amendment cities like Chicago, Detroit, his hometown of Milwaukee and Washington, D.C., continue to skyrocket as the government continues to implement more and more gun control. Some inner cities are practically burning to the ground, yet under Democrat control, the prosecution rate for felony gun crimes has hit an all-time low.
This is not a temporary virus of liberal bias that has infected Tomlinson and the “mainstream” media. Rather, this is a cancerous strain of ignorance brought on by decades of unacceptable mediocre writing under the guise of the freedoms afforded by the First Amendment.
I’m here to remind you that true freedom is not a license to do whatever the hell you want. There is no freedom outside of the truth, and that is why the NRA has been fighting—and will continue to fight—violent lies with the clenched fist of truth.
Hey Patrick, let me make this clear for you: When you trash the truth in favor of blatant anti-American, anti-gun chauvinism, you are slowly chipping away at the First Amendment. Once political bias supersedes fair editorial standards, freedom of the press will be gone forever. And you will have no one to blame but yourself.
Lydia Longoria is an economist and writer from Texas. Follow her on Twitter: @LydiaLongoria.
