What’s a gun-ban organization’s default action when it comes to tragedy? To turn it into a way to score political points, of course. And in this case, to do so by defaming organizations that have a different view on the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
In a story out of Minnesota, the gun control group Protect Minnesota chose to exploit the recent attack at the Dar Al-Farooq Mosque in Bloomington, Minn., for political gain. In a Facebook post on Aug. 9, Protect Minnesota essentially accused state gun rights groups of having information about the attack and withholding it from the FBI. Yes, even following a bombing, anti-gun groups find a way to blame gun owners.
“Violence based on fear is the root cause of this bombing incident,” the group posted on Tuesday morning. “We hope that groups like Minnesota Gun Rights, Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, and Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance can provide good information to the FBI to find and arrest the people responsible.”
Yes, even following a bombing, anti-gun groups find a way to blame gun owners.Of course, representatives from the pro-gun groups were astonished and angry to be basically accused of supporting—even fomenting—such violence. And the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus is demanding a complete retraction of the allegations.
“We are outraged by these libelous, defamatory, and false accusations made by Protect Minnesota,” Bryan Strawser, chairman of the group, said in a released statement. “Our organization is committed to the defense of civil rights. This statement and its implications are baseless and offensive. Needless to say, we have no information on this tragic attack.
“It’s truly unfortunate that at a time when we should be pulling together as a community to condemn terror, Protect Minnesota has chosen to engage in accusations that have no basis in fact and will only serve to distract investigators from swiftly bringing the perpetrator of this heinous act to justice.”
Rob Doar, vice president and political director for Minnesota Gun Owners, encouraged Protect Minnesota to stop the accusations and tone down the rhetoric.
“Sadly, this approach has become the norm under their current leadership,” Doar said in a release. “Engaging in false accusations and misinformation following an incident of this magnitude is abhorrent. I sincerely hope that Protect Minnesota will cease this behavior and elevate their level of discourse.”
By afternoon, Protect Minnesota had edited its Facebook post and removed the defamatory, accusatory section, leaving: “Violence based on fear is the root cause of this bombing incident. We hope that all Minnesotans will work together to help the FBI find and arrest the people responsible.”
Yet despite the forced about-face, there’s little doubt the anti-gun organization will continue to push laws that will only affect the law-abiding, while heaping critique on anyone or any group that works to protect our constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
After all, that’s what gun-ban groups always do whenever a tragedy occurs.
Mark Chesnut has been the editor of America’s 1st Freedom magazine for 17 years and is an avid hunter, shooter and political observer.
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