The NRA is out with a new ad that claims the Justice Department is seriously talking about mandatory gun buybacks.
The video went online around the time Obama began delivering his State of the Union address Tuesday. In the speech, Obama mentioned his effort to reduce gun violence through legislative means.
NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told CNN that the organization based its warning on what he said is a Justice Department document, “Summary of Select Firearm Violence Prevention Strategies,” that was written in January and given to the NRA.
A Justice Department spokeswoman told CNN that she couldn’t immediately authenticate the document, but did confirm that Greg Ridgeway, whose name appears on it, is currently deputy director of the National Institute of Justice, which is the DOJ’s research arm.
“This internal Justice Department memo says ‘an assault weapons ban is unlikely to have an impact on gun violence,’ ” NRA’s chief lobbyist Chris Cox says in the video that was provided to CNN before it aired online. “Unlikely, that is, unless it comes with something else. Obama’s experts say that a gun ban, like the one being debated right now in Congress, will not work without mandatory ‘gun buybacks and not exemptions.’ ”
Watch the ad
here:
There's one teeny-tiny problem with this claim--it can't be verified. You'd have thought that the NRA would have at least thought to upload a copy of this memo--but unless I'm missing something, I can't find any evidence of it. So for all we know, Wayne LaPierre and friends are just blowing smoke.
The ad is due to run on numerous news sites in Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Colorado, South Dakota and DC. I have to wonder why they aren't trying to get this ad on television. Judging by the fact the memo isn't available for viewing, I have to think they know that no responsible station would take this ad without any evidence this memo even exists.