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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

NRA Exec’s False Gun Claim

NRA Exec’s False Gun Claim

The head of the National Rifle Association’s political and lobbying arm incorrectly described a repealed Social Security Administration reporting requirement for gun background checks as targeting senior citizens “who asked for help handling their finances.”

NRA’s Ominous But Misleading Appeal

NRA’s Ominous But Misleading Appeal

A series of NRA ads employ images of an intruder breaking into the home of a mother home alone with her baby to make the case that Democratic candidates have “voted to take away your gun rights.” But the implication of the jarring imagery goes far beyond the facts.

Biden Revises NRA History on Background Checks

Biden Revises NRA History on Background Checks

Vice President Joe Biden exaggerates when he waxes nostalgic about the “good old days” — a time when “everybody, including the NRA, thought background checks made sense.” Biden’s office says he was referring to the NRA’s support for background checks in the early 1990s and its stated support for expanding background checks to include gun shows in 1999.

Did Obama Flip-Flop on Gun Control?

Did Obama Flip-Flop on Gun Control?

Wayne LaPierre, chief executive officer of the National Rifle Association, incorrectly claimed Obama pulled a bait-and-switch, promising during the campaign not to take away anyone’s guns, but now supporting an assault weapons ban. Obama is not now seeking to take away anyone’s existing guns, and he has for years consistently supported a reinstatement of the assault weapons ban.
Speaking on “Fox News Sunday” on Feb. 3, LaPierre was asked by host Chris Wallace what he made of the White House releasing a photo of President Obama skeet shooting at Camp David.

Did the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban Work?

Did the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban Work?

Both sides in the gun debate are misusing academic reports on the impact of the 1994 assault weapons ban, cherry-picking portions out of context to suit their arguments.

Wayne LaPierre, chief executive officer of the National Rifle Association, told a Senate committee that the “ban had no impact on lowering crime.” But the studies cited by LaPierre concluded that effects of the ban were “still unfolding” when it expired in 2004 and that it was “premature to make definitive assessments of the ban’s impact on gun violence.”