An ad from Mayor’s Against Illegal Guns accuses Sen. Jeff Flake of breaking a promise to strengthen background checks because he voted against a bill that would have expanded background checks.
Checking on Background Checks
Issues: Guns
A False Claim of Blame in Mass. Senate Race
Republican Gabriel Gomez falsely claims his opponent in the Massachusetts Senate race blamed him for the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., and compared him to Osama bin Laden.
NRA Misrepresents Police Survey, Legislation
On the day the Senate voted down a series of gun control bills, the National Rifle Association made false and misleading claims in opposing a measure to expand background checks.
Twisting Feinstein’s Words on Military Vets
Did Sen. Dianne Feinstein say all military veterans are mentally ill and should not be allowed to own guns?
Cornyn’s ‘False’ Rhetoric
Sen. John Cornyn alleged President Obama has told the families of Newtown shooting victims that the Republican party “doesn’t really care about their loss.” But Obama never actually said that.
Guns Acquired Without Background Checks
After the December mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., several Democrats advocating for stricter gun-control laws — including a law requiring universal background checks for gun purchases — took to using this talking point to support their case. …
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.
Proposed Weapons Ban Exempts Government Officials?
TheTeaParty.net falsely claims in an email that Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s proposed assault weapons ban would exempt “all government officials” from the ban. While the bill would exempt military and law enforcement officials, it would not exempt legislators or administrative staff.
The email further misrepresents the proposed bill, claiming that “she [Feinstein] wants to take your handguns, rifles and other weapons away from you.” In fact, the proposal would grandfather in all of the existing weapons owned by Americans,
Child Homicides
Q: Is it true that 85 percent of all the children killed by guns in the world are killed in the United States?
A: No. This statistic, misused by the husband of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, refers to a study of 23 high-income countries in 2003 that made up less than 14 percent of the world’s population. A coauthor of that study says the percentage of children killed in the world who lived in the U.S.
FactChecking GOP Response to Obama Gun Plan
Republican response to President Barack Obama’s plan to reduce gun violence has been peppered with misleading claims.
Rep. Steve Stockman of Texas claimed, “Gun bans and anti-gun laws have always led to one thing — more gun violence.” But the majority of academic research on the effect of the federal assault weapons ban, as well as restrictive gun laws in several major cities, has found no such causal link.
Rep. John Fleming of Louisiana condemned what he said was Obama’s plan to “push”