President Obama is conspiring to ban ALL ammo!

May, 2015

The latest hate thrown down on, of course, President Obama (as usual), by the brain-addled leaders of the NRA is (drum roll please) the banning of ALL ammo for everyone in the U.S.

Not satisfied with the usual paranoid line that all guns are going to be banned, this month the NRA has projected that delusion to ammunition.

Previously, pro-gun conspiracy theorists had claimed that Obama was going to buy up all the ammunition to keep it out of civilian hands, and that this government buy up of ammo was going to be joined by martial law (and take your guns away, too!).

Now, according to the nut jobs at the nation's biggest gun lobby, they don't just want to buy it up, but ban it altogether.

According to an article at MediaMatters,the argument is based on the movement to ban lead from our environment, mostly due to hunter's bullets, which have been responsible for a dangerous increase in lead intake by scavengers such as the endangered California Condor.

In the May issue of the NRA's magazine, America's 1st Freedom, LaPierre wrote, "President Barack Obama is setting the table to ban your ammunition -- all of it," and claimed that "the remaining two years of Obama's term pose the greatest threat ever to the Second Amendment and our freedom."

LaPierre imagined a ludicrous scheme where "two fatal turns of events" would lead the EPA to ban all lead ammunition and, subsequently, the Obama administration to ban all non-lead ammunition. According to LaPierre, "The president's bureaucrats at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are partnering with private enviro-radicals to ban lead projectiles -- including all hunting bullets -- as hazardous."

Despite the fact that the EPA has given no indication that it is preparing regulations on lead ammunition, LaPierre insisted that the agency is still seeking a ban.

Of course, there's no shortage of non-lead bullets to go around.

And the argument is also due to a failed attempt at stronger regulation of AR-15 bullets that can (and do) pierce the protective vests of law enforcement:

The ATF announced its intent to try and ban a particular type of AR-15 ammunition known as M855, or "green tip," in February. Citing concerns for the safety of law enforcement officers, the ATF said the move was necessary because the round contains a steel penetrator, which makes it more powerful than other types of ammunition used in the AR-15.

If Obama "can set a precedent by banning AR-15 ammunition," LaPierre wrote, "he is well on his way to banning any and all of the ammo his anti-freedom heart desires."

But the proposed ban was withdrawn.

But, hey, it's easier to whip up a frenzy in the pro-gun, paranoid minds of NRA followers if you exaggerate and irrationally extrapolate these minor examples into an all-out ban, right?  That's the only way the NRA can get memberships.


Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory!

Obama is training the military to attack the Tea Party and people who believe in the Second Amendment!

June, 2014.

Conspiracy theorist king, Alex Jones, of Infowars.com has teamed up with Gun Owners of America director Larry Pratt (again) to come up with another doozie! 


According to their fevered minds, President Obama (isn't it always him?) is training the U.S. military to target Tea Party supporters and like-minded citizens for "military force."

According to an article:

The conservative Washington Times reported the story as if Obama had invented a provision of federal law that allowed for intervention by the military on domestic soil “in extraordinary emergency circumstances where prior authorization by the president is impossible.” However, the clause is a longstanding one that has been in effect under many presidents.

Jones, however, interprets the law to be official confirmation that the U.S. military is, at this moment, “training with tanks, armored vehicles, drones” to “take on the American people, mainly the Tea Party.” ...

Jones referred back to the 2009 DHS report, saying that the Obama administration has “fingered veterans as potential terrorists, people who believe in the Second Amendment, who are pro-life, who want to work for limited government.”

“I guess the idea of limited government really would terrorize a socialist,” he continued. “The enemy is freedom and they really are doing what they can to extinguish it.”

That's right.  According to Jones and Pratt, the army will kill veterans, Second Amendment supporters, pro-life people, and general Tea Party supporters, using tanks and drones and armored vehicles.

Of course, they offer no evidence whatsoever other than paranoid reading of an obscure law that has never been used.  But, hey, who says it has to make sense?

Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory!

The NFL is a tool for President Obama's anti-gun crusade!

December, 2013.

(source)

Recently, the NFL chose not to air an ad by a gun manufacturer, Daniel Defense, during the 2013 Superbowl, citing a policy against airing ads for firearms.

Naturally, the pro-gun forces have taken this as a personal attack on all-things-American, with some calling for a boycott on watching the NFL.  To them, any turning away of the object of their obsession is like a declaration of war, no matter how small the infraction.

Now Alex Jones, of Infowars.com, has taken it a step further.  To him, the decision against airing the ad isn't just a policy choice by the NFL, but rather evidence that the NFL is a "propaganda tool" of President Obama's "anti-gun" crusade!

From an article:

To gun advocates, this was nothing less than a declaration of war. Alex Jones, who last made headlines with a notorious anti-gun control rant on Piers Morgan’s show, said the NFL’s decision proved the league was “anti-family,” “anti-liberty,” and “anti-American.” Worse yet, Jones said, the NFL was in cahoots with the imperialistic Obama Administration, which is using the Super Bowl as a venue for political propaganda, just like Hitler did with the 1936 Munich Olympics.

That's right.  Jones pulled out the tired old analogy comparing Obama to Hitler.  Again.

Naturally, as with all such conspiracy theories he puts forth, there isn't a shred of evidence that President Obama had anything to do with the NFL's decision.  But that won't stop him from saying so, anyhow.

See Jones' rant and the ad at Infowars.com HERE. 

And just to add some fake alarm, he writes on his page:

The is just the latest example of the golden calf that is the NFL selling Americans on the notion that the natural right to self defense is “offensive.” More and more it has proven itself to be a soviet-style political tool useful only in propagandizing Americans, in addition to distracting the masses from real pressing issues. 

If folks can’t rid themselves of the illusion of freedom the NFL has constructed by either boycotting it or altogether ignoring it, is there really any hope for America?

Yes, fellow citizens, there isn't "really any hope for America" because the NFL decided not to air an ad!

But this isn't the first time Alex Jones has made this poor attempt to paint the NFL as anti-gun and being a "propaganda tool" for Obama.  He made this accusation a year ago, too, when announcer Bob Costas commented publicly, on the air, about the scourge of gun violence in our athletics, after Jovan Belcher shot to death his girlfriend, then himself.  Costas stated:

“Our current gun culture ensures that more and more domestic disputes will end in the ultimate tragedy and that more convenience-store confrontations over loud music coming from a car will leave more teenage boys bloodied and dead.” 

“Handguns do not enhance our safety. They exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments, and bait us into embracing confrontation rather than avoiding it. In the coming days, Jovan Belcher’s actions, and their possible connection to football will be analyzed. Who knows?”

Naturally, Alex Jones not only attacked Costas for the statement, but also the NFL, and then attempted, without a shred of evidence (of course) to link it to President Obama somehow.  From the infowars page:

There can be no mistake that the Costas incident was a flagrantly bold, covert and coordinated attack on citizens’ gun rights, but this episode is just the latest in a series of pathetic attempts in the course of the Obama administration to subvert the Second Amendment. 

The current president’s lengthy resumé of attacks on guns speaks volumes about his attitude towards Americans’ right to bear arms.

He then goes on to rattle off a string of perceived slights and supposed statements illustrating Obama as "anti-gun."

Given that the NFL has a serious and growing problem of gun violence among its players, and as high as 70% of their players are gun owners, it only makes sense that they are sensitive to the topic, enough to refuse to air ads for guns.  But that hardly equates to some sort of government anti-gun conspiracy using the NFL as a pawn!

Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory!

Obamacare is going to create a "stealth gun registry!"

October, 2013.

We can all count on ultra-conservative blowhard Rush Limbaugh to push ridiculous, over-the-top conspiracy theories. Now he's got another.

According to him, Obamacare may be creating a "stealth" gun registration program.

Here's how his fevered mind works:  A U.S. company is being used to build Healthcare.gov. That company is associated with another company in Canada, which had once been tasked with creating the Canadian gun registration program.  Never mind that the Canadian company was dropped before they completed their effort, but that's evidence enough for this pundit to send out to all his listeners.

See and listen here.

Limbaugh referred to an article onBreitbart.com that claims a Canadian company, CGI, has a U.S. subsidiary, CGI Federal, that was paid $93.7 million to build HealthCare.gov. 

CGI was also once contracted to build a nationwide gun registry for the Canadian government. 

However, CGI's contract for the gun registry was canceled in 2007 because it was "significantly over budget" and a more conservative government took over the country.
According to MediaMatters.org, Limbaugh suggested their might be an anti-gun conspiracy in this report (audio below). 

"Here's a group that tried to put together a gun registry in Canada," said Limbaugh. "Oh yeah, we love those kinds of people. Gun registry, oh yeah, that's the kind of people we need." 

"While we're working on health care they can be, in a stealth way, establishing one of those here maybe, just ruminating, you know," added the radio host.

Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory!

Obamacare will force gun owners to have electroshock therapy!

August, 2013.

Larry Pratt, Executive Director of the extremist pro-gun group, Gun Owners of America, is certainly no stranger to conspiracy theory mumbojumbo, as I have reported several times before.

This time he agrees with the ridiculous assumption, put forth by the Talk to Solomon Show, that Obamacare is going to force electroshock therapy on bipolar patients.  Then they make the even more ridiculous assertion that this diagnosis and treatment will be extended to gun owners who are defending themselves.

See the video here.  From the article and video:

During an episode of the Talk to Solomon Show on Tuesday, Stan Solomon noted that The Fort Myers News-Press had reported last week that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was becoming a popular treatment for bipolar disorder. 

“There’s saying, hey, it’s quicker than some drugs and all that type of thing,” Solomon observed. “But so is a bullet.” 

“But the fact is, I am telling you, I believe that we’re going to see things get worse before they get better, and you’re going to see people that are going to be — quote — unquote — incorrigible, however they define incorrigible, maybe resisting when people come crashing into your house,” he told Pratt. “Your thoughts? Because we’re becoming very much an able-to-defend-yourself and an unable-to-defend-yourself country.” 

“Well, I think part of that is what we’re seeing in Obamacare,” Pratt agreed. “This is going to be what you’re talking about several times over.”

Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory!

Recent IRS and government surveillance scandals prove that Obama is a tyrant and wants to take our guns away!

May, 2013.

According to (surprise, surprise!) conspiracy-theory king Alex Jones and Infowars.com, recent scandals involving IRS investigation of conservative anti-tax groups, the Benghazi attacks, and the seven-year-long government mining of civilian internet and phone data are proof that the government can't be trusted and is, in fact, a tyranny, worthy of being overthrown by armed Americans and "shot dead."

According to Jones:

The illusion of trustworthy government has been destroyed. 

Now the illusion of trustworthy government has been completely shattered. If the IRS would selectively intimidate and threaten Constitutional groups it didn’t like, what else is the government capable of? 

All of a sudden those of us who warned everybody about gun confiscation, FEMA camps and false flags don’t seem so outlandish anymore. Now almost everyone realizes the government is capable of ANYTHING. Especially the Obama administration, which respects no laws and no limits to its power. (Drone strikes, secret kill lists, the continued running of secret military prisons, bypassing Congress with executive orders, and so on.) 

Now the Second Amendment makes total sense. Why do we even have a Second Amendment? The honest, blatant answer is so that as a last-ditch firewall against a tyrannical takeover, the American people can march on Washington with rifles in hand and shoot all the criminals dead. That is the essence of the Second Amendment — a last-ditch failsafe for liberty.  

The only real way to keep government in line, after all, is to make sure those who hold office know that if they become outright traitors to America and refuse to abide by the limits of government described in the Constitution, they might be shot dead by citizens who take their country back by force. (I’m not calling for such an action, by the way. I’m only explaining the historical context of the Second Amendment and what it really means.) 

When citizens are well armed and have the power to do such a thing, that power should never actually be needed because the government fears the people and thus stays within the limits of power. But when the people are disarmed, the government fears nothing and so expands out of control, functioning as a rogue, tyrannical cabal of mobsters and criminals. Read your history books if you don’t believe me. This is the repeated story of government’s rise and fall throughout history. 

Ultimately, this is why the Obama administration wants to take your guns away: Not to make the children safer but to make the citizens defenseless against government tyranny. And yes, that tyranny exists right now. The debate is over. The gun grabbers lost and the Second Amendment won.

Yes, because of a couple of trumped-up "scandals," the government is "capable of anything" and "might be shot dead by citizens" (oh, but he's only saying this in an historical context, right?).  Words matter, Mr. Jones, and insurrectionist talk like this is not only unpatriotic, but treasonous.  But I'm sure his paranoid audience is lapping it up.

Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory! 

Ricin-laced letters sent to President Obama & Mayor Bloomberg were actually a government conspiracy to promote gun control!

May, 2013.

Conspiracy theory king, Alex Jones at Infowars.com has come out with another pro-gun extremist zinger for the paranoid.  

Recently, a number of ricin-laced letters were sent to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Mark Glaze, as well as President Obama.

The letters had the same language, stating:

"You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns. Anyone wants to come to my house will get shot in the face. The right to bear arms is my constitutional God given right and I will exercise that right till the day I die."

Lovely.  

You would think that gun owners would be appalled by one of their own showing such extremist behavior.  But the NRA and other gun lobbies have been mum on the issue (after all, they have put out their own pro-gun conspiracy theories!).

Instead, the pro-gun folks, as usual, would rather blame the victims of the attack of somehow faking it (a "false flag") to garner sympathy for their cause.  Here is what Alex Jones had to say about it:

False flag in the making? ... 

Conveniently, little effort is needed to blame this recent bout of poison letters on gun rights advocates. Time shall tell if the letter’s supposed contents lead to any sort of anti-gun legislation or laws geared at further destroying what little civil liberties we have left.

No surprises there.  I'm sure when authorities catch the sender for these most recent letters, Alex and his chums will still stick to their craziness and say the guy's a patsy or something.

Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory! 

President Obama is having the government buy up all the ammo to keep it out of the hands of gun owners!

May, 2013.


Last August, one pro-gun conspiracy theory had announced that the U.S. government was stockpiling ammo to declare martial law and shoot gun owners.

Now, in a sad derivative of that original conspiracy theory, at least four GOP lawmakers,  Sen. James Inhofe and Rep. Frank Lucas, from Oklahoma, Rep. Doug LaMalfa of California, and Rep Jim Jordan of Ohio, are suggesting that President Obama and various departments are stockpiling ammo again.  But instead of wanting to wage war on gun owners, now they want to do it to drive up ammo costs and keep gun owners from buying the ammo, and have gone so far in their lunacy to introduce a bill against the supposed practice.

From an article:

The Hill reports:

Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe and Rep. Frank Lucas have introduced a bill that would prohibit every government agency — except the military — from buying more ammunition each month, than the monthly average it purchased from 2001 to 2009. 

The lawmakers say the Obama administration is buying up exceedingly high levels of ammunition in an attempt to limit the number of bullets the American public have access to on the open marketplace.

Inhofe argued that Obama has been “adamant about curbing law-abiding Americans’ access and opportunities to exercise their Second Amendment rights,” and that “One way the Obama Administration is able to do this is by limiting what’s available in the market with federal agencies purchasing unnecessary stockpiles of ammunition.” 

On Tuesday, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, had a similar conversation with Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council on Sandy Rios’ radio show, noting that he’s been “buying my kids ammo instead of saving bonds.” 

“That’s part of the concern is that this is another way for the president to keep Americans from having ammo by having the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies buy it all up,” Perkins said. “Yep,” replied Jordan. 

Others, including Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, and Fox Business’s Lou Dobbs, have had related concerns about the government “arming up.” 

Similar versions of this theory have been floating around the right for some time.  

Politifact Texas found it to be “mostly false” when a chain email suggested last year that the DHS was preparing for “massive civil unrest” by stockpiling ammo.

Of course, they have zero evidence that the government is actually doing this.  But they wouldn't want facts to stand in the way of their paranoia.

In fact, even the NRA (no stranger to putting out conspiracy theories of their own!) has debunked the previous version of this conspiracy theory.  From another article:

Last fall, the NRA issued a statement saying the claim was being pushed in an “Internet rumor mill” and was designed to “stir up fear.” The “more incendiary authors,” the group said, “suggest that these government agencies are preparing for a war with the American people.” 

Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory!

ADDENDUM (5/15/13): Here is the snopes.com debunking of this conspiracy theory: http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/ssabullets.asp

The Sandy Hook school shooting was somehow staged by President Obama in order to disarm Americans and put in place a totalitarian government!

December, 2012.

Naturally, the pro-conspiracy theory website, InfoWars.com, is pushing this one.  According to the host, Alex Jones:

 This man does not care about children he cares about disarming the American people to bring in a totalitarian government.

His “proof” is the suggestion that Obama has ordered drone attacks that have cost the lives of some children in other countries.  See the rambling video HERE.

Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory! 

"Obamacare" is actually a ploy "for the BATF to take away your guns!"

November, 2012.

Larry Pratt, Executive Director of the extremist pro-gun group, Gun Owners of America, suggests that the Health Care for America Plan (or "Obamacare") is going to allow the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to “take away your guns.”  According to Pratt (click for sound recording as well):

There’s a big one that doesn’t get much attention as a gun measure but it is, and that’s Obamacare. Obamacare among its many unconstitutional aspects, I’m sorry Supreme Court, has made privacy something that only applies between consenting adults but not certainly our relationship with the government. It says that all of our medical records are available to be pawed through by bureaucrats somewhere in Washington, looking for a reason to disenfranchise gun owners, to say ‘oh you have a medical diagnosis that means you might be a danger to yourself or others so we’re going to come and knock on the door for the BATF to take away your guns.’

No surprise that Pratt wants dangerously mentally ill people armed, but since the National Instant Criminal Background Check System was signed into law by President Bush in November 30, 1998, well-before Obamacare was enacted, people who have been adjudicated as dangerously mentally ill or forcefully committed to a mental institution are ineligible for purchasing a gun, and there is also a provision against a general gun ownership database.  

Though mental health reporting is often woefully under-reported, between 1998 and the end of 2004 this mental health disqualification nonetheless prohibited at least 221,478 dangerously mentally-ill people from legally purchasing a firearm.

Of course, Pratt offers no evidence for this supposed conspiracy. 

UPDATE:  In January, 2013, Libertarian Senator Rand Paul echoed this conspiracy theory:

[Paul] warned that President Obama’s “going to use Obamacare apparently to have doctors informing on their patients to whether or not they have guns” and will put the information into “government databanks.” He added: “I’m very much opposed to this kind of information going into government databanks because I fear that the time will come when this data will be misused.”

Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory!

President Obama is going to round up gun owners and other conservatives into internment camps and become dictator!

November, 2012.

FEMA Corps is a new program which combines FEMA and AmeriCorps for assisting with natural and man-made disaster-response.  But, according to Janet Porter of the fundamentalist Christian extremist group Faith2Action, FEMA Corps is actually "a standing army to stifle dissent."  As she said (click to hear audio): 

Is it a standing army to stifle dissent? That’s what some think the real purpose is for the new group that the government calls FEMA Corps. In September, the Department of Homeland Security graduated its first class of 231 students, consisting of 18 to 24 year olds who were recruited from the President’s AmeriCorps volunteers.   

Some question whether they are really part of a new civilian security force that President Obama has called for in speeches. Reasons for the concern include FEMA’s 2,500 new armored vehicles that come complete with slots for machine guns. 

I know it sound’s unbelievable, but so does the fact that Homeland Security has purchased more than one billion bullets this year. It’s time to take a closer look into FEMA Corps!

The reference to FEMA's "one billion bullets" is another conspiracy theory advanced in August (see below). 

Joseph Farah, editor of the extreme fundamentalist, far-right conspiracy website, WorldNetDaily, then picked up Porter's theory and pushed it further over the cliff of sanity, suggesting that gun owners and other conservatives were going to be rounded up by FEMA Corps, at Obama's direction, and put into internment camps, as well as shutting down independent media, due process, and even the election process!  According to Farah:

I know it’s Halloween, but this is more terrifying than ghosts and goblins and vampires. 

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: If Barack Obama is re-elected Nov. 6 for a second term, he will declare a full-scale war on his domestic opposition. 

There may not be another free and fair election in America. 

I would expect due process to go the way of the horse and buggy. 

I think he will move to shut down and destroy all independent media. 

In fact, I think his biggest critics will be rounded up in the name of national security. 

Last week, for instance, with little fanfare, Obama issued an executive order establishing something that sounds so innocent on the surface – but it could prove to be a vehicle for the kind of political putsch I am describing. 

It establishes the “White House Homeland Security Partnership Council.”…Essentially, Obama wants to deputize “community organizers” like him to determine who represents a real threat to the republic.…If any Republican, conservative, independent journalist, pro-life activist, returning veteran, gun-rights activist, constitutionalist, Bible believer or critic of Obama thinks they will be safe in a second term under this would-be despot, they had better think again – real fast.

Wow! All of this because of the need for young people to volunteer to help with disaster response?  Talk about wacko!

Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory!

President Obama is going to hand over the U.S. to the U.N., who will then take away our guns, sparking civil war!

August, 2012.

County Judge Tom Head, from Lubbock County, Texas, stated publically that he believed that, if President Obama is re-elected, he would hand over the sovereignty of the United States of America to the United Nations, and all hell would break loose, including invasion by the United Nations, removal of gun rights, and all-out civil war!  He said, in a media interview:

"He is going to do what he wants to do. Now what do you think he is going to try to do in this next term? One of the things, my opinion. One of the things is he's going to try to give the sovereignty of the United States away to the United Nations. What do you think the public is going to do when that happens? We are talking civil unrest, civil disobedience, possibly, possibly civil war, OK? Now what happens? What happens? Now I'm not talking just talking riots here and there. I'm talking Lexington, Concord, take up arms, get rid of the dictator. OK, what do you think he is going to do when that happens? He is going to call in the UN troops, personnel carriers, tanks and weapons." 

Not unrelated, Judge Head is the local emergency response coordinator.  This, apparently, is the emergency response he is preparing for.

Local Democrats called for Judge Head to resign in embarrassment.  Head's response:

“I cannot divorce my theology and my philosophy from my office,” Head told the newspaper. “I am pro-life, I’m pro-gun rights and if you’re gonna vote for me and if you’re not for gun rights, then you probably don’t want me in office.”

Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory!

UPDATE (5/31/13):  The Obama administration has said they will be signing the treaty. Of course, this has only increased the NRA's conspiracy theory claims.

"Operation Fast and Furious" was an attempt to justify gun control by creating gun violence in Mexico!

June, 2012.

Between 2006 and 2011, the ATF’s Project Gunrunner attempted to track straw purchases and illegal gun trafficking to Mexican drug cartels.  Since a database of gun sales isn’t allowed in America, and loose gun regulation, particularly in the state of Arizona, makes it almost impossible to prevent large gun sales and trafficking, the ATF had to work with a patchwork of local regulations to monitor and track gun sales to illegal parties.  Around 2000 guns were sold and attempted to be monitored as part of the program, but only a few small-time illegal gun sellers were actually arrested.  As a result of internal disputes, many guns went untracked, though the ATF never intended for those guns to “walk” out of their control, as discovered by a six-month investigation by Fortune magazine.  One federal agent, Brian Terry, was killed with one of those guns, as well as an unknown number of Mexican citizens.  Only around 700 of those guns have since been recovered.

The project was clearly a failure, with tragic consequences, but the NRA came up with a more extreme conspiracy theory.  According to them, Operation Fast and Furious, led by President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, intentionally allowed thousands of guns to go into Mexico, hoping that the deaths of innocents would give more reason to pass stricter gun laws here in the United States and attack the Second Amendment.  This, despite the fact that there is no evidence whatsoever that President Obama had any knowledge of the workings of the program, or any evidence that Holder was in control of the program, and despite the findings of Katherine Eban for a Fortune Magazine investigation that no guns were intentionally allowed to “walk” by the ATF.

Nonetheless, FOX News was quick to pick up the conspiracy and advertise it as news as well as GOP pundits like Rush Limbaugh, and certain conservative GOP politicians, such as Rep. Darrell Issa, Republican chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Said Rep. Issa:

“The whole point, don't forget, the whole point of Fast and Furious was to create mayhem in Mexico among drug cartels with American-made weapons easily procured so that you and I would stand up in outrage and demand tighter gun laws.  It was deceitful. It was sneaky.  It was going against the will of the American people. It was liberalism on parade. It's who these people are.  They want tighter gun laws.  Folks, I want to make this as simple as I can.  They created crimes.  There's no other way to characterize this.  They created, they manufactured crime.  They enabled crimes.  They saw to it that American guns ended up in Mexican drug cartel hands.  And, of course, those people get the guns, they use them. When, in fact, it probably was difficult for the drug cartels to get the guns.  It probably was not easy for the drug cartels to get the guns.  Certainly not walking into gun stores in Phoenix and elsewhere, then crossing the border. 

“So they set that up.  They created crimes.  It would be no different than if they wanted to ban airplanes, to engineer a bunch of crashes.  I'm trying to think of a smart analogy to give you.  If this bunch wanted all airplanes grounded, sabotage a bunch so they crash, and the people of the country demand that all airplanes be grounded.  They wanted these guns that were used in these crimes to come from America.” 

After the Fortune magazine investigation by Katherine Eban, one blog post by the People for the American Way summarized it thusly:

Eban’s reporting unearthed absolutely no evidence that the tactic of “gun walking”, which Rep. Issa and his allies continue to put front and center, was ever actually in play. “The ATF's accusers seem untroubled by evidence that the policy they have pilloried didn't actually exist”.

Predicated upon erroneous and misleading information, the Fast and Furious ‘scandal’ is heavy on political intrigue, yet light on substance. 

Just to pound a nail in the coffin of this conspiracy theory, a report by Michael Horowitz, the Department of Justice inspector general, influenced by Eban's investigation, also found no evidence that knowledge of the ATF program ever reached the level of Holder, much less the President, prior to the end of the program, and that there was no conspiracy to reduce gun rights.

For over a year, it's been an article of faith on the right that Fast and Furious was a carefully constructed scheme directed by the White House to trash the Second Amendment and build support for more gun control laws. It wasn't. Neither the White House nor Eric Holder had any idea what was going on. It was just a local operation that was badly botched. This makes Fast and Furious officially yet another lunatic conservative conspiracy theory that has bitten the dust in the cold light of reality.

Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory!

President Obama hasn't passed any laws to restrict gun owners, which is evidence that he wants to destroy the Second Amendment!

September, 2011.

President Obama has done nothing to restrict gun ownership, and has only strengthened gun rights by allowing them in national parks and on Amtrak trains.  But if you believe the NRA's executive vice president Wayne LaPierre, President Obama's support of gun rights is only evidence that he actually wants to remove your gun rights.  From LaPierre's speech at the 2011 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Florida:

"They’ll say gun owners — they’ll say they left them alone…In public, the president will remind us that he’s put off calls from his party to renew the old Clinton ban, that he hasn’t pushed for new gun control laws…The president will offer the Second Amendment lip service and hit the campaign trail saying he’s actually been good for the Second Amendment. But it’s a big fat stinking lie!…It’s all part of a massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and hide his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment in our country…Before the president was even sworn into office, they met and they hatched a conspiracy of public deception to try to guarantee his re-election in 2012.

That's rich!  Next time someone does you a favor and tries to see your side of an issue, be sure to accuse them of plotting against you on that issue.  See what happens.

Here is what ThinkProgress.org had to say about LaPierre’s statement:

LaPierre’s iron-clad logic is that Obama’s failure to take any action against gun owners in his first term means he is conspiring to launch an all-out assault on their rights in his second term. Equally ridiculous is LaPierre’s suggestion that he somehow has secret knowledge that the president “makes fun of gun-owners” when he’s in private or had a conspiratorial meeting with advisers before he took office where he plotted the Second Amendment’s downfall.

“Our freedom is at risk at this election like never before,” LaPierre claimed at the beginning of his speech, using the same fear-mongering the NRA has depended on since Obama took office to enhance their own membership and financial contributions.

It’s unclear, however, why anyone should believe the NRA’s paranoia. By LaPierre’s logic, Obama also has a secret plan to launch a manned mission to Uranus, convert the nation to Pastafarianism, and wipe out the pink flamingo. After all, Obama has done exactly as much to accomplish these three goals as he has done to undermine gun owners’ rights.

PolitiFact.com rated LaPierre’s statements as “mostly false.”

Just another wacko pro-gun conspiracy theory!