Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News

The Washington Post Fails Again

Friday, August 19, 2016

The Washington Post Fails Again

It’s embarrassing how shamelessly the Washington Post is shilling for Hillary Clinton nowadays.

On Monday, the Post’s “fact-checker,” Glenn Kessler, said that the NRA's new TV ad is wrong, in claiming that Clinton “doesn’t believe in your right to keep a gun at home for self-defense.”

Kessler took his shot at the NRA after we outlined how the Post’s editors were disingenuous, at best, in their attempt to fool the public into believing that Clinton is anything but a staunch gun control extremist.

Kessler’s reasoning wasn’t just dubious, it was devoid of merit. On the one hand, he acknowledged that NRA’s ad is based upon Clinton’s statement that the Supreme Court is “wrong on the Second Amendment” and he admitted that Clinton indeed spoke those words. He even agreed that Clinton might, if elected president, nominate Supreme Court justices who would vote to overturn Heller.

Strangely, Kessler said NRA’s ad is wrong because Clinton supports an “assault weapons” ban, opposes the open carrying of long guns, supports expanding firearm-related background checks, wants more categories of people to be prohibited from possessing firearms, and wants to repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (which, Kessler, like Clinton, falsely claims protects negligent members of the gun industry).

But, Kessler says, “
None of these proposals would restrict a person from buying a gun to keep at home for self-defense.”

So his argument is that Clinton surely wants more gun control, but not that kind of gun control.

But that is an absurd argument. The fact that Clinton supports lots of gun control restrictions doesn’t prove, one way or the other, whether she believes people have the right to have handguns at home for self-defense, or what she means when she says the Supreme Court is “wrong on the Second Amendment.”

Kessler’s and the Post’s phony-baloney, dishonest dispute about Clinton’s stance on those issues could be laid to rest, once and for all, if the Post or someone else in the media would ask Clinton to state precisely how she thinks the Supreme Court is “wrong on the Second Amendment.”

Clinton might say that she has already answered this question. Politifact has reported, “The Clinton campaign previously told us Clinton ‘believes Heller was wrongly decided in that cities and states should have the power to craft common sense laws to keep their residents safe.’”

However, that’s not a legitimate answer. Heller wasn’t concerned with whether states and cities could impose various gun control restrictions. In fact, the Court addressed this question directly, by stating, “nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.”

Once again, let’s be clear about this, because Clinton will continue to shift, duck, dive, and slide around the issue for the remainder of the campaign.  As is her well-worn pattern, she will refuse to be as honest with the voters as she was to big donors at her swanky fundraiser where her “wrong” comment was recorded.

What Heller was concerned with, and all nine justices said so, was whether the Second Amendment protects the right to have a handgun at home for protection. The majority opinion said, “We consider whether a District of Columbia prohibition on the possession of usable handguns in the home violates the Second Amendment to the Constitution” and concluded, “In sum, we hold that the District’s ban on handgun possession in the home violates the Second Amendment, as does its prohibition against rendering any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense.” 

Not only that, the four dissenting justices said that the case was concerned with “whether a District of Columbia law that prohibits the possession of handguns in the home violates the Second Amendment.”

So, if the Court was “wrong,” it was “wrong” about keeping a gun at home for self-defense, not “wrong” because of anything else Clinton wants to suggest is a “reasonable” or “common sense” restriction.

Kessler and the Post know all of this.  Simply put, Clinton will say anything to get elected and the Post will say anything to help her do so.

It’s no wonder that a Pew poll from July found that 74 percent of Americans believe that the media are biased in their reporting.  How soon the other 26 percent figure out the obvious is anyone’s guess, but we’re confident Kessler and his colleagues at the Washington Post will continue to chip away at the stubborn few.

TRENDING NOW
Congress Passes the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” Now Headed to President Trump

News  

Thursday, July 3, 2025

Congress Passes the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” Now Headed to President Trump

Earlier today the U.S. House of Representatives passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” This bill contained a provision that would, among other things, eliminate the burdensome $200 excise tax imposed by federal law on suppressors, short-barreled firearms, ...

U.S. House Passes Reconciliation Bill, Removing Suppressors from the National Firearms Act

News  

Second Amendment  

Thursday, May 22, 2025

U.S. House Passes Reconciliation Bill, Removing Suppressors from the National Firearms Act

Earlier today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R.1 the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which included Section 2 of the Hearing Protection Act, completely removing suppressors from the National Firearms Act (NFA).

One Big Beautiful Bill Clears Senate, and Heads Back to House

News  

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

One Big Beautiful Bill Clears Senate, and Heads Back to House

Earlier today the U.S. Senate passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” This bill contained a provision that would, among other things, eliminate the burdensome $200 excise tax imposed by federal law on suppressors, short-barreled firearms, and “any ...

President Trump Signs the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” into Law

News  

Friday, July 4, 2025

President Trump Signs the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” into Law

Earlier today, on the 4th of July, a day on which our Founding Fathers declared their intent for a free nation, the President of the United State of America, Donald Trump, signed the “One Big ...

United Nation’s Attack on Ammunition Formally Begins

News  

Monday, July 7, 2025

United Nation’s Attack on Ammunition Formally Begins

The recently concluded negotiations on the United Nations’ Global Framework on Through-Life Conventional Ammunition Management (Framework) should be of grave concern to anyone who values the constitutional protections afforded by the Second Amendment. 

U.K. Embarks on Fresh Knife Amnesty, Reminds Americans Why 1776 was a Good Idea

News  

Monday, July 7, 2025

U.K. Embarks on Fresh Knife Amnesty, Reminds Americans Why 1776 was a Good Idea

It has been a while since we’ve looked at weapon news from across the pond, but with Americans everywhere having just celebrated the Glorious Fourth and our independence from British monarchy, the timing seems particular ...

U.S. House Sends Reconciliation Bill to President Trump

News  

Second Amendment  

Thursday, July 3, 2025

U.S. House Sends Reconciliation Bill to President Trump

NFA Tax on Suppressors, Short-Barreled Firearms, and Other Arms Reduced to $0

NRA and 2A Allies Announce NFA Lawsuit

Monday, July 7, 2025

NRA and 2A Allies Announce NFA Lawsuit

Following the passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill”—which eliminates the National Firearms Act of 1934’s (NFA) excise tax on suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and AOWs—the National Rifle Association issued a joint statement along with the ...

Maine: Public University Professor Belittles Student for 2A and Religious Views

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Maine: Public University Professor Belittles Student for 2A and Religious Views

Maine's public education system has recently faced national scrutiny, and it appears things are only getting worse, not better, in the Pine Tree State. 

U.S. Senate Adds Pro-Gun Tax Relief Language Back into Reconciliation Bill

News  

Saturday, June 28, 2025

U.S. Senate Adds Pro-Gun Tax Relief Language Back into Reconciliation Bill

Overnight, the U.S. Senate added pro-gun tax relief language back into the Reconciliation bill after the Senate Parliamentarian struck out an earlier provision.  While this new provision is not as expansive as the language we advocated for which ...

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.