Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News

Examples of Truth and Sanity Slip Past Editorial Process at The Trace

Monday, July 24, 2023

Examples of Truth and Sanity Slip Past Editorial Process at The Trace

Last month we reported on a surprising fact check by CNN that sought to hold Joe Biden accountable for several false statements he made during an anti-gun speech in Connecticut. Yet perhaps even more shocking were recent articles at the anti-gun propaganda site The Trace that managed to deliver accurate and relevant information on firearm-related crime in America. At this point, it is too early to say whether the latter examples were editorial slip-ups or actual instances of journalistic integrity.  

One of The Trace articles that caught our attention was entitled “Is Massachusetts’ Gun Reform Bill Worth the Controversy It’s Generating?” The headline alone was the first indication that this was not a typical anti-gun screed. When, after all, have firearm prohibition advocates ever acknowledged there could be a countervailing interest to the pursuit of “gun reform”?

The brief piece managed to make a cogent point: Massachusetts’ reputation for strict gun control and its current pursuit of even greater restrictions are at odds with its lax enforcement of gun control laws already on the books.

When was the last time anybody suggested a jurisdiction should try enforcing the gun control laws it has before haphazardly passing even more (and more difficult to enforce) regulations on top of them? Come to think of it, it was probably us, as this is a point NRA-ILA has made incessantly since it was established in 1975.

The other article we noticed at The Trace asked, “Are Handguns or Rifles Used More Often in Mass Shootings?

Regular readers of this page will know the answer to that question is handguns, just as it is the answer to which firearm is misused most often to commit violent crime generally (another admission reported in the same Trace article). 

Our point here is not to cast aspersions on handguns, which the U.S. Supreme Court itself has held are also the “quintessential self-defense weapon.”

Rather, it’s to underscore the obvious point that it’s the deranged criminals wielding the firearms that should be the focus of efforts to address “mass shootings,” not the type of guns they misuse in perpetrating their heinous acts. It is unfortunately true that devastating crimes of this type have been committed with every type of firearm. If the solution to the problem is to ban the weapons the perpetrators use, then it would eventually have to be applied to all types of guns.

Simply put, criminals of this type are not looking for a fair fight. They intentionally seek out disarmed and vulnerable victims. Any firearm can have terrible consequences in those circumstances.

On the other hand, when would-be mass shooters encounter armed resistance, they are often stopped … dead … before they can fulfill their vicious designs.

Yet Joe Biden and other gun control advocates like to promote the fallacy (or misleading oversimplification) that AR-15s and other semi-automatic long guns are the “weapon of choice of mass shooters.” By doing so, they hope to convince policymakers that a firearm type that is underrepresented in firearm fatalities should somehow be the focus of America’s attempts to address violent or gun-related crime.

Of course, both articles also bore tell-tale signs of their anti-gun pedigree.

Characterizing the Massachusetts omnibus gun control effort as a “reform” bill was one example. And Massachusetts is already so chock full of gun control that should be considered unconstitutional (like the “assault weapons ban” mentioned in the article) that a lack of enforcement might in some cases be the most rational and salutary policy.

Likewise, the “mass shooting” article still strained to validate gun control’s focus on the AR-15 by emphasizing its relatively frequent use in recent such crimes, as well as its capacity to inflict fatal wounds or high casualty counts (neither of which tendency is unique to the AR-15, of course). But to its credit, the article followed-up this up by acknowledging that rifles of any sort are known to be involved in only a few hundred murders annually (not all of which are “mass shootings”), “accounting for just 4 percent of gun homicides” in the most recent year for which statistics are available. That same year, handguns were implicated in 5,992 such crimes, the article reported.

Of course, any misuse of a firearm to commit any sort of murder is unacceptable. But Americans have a constitutional right to possess firearms, and the exercise of this right saves many, many innocent lives every year. That’s why the NRA continues to advocate for crime control, not gun control. And if we occasionally get an assist, however inadvertent, from the gun control advocates at The Trace, it’s a coincidence worth mentioning.

IN THIS ARTICLE
The Trace
TRENDING NOW
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 ...

U.S. Senate Forced to Remove Pro-Gun Language from Reconciliation Bill

News  

Friday, June 27, 2025

U.S. Senate Forced to Remove Pro-Gun Language from Reconciliation Bill

Today, the U.S. Senate was forced to remove the pro-gun language that had been previously included in the Reconciliation Bill currently making its way through the chamber. We explained in a previous article that this language would, ...

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).

U.S. Court of Appeals Backtracks on Adverse Suppressor Ruling

News  

Monday, June 23, 2025

U.S. Court of Appeals Backtracks on Adverse Suppressor Ruling

In a single sentence, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit added to the high-profile and consequential national conversation on firearm suppressors.

Armed Churchgoers Prevent Mass Attack as State Lawmakers Plot More Gun Control

News  

Monday, June 30, 2025

Armed Churchgoers Prevent Mass Attack as State Lawmakers Plot More Gun Control

Just over an hour away from the state capitol in Lansing, Michigan – even as lawmakers worked feverishly to pass various gun control measures, including expansion of “gun free” zones – a chilling reminder unfolded of the ...

North Carolina: Update on Gun Bills Moving through the General Assembly

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

North Carolina: Update on Gun Bills Moving through the General Assembly

Recently, House Bill 193 (H193) was reported favorably out of both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Rules Committee, with amendments.

Urge the U.S. Senate to Pass the One Big Beautiful Bill – Contact Your U.S. Senators Today!

News  

Monday, June 30, 2025

Urge the U.S. Senate to Pass the One Big Beautiful Bill – Contact Your U.S. Senators Today!

The U.S. Senate has cleared a number of procedural hurdles and is preparing to vote on the One Big Beautiful Bill. This vote will likely come within the next day. The One Big Beautiful Bill includes ...

Canada’s Big Ugly Gun Grab: An Update

News  

Monday, June 30, 2025

Canada’s Big Ugly Gun Grab: An Update

Canada’s Liberal government is pressing on with its harebrained gun ban and confiscation program for “assault style weapons,” but, true to form and precedents, it has been far from smooth sailing.

News  

Second Amendment  

Friday, June 27, 2025

Joint Statement from Pro-Gun Groups on the Senate Reconciliation Bill

On behalf of millions of NRA members and gun owners, we stand united in calling on Congress to uphold Americans' Second Amendment rights and zero out the NFA's excise tax on suppressors and short-barreled firearms.

Minnesota: Shotgun-Only Hunting Zones Repealed

Friday, June 20, 2025

Minnesota: Shotgun-Only Hunting Zones Repealed

On Monday, June 9th, outside of regular session, the Senate passed the Environment Omnibus bill, removing shotgun-only hunting zones in the state. 

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.