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
North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Last week the North Carolina General Assembly briefly returned from recess and re-referred Senate Bill 50, Freedom to Carry NC, to the House Rules Committee.

Federal Court Strikes Down Biden Administration’s “Engaged in the Business” Rule in NRA Case

Thursday, October 2, 2025

Federal Court Strikes Down Biden Administration’s “Engaged in the Business” Rule in NRA Case

Yesterday, in Butler v. Bondi, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama held that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives exceeded its statutory authority by issuing its 2024 Final Rule expanding ...

First Affirmative Lawsuit in Support of Gun Owners Filed by Trump’s DOJ

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

First Affirmative Lawsuit in Support of Gun Owners Filed by Trump’s DOJ

California officials’ egregious foot-dragging over the issuance of carry permits has finally attracted the ire of the federal Department of Justice (DOJ). 

President Trump’s GOP Leads Polling on Crime and Guns, To No Surprise

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

President Trump’s GOP Leads Polling on Crime and Guns, To No Surprise

A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll revealed that Americans know the President Donald Trump-led Republican Party has a better plan than their Democratic Party opponents on crime and gun control.

NRA Files Amicus Brief in Fifth Circuit Case Challenging the Federal Switchblade Act

Friday, October 3, 2025

NRA Files Amicus Brief in Fifth Circuit Case Challenging the Federal Switchblade Act

Yesterday, the National Rifle Association filed an amicus brief in Knife Rights, Inc. v. Bondi, urging the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas’s decision upholding the Federal ...

Trump Administration Repeals Biden Era Firearms Export Crackdown

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

Trump Administration Repeals Biden Era Firearms Export Crackdown

Last Monday, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) at the U.S. Department of Commerce published a final rule that reversed a crackdown on the commercial export of firearms from the U.S. to other countries.

Trust in Mass Media Craters to New Lows, in Single Digits With Republicans

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

Trust in Mass Media Craters to New Lows, in Single Digits With Republicans

There’s an old saying that rings especially true to Second Amendment supporters: If you don’t read the news, you’re uninformed.

Alphabet Eases the Reins on Censorship; Will Gun Content Eventually Benefit?

News  

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Alphabet Eases the Reins on Censorship; Will Gun Content Eventually Benefit?

With the free speech debate recently co-opted by one TV host’s use of false and incendiary remarks about his political opponents, it might have been easy to miss another important First Amendment story last week. 

Canada’s Public Safety Minister on Gun Ban & Confiscation: “Don’t Ask Me to Explain the Logic”

News  

Monday, September 29, 2025

Canada’s Public Safety Minister on Gun Ban & Confiscation: “Don’t Ask Me to Explain the Logic”

There have been multiple developments on the Canadian gun grab and ban in the last few days, but the most astounding has got to be a leaked bombshell recording of the Liberal Public Safety Minister, ...

U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Challenge to Hawaii’s Private Property Default Carry Ban

Friday, October 3, 2025

U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Challenge to Hawaii’s Private Property Default Carry Ban

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the petition for certiorari in Wolford v. Lopez, a challenge to Hawaii’s law forbidding carry on private property open to the public (such as restaurants, gas stations, and grocery stores) ...

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.