Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News

Gun Control “Journalist” Says the Quiet Part Out Loud

Monday, September 8, 2025

Gun Control “Journalist” Says the Quiet Part Out Loud

Pure gun control. As in disarmament and banning of firearms. It’s rare that anti-gunners get straight to the exact point that we have been warning of for decades. So, when they decide not to dance around with semantics, buzz words, “common sense” labels, incrementalism, or legal gymnastics but instead admit what they actually want, listen carefully and let their own words educate you.

Mike Spies writes for The Trace, an anti-gun propaganda machine funded by Michael Bloomberg that insists on presenting itself as “independent journalism.” Ten years ago, Bloomberg wasn’t quite satisfied with the anti-gun messaging spewing from literally every mainstream media source, so to push the message even further, he created yet another egomaniacal anti-gun vanity project. Read more on The Trace and their history from NRA-ILA’s recent alert: The Trace: Ten Years of Anti-Gun Propaganda

Spies often partners up with mainstream media outlets for the opportunity to portray himself to larger audiences as a “journalist,” and such was the case with his recent roundtable discussion on MSNBC with Katy Tur. In discussing what he considers the challenges and solutions to gun violence, Spies said the quiet part out loud: “You have to be honest and say what will actually work, which is what nobody wants to hear, which is that there are just simply way too many firearms.”  His solution: look to Australia and European countries, which of course have no constitutional right to arms.

“Whether you like it or not, the only thing that really works, if you really wanted to bring down gun violence, was to do what Australia did and to do what many other countries in Europe did.”

Short of saying the word confiscation, what Spies is alluding to as the “solution” is broadly banning firearms, including handguns. When host Katy Tur added on to Spies’s sentiment that there are “too many firearms” and piped in that firearms are “too powerful,” Spies agreed, saying, “And they’re too powerful, even handguns, too.”

A quick re-visit of the Spies-preferred Australian style of gun control: Australia implemented a firearm ban and mandatory confiscation in 1996 pursuant to the National Firearms Agreement. Nearly 700,000 privately-owned firearms were turned in to the government and destroyed. While compensation was available, the offer was one that gun owners could not be refuse; retaining one’s lawfully acquired firearms could lead to their seizure and to prison time.

As of January 2025, the Australian government reported that approximately 52,000 additional firearms had been surrendered to police and removed. Last year, the country adopted what the state government calls “Australia’s toughest firearms laws,” which included even harsher restrictions on license categories, prohibitions and disqualifications, restrictions on the number of guns an individual may own, mandatory health evaluations, mandatory training, and strict new storage requirements. Firearm license applicants must additionally provide a “proper reason” for desiring a firearm; self-defense is never a proper reason.

Spies poo-pooed the idea that America’s own Constitution is any impediment to this scheme, since he believes in only a “fluid interpretation of the Second Amendment.” Meanwhile he characterized the concept that citizens have an individual, constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms as “like, basically, a new idea.” 

The Founding Fathers and the United States Supreme Court justices, among others, would disagree, as Spies has it backwards. Not only would a basic understanding of how the Bill of Rights works have helped here, but Supreme Court precedent going back to the 1800s has supported the Second Amendment as protecting an individual right.

It was not until the “collective rights” theory began to gain traction much later in the 20th century in an effort to aid in the advancement of gun control that the Supreme Court had cause to address this delusion in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008). The Court very clearly held that, consistent with previous Second Amendment rulings and legal sources dating to the Founding, the amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. In 2010’s McDonald v. Chicago, the Court further expanded on this ruling that the individual right to keep and bear arms is incorporated by the Fourteenth Amendment and enforceable against state and local governments.

Ultimately, Spies is an anti-gun activist pretending to be a journalist. “Journalists” like Spies aren’t reporting the news, they are intentionally spreading anti-gun propaganda to undermine the Second Amendment and to stigmatize the gun owning community. No matter how many times Spies proclaims, “I am a journalist,” it will never stick.  Not only is Spies not a journalist, he is also clearly not a historian, a constitutional scholar, a jurist, or someone to be taken seriously on the issue of firearms or the Second Amendment.

TRENDING NOW
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, ...

Gun Controllers Rage at Everytown Over “Firearms Training,” Demand “Abstinence”

News  

Monday, September 29, 2025

Gun Controllers Rage at Everytown Over “Firearms Training,” Demand “Abstinence”

A revealing article in USA Today last week reported that Everytown for Gun Safety’s new “firearms training” program, Train SMART, “met stiff opposition from [Everytown’s] own members and longtime supporters.” 

The Polling Mirage on Gun Policy

News  

Monday, September 29, 2025

The Polling Mirage on Gun Policy

The recent release of yet another “gun policy survey” underscores the necessity of not taking gun-related “polls,” “research,” and “studies” at face value.

Canada’s Gun Grab: Amnesty Expiration Approaches as Top Officials Sow Confusion

News  

Monday, September 22, 2025

Canada’s Gun Grab: Amnesty Expiration Approaches as Top Officials Sow Confusion

Canada’s Liberal government has consistently and misleadingly used “buyback” to describe the 2020 mandatory “assault weapon” confiscation law, in an attempt to make the scheme appear less hostile to property rights and Canada’s responsible gun ...

California Loves Gun Control, Loathes Crime Control

News  

Monday, September 29, 2025

California Loves Gun Control, Loathes Crime Control

California is always adding to its mountain of gun control laws aimed at disarming law-abiding citizens.

NRA Files Amicus Brief in Challenge to California’s Switchblade Ban

Friday, September 26, 2025

NRA Files Amicus Brief in Challenge to California’s Switchblade Ban

Today, the National Rifle Association and National Shooting Sports Foundation filed an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals supporting a challenge to California’s switchblade ban.

What Will Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris Do Regarding Glocks?

News  

Monday, September 22, 2025

What Will Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris Do Regarding Glocks?

The California State Legislature has adjourned for the year and, unsurprisingly, sent a number of anti-gun bills to Governor Gavin Newsom (D) to consider. 

Pennsylvania: House Democrats Advance Gun Control Bills in Committee

Tuesday, September 23, 2025

Pennsylvania: House Democrats Advance Gun Control Bills in Committee

On Monday, the House Judiciary Committee narrowly passed all four gun-control bills on a 14 to 12, straight party line vote. 

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.

Pennsylvania: Another Gun Bill Fails on House Floor

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Pennsylvania: Another Gun Bill Fails on House Floor

On Tuesday, another anti-gun bill was defeated on the House floor, failing to receive approval by a 101-102 vote.    

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.