By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) has this week sent a letter to Andrew Ferguson, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), urging the commission to conduct “a thorough review of relationships and activities by the Biden FTC with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that propagated ‘whole of government’ infringements on Second Amendment rights.”
Named specifically as NGOs in the letter are Everytown for Gun Safety, The Brady Campaign, and Giffords Law Center.
The NSSF letter was signed by Lawrence G. Keane, senior vice president and general counsel for the organization, which identifies itself as the Firearm Industry Trade Association. The letter may be read here.
In his letter to Ferguson, Keane notes, “There is a large and well-funded network of Democrat-aligned NGOs who have made it their mission to attack the Second Amendment. During the Biden Administration, these groups found eager allies in the White House, which shared the anti-Second Amendment mission. The result was a reciprocal relationship between the between the Biden Administration and this NGO industrial complex.”
In his letter, Keane asks the FTC to “take important action to implement President Trump’s Executive Order Protecting Second Amendment Rights (Executive Order).
“In his Executive Order,” Keane writes, “the President recognized that ‘[t]he Second Amendment is an indispensable safeguard of security and liberty’ and he directed the Attorney General to conduct a review of the Executive Branch to identify infringements of Second Amendment rights. The Commission should support this effort by rooting out and helping to remedy any activities by the Biden-era FTC that may have improperly aligned the agency with anti-Second Amendment non-governmental organizations (“NGOs”) or otherwise infringed upon Second Amendment rights.”
NSSF noted in a statement announcing the letter that, “Gun control groups were welcomed to the Biden White House, including through the now-defunct White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, that built a reciprocal relationship to attack Second Amendment rights and the firearm industry that makes exercising those rights possible. As part of a coordinated ‘lawfare’ campaign, gun control NGOs aligned with the Biden administration coordinated to publish a series of misleading ‘complaints’ urging the FTC to investigate and a take legal action against truthful and constitutionally-protected firearm advertising.”
Biden’s White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention was abolished within 48 hours of President Trump’s inauguration in January.
The NSSF is asking the FTC for the following:
- Issue a statement publicly reaffirming the Commission’s commitment to protecting Second Amendment rights, consistent with the Executive Order;
- Review actions during the last administration to determine the full nature and extent of the pressure exerted by the Biden White House on former commissioners and staff to infringe Second Amendment rights;
- Review actions during the last administration by former commissioners and staff to determine whether they improperly aligned themselves with anti-Second Amendment NGOs, utilized Commission resources to aid those groups, or otherwise engaged in conduct that infringed the Second Amendment;
- Refer any relevant findings to the Attorney General; and
- Promote full public transparency of the foregoing by making public the results of the Commission’s inquiry.
In the letter, NSSF’s Keane also notes, “In countless cases, Americans have used firearms because they were the tool uniquely capable of helping them save their lives or the lives of their family members. The NGOs seek to take that right away because they have an infantilizing view of American citizens. They argue that it is the role of the FTC to deprive individuals of the right to protect themselves with firearms because those dangerous tools might hurt them.
“The Constitution, however, shows that the Founders made the opposite policy decision,” the letter states. “It entrusts Americans with the right to keep and bear arms for self-defense, despite the innate potential dangers of firearms. As the Supreme Court has explained, “self-defense is a central component of the Second Amendment.” Advocating self-defense, therefore, cannot constitutionally be subject to government regulation because the Second Amendment itself reflects a judgment by the American people that the benefits of owning firearms for self-defense outweigh the costs. That debate was settled at the Founding.”
