White supremacists are attempting to exploit the tragic mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, and the ensuing debate over gun control to push an anti-Semitic agenda.

Some are seizing the moment as an opportunity to demonize Jews, while others are claiming gun rights as a "white identity" issue. Many are publicly framing the battle over gun control as a struggle between beleaguered whites who want to preserve their traditions in the face of a Jewish onslaught.

White supremacists’ anti-Semitic attacks began soon after the shooting in Parkland, and intensified in the wake of National Rifle Association (NRA) head Wayne LaPierre’s February 22 speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). LaPierre used buzzwords that white supremacists associate with Jews, such as “European-style socialists,” saying, “A tidal wave of new European-style socialists [has seized] control of the Democratic party.” He also mentioned two Jewish businessmen and philanthropists, Michael Bloomberg and George Soros, as examples of people using “social engineering” to try to take away the guns and freedoms of Americans.

Neo-Nazis like Lee Rogers of Infostormer and Andrew Anglin of The Daily Stormer, in particular, made a point of connecting LaPierre’s use of the term “European-style socialists” to Jews. They promoted the NRA as a pro-white, anti-Jewish organization, in an effort to exploit gun advocates’ anger over gun control. Both encouraged their followers to join the NRA, claiming that the organization is now fighting on behalf of white interests and against Jewish concerns.

On Infostormer, Rogers writes that LaPierre’s speech at CPAC “implicitly exposed how Jews have been the primary force behind gun control,” and argues that LaPierre “listed off numerous gun grabbing Jews during his speech while referring to them as ‘European-style socialists.’” Rogers added, “It has become clear that the NRA is one of the few big lobbying groups around that is actively advocating on behalf of White interests.” He claims to have joined the NRA, writing, “Gun rights and the Second Amendment is of paramount interest to Whites and it is one of the few cultural areas where Whites have stood their ground.”

On The Daily Stormer, Andrew Anglin also refers to LaPierre’s choice of words, arguing that “the Jews – or as I like to call them, the European-style socialists – have declared all-out war on our gun rights!” Anglin goes on to say that while whites have “lost” on most issues, including immigration, racial integration, feminism, and homosexuality, the NRA is winning on guns. He writes, “And that winning is due almost exclusive to the National Rifle Association, a pro-white and anti-Jewish organization intent on protecting our GUNS from the gun-grabbing kikes”

Anglin encouraged all of his supporters to join the NRA. He writes, “It’s time to put your money where your mouth is and join up with the country’s single effective pro-white organization intent on fully SMASHING THE JEW.”

Another writer on The Daily Stormer using the name Roy Batty (a character’s name in the movie “Blade Runner”), agreed with Anglin, writing, “The attack on guns is an attack on the last major issue that White people are dug in on. The conservatives lost the fight on desegregation, the whole ‘nation of immigrants’ thing, the anti-abortion thing, the gay rights thing and now the only thing left is gun rights.”

Both Batty and Rogers contend that the teen survivors of the Parkland shooting – some of whom have emerged as forceful advocates for gun control -- are being controlled by Jews. Rogers writes that “the Jewish power structure is using these teens to wage an all-out war against the NRA.”

Other white supremacists responded to the Parkland shooting and the ensuing national discussion over gun rights with their own anti-Semitic analysis. Kevin MacDonald, a virulent anti-Semite and retired professor, re-posted a 2013 article from his website, The Occidental Observer, claiming that Jews “lead the gun control debate.”

MacDonald is trying to stir up anti-Jewish hatred, telling his readers that if they love guns and “traditional” American and Christian values (i.e. “white culture”) they should hate Jews. He writes, “The gun culture of traditional America, especially rural America has been particularly loathed by Jewish intellectuals.”

Later in the article, he argues that while Jewish organizations want gun control, they actively support law enforcement. MacDonald claims that Jews want to destroy white America’s liberties. He writes:

“Although Jewish organizations would not phrase it this way, the net result is that the thrust of Jewish activism has been to favor a strong central government with a monopoly on lethal force. Given Jewish hostility to the traditional people and culture of White America, this is a very foreboding combination as we head into the era of a non-White majority America.”

In his recent essay on the white supremacist site American Renaissance, writer Gregory Hood doesn’t mention Jews, but explicitly states that gun ownership has become part of white identity politics. He claims that the tech companies, financial institutions and media that first went after the “white advocates” of the alt right are now going after the NRA. He writes that “the battle over gun rights is also an exercise in identity politics, at least to the Left.” He makes an argument similar to MacDonald’s:

“As America becomes a majority non-white country, the Second Amendment will likely be whittled away because the new races occupying American territory have a far weaker cultural tradition of self-government and responsible gun ownership. On this level, the debate over the Second Amendment has always been a racial issue. It, like every other issue, will ultimately be determined by racial demographics.”