Gun Owners of America -- a far-right gun group whose leader has been linked to white supremacists and has suggested that mass shootings are staged by the government -- will host Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz to address the group's “activists.”

GOA is headed by Larry Pratt, a conspiracy theorist who frequently espouses extreme views on gun regulation. The group is considered to be to the right of the National Rifle Association touts itself as “the only no-compromise gun lobby in Washington.”

According to an e-mail sent to GOA supporters, Cruz will speak at a “Tele-Town Hall” meeting on May 27. GOA “is surveying and interviewing all of the candidates,” but Cruz is the first to agree to address the group:

Cruz, who has received campaign contributions from GOA, previously praised the group as “strong defenders of the Second Amendment.”

Although media sometimes ignore GOA's extremism, the group and its leader ascribe to a hard-right ideology. In 1996, Pratt was forced to leave Pat Buchanan's presidential campaign after it came to light that he had spoken at a militia conference alongside leaders of the white supremacist movement. GOA also donated “tens of thousands of dollars” to white supremacy group CAUSE in the 90s.

On the issue of gun violence, Pratt has flirted with the idea that the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting and the Aurora, Colorado, movie theater mass shooting were carried out by the government. Pratt has also suggested that politicians who support gun violence prevention laws should fear being shot and recently claimed that rioters in Baltimore should have been shot on sight. Among Pratt's lowlights: