December 17, 2014

Shhhh. Secret Group of State Legislators Meets in Washington This Week to Plan Anti-Gun Agenda. Mum’s the Word.

A handful of state legislators from across the country gathered at the National Press Club in Washington, DC to announce the creation of “American State Legislators for Gun Violence Prevention” or ASLGVP. The new group, which claims to be non-partisan, will work to push new gun restrictions at the state level. But the coalition has one major problem – they will not let anyone know who they are.

ASLGVP boasts having 200 members from all 50 states but the group will not release a list of their membership, due to a fear of “political backlash.” So, outside of the eight members that participated in the inaugural press conference, no one knows who is or is not a member of this group. We are not witnessing a “Profiles in Courage” moment here.

Citizens across the country have a right to know whether or not their respective elected official is a member of this group. Considering that ASLGVP intends to potentially tamper with our Constitutional rights, it is unethical and secretive for members to keep their constituents in the dark about their participation in the group. If a state legislator is too scared to reveal his or her affiliation with this group, shouldn’t that say something about the agenda that ASLGVP may be trying to move forward?

Perhaps members of this group have opted to keep their participation in ASLGVP a secret because they do not want people to know how out of touch they really are — with their constituents but also the country as a whole. Last week, the Pew Research Center released the results from its newest poll which found that public support for gun rights has never been higher. The survey showed that 52 percent of Americans believe it is important to protect our Second Amendment rights, a figure that increased seven points over the past year. Since public opinion is not in their favor, ASLGVP members, once they reveal their identities, should indeed be fearful of “political backlash” – a vote out of office in the next election.

ASLGVP said it would meet this week in Washington, DC for the first time. NSSF would like to attend and hear more about the group’s agenda, but the meeting time and location is secret. Of course it is. We assume disguises are optional? How about secret handshakes or de-coder rings?

How about this? Any elected public official who believes they must conduct themselves in such cartoonish secrecy is certainly raising questions about their fitness for their office. As for transparency, well they clearly don’t see any need for that quaint notion of representative government. They’ll tell us what they want to tell us when they’re ready. In the meantime, mum’s the word.