Charles C.W. Cooke calls out NYT's Nick Kristof for pushing 'debunked conspiracy theories' about the 2nd Amendment

Sarah D | 2:03 PM on October 29, 2018

Nick Kristof has gotten pretty good at pulling facts out of his butt when it’s narrative-pushing time.

Today is no different:

In the aftermath of the Pittsburgh shooting, the Parkland shooting, the Las Vegas shooting, let's start a blunt national conversation about the N.R.A. and extremism. Check out this special multimedia presentation, in the works for months: https://t.co/huUhHvyEDL pic.twitter.com/ujATbOO5rz

— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) October 29, 2018

Pro-tip: If you want to have an “honest talk about the NRA,” you need to be, well, honest. And Nick Kristof, you blew it:

Leaders of the N.R.A. fervently backed a new movement to reinterpret the Second Amendment, which had been regarded as a relic having to do with state militias, as protecting individual gun rights. In 1991, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger, a conservative, dismissed calls to reinterpret the Second Amendment as “one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word ‘fraud,’ on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.”

Now that “fraud” is the law of the land.

The reinterpretation of the Second Amendment is a tribute to the undeniable effectiveness of the N.R.A. Relentless campaigning by the N.R.A. and changing American mores have resulted in a Constitutional right to bear arms, in a blizzard of concealed carry permits, and in tough stand-your-ground laws. In contrast to Canada, the United States now has a gun culture focused on handguns, assault weapons and paranoia, and that’s in large part because of the N.R.A.

National Review’s Charles C.W. Cooke, for one, wasn’t about to let Kristof off the hook for peddling B.S.:

In the works for months and you still went for debunked conspiracy theories about state militias.

— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) October 29, 2018