In the weeks since the Parkland, Fla., massacre, gun-control advocates have changed their tactics. After each past mass shooting, leftists merely denounced the NRA for, as they saw it, obstructing laws that might sensibly restrict the sale and ownership of firearms. But this time, gun-control activists not only blamed the NRA. They directed the passion of the high-school student survivors and those who grieved with them toward the amorphous and largely pointless legislative proposals presented as a response to the latest atrocity.
In short order, the attacks on the NRA led to a movement to boycott the 5-million-member organization. Activists also pressured businesses such as banks, car-rental agencies, and airlines to end any relationship with the NRA — relations that largely revolve around discounts for NRA members. But as bitter as the battles over these efforts have been, a far more troubling aspect of the effort to isolate the NRA is getting less attention.
Gun-control advocates are now pressuring Amazon, Google, AT&T, Roku, and other streaming platforms to ban NRA TV — the organization’s private channel of gun-rights advocacy and other weapons-related programming. This takes the fight against the group to a different and dangerous level. It is one thing to condemn the NRA and even to ask businesses not to work with a group that offends some people. It is quite another to silence the point of view of an organization that represents millions of Americans. If successful, the ban on NRA TV will mark a turning point not so much in the battle over gun control as in the debate over political speech and what is permissible within the public square.
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The NRA’s power comes from its ability to motivate people to vote. NRA members and the many others who sympathize with the group tend to be single-issue voters dedicated to the Second Amendment; gun critics tend not to be single-issue voters. NRA backers see the boycott as an attack on them, not on LaPierre and his staff. And so the NRA’s hold on Red State America will remain secure.
That’s why Amazon, Google, and AT&T should be wary of taking action that, in effect, would place them at odds with about half of the country. But over and above the reluctance they should feel about signing up for a culture war, these companies should also understand that if they ban NRA TV, they’ll be headed down a very slippery slope. Soon, pro-gun opinions would not be the only ones to be censored.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/03/gun-controllers-banning-speech-nra-tv-gun-culture-war/
