Identity Theft: Brady Bunch of Lies

4:50 pm, 6/20/05

Identity Theft: Brady Bunch of Lies
Did the Brady Campaign commit perjury?

On March 15, 2004, the "Brady Campaign" testified before the House Judiciary Committee in opposition to H.R. 800--"The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act"--federal legislation that would protect law-abiding firearm manufacturers from reckless, predatory, and potentially bankrupting lawsuits.

During testimony, the group attempted to bolster its argument by introducing a letter that listed five Nevada law enforcement officials who purportedly lent their names to the Brady's effort to thwart the bill.

The Bradys and another anti-gun organization--the "Million Mom March"--even posted the opposition letter on their websites as a way to garner key support for their gun-banning efforts.

But, as it turns out (and not surprisingly), the Brady Campaign apparently added the sheriffs' names to the letter without their knowledge or approval!

Due to phone calls generated by NRA members, we're happy to report that all five sheriffs have since contacted NRA to report the error and to determine how to have their names removed.

Incidentally, the letter in question has suddenly been removed from the Brady's website....

I went ahead and made some calls to check out this story, and not only is it correct as far as I could gather, but Lander County Sheriff Ron Unger's office was under the impression that Sheriff Unger had actually been misled about the nature of the bill. On the other hand, Humboldt County Sheriff Gene Hill spent a little time discussing the matter with me, and confirmed that the Brady Campaign simply pulled their names out of the blue. In fact, Sheriff Hill wasn't aware the bill existed, and as soon as he was made aware, informed the NRA that they could use his name to support the bill, calling the idea of holding manufacturers responsible for criminal misuse of their products "not realistic".

"It's too bad that we've come to this point, to attack a manufacturer of a product like that is not in line with what this country is about, not what the Founding Fathers had in mind," Hill explained.

Hill says the only contact he ever had with the Brady Campaign was when Nevada law enforcement leaders were brought together for a presentation from a "retired New Jersey undercover narcotics officer" who Hill suspects was a paid spokesman for the Brady Campaign.

"We thought he was a little bizarre.... The tactics he associated didn't sound like anything we've heard of to do with law enforcement before, and I talked to others after and no one was impressed.... He seemed kind of thuggish. He said he'd been on for two years, and to claim retired status in Nevada you have to be on for ten. Maybe it's different out there."

Sheriff Hill emphasized that he never gave anyone permission to use his name, and that he's asked all his federal legislators to confirm all the names on the documents the Brady Campaign presents. "I found out about this and I wasn't too happy at all. If they did this to me, who else have they done it to? What I want to know is, why did they use us? There were lots of others at that meeting, but they just picked the five of us?... There should be laws or some kind of ethics rules against using people's names without their permission, in fact I guess there probably are."

Ironically, Hill noted that the Brady Campaign probably exposed themselves to some kind of liability, and that "if I was a lawsuit happy type of person, I'd be digging and scratching to see who did that".

Was it perjury to bring his name before the House Judiciary Committee like that? "Well, I'd think so.... Next time they come around, I won't listen to them, and I'll advise the sheriff's association against having them. It's called distrust. They're not honorable, and that's what I base things on."