Anti-Gun Group Tries to Whitewash History

Rep. John Barrow of Georgia is a pro-gun Democrat who touts his support for the National Rifle Association and who voiced opposition this week to President Barack Obama's proposal for a new federal gun control scheme. Not surprisingly, this stance has made Barrow a target for anti-gun activists, and as Jim Galloway of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence has just cut a new video juxtaposing Barrow's statements in support of the Second Amendment with footage from the Sandy Hook tragedy.

Classy, right? But the hatchet job actually gets worse. As Galloway explains at his Political Insider blog:

Here's the problem: The CSGV has done some selective editing in its video. In its version of the ad, Barrow displays a pistol and says:

"Long before I was born, my grandfather used this little Smith & Wesson here…."

It cuts the Augusta congressman off there. How did Barrow finish the sentence in the original, and what did the CSGV choose to omit? This:

"…to help stop a lynching."

Around here, those five additional words make a big difference.

Indeed they do. Many civil rights activists carried and used guns for self-defense, including non-violent activists who allowed themselves to be beaten and harassed during the day as part of a sit-on or other protest, but then relied on guns in the night in case the Klan paid them a visit.

This is a part of American history that tends to undermine the gun control agenda. So it's both ugly and revealing to find a prominent gun control group trying to whitewash this history away.