The Washington Post - 07.08.2019

A10 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7 , 2019

Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was shot i n 2011. “But I don’t underestimate their e xisting p ower,” he said, add- ing, “The NRA has made long- term investments into the president and members of Congress, and until we have different repre- sentation, their extreme views will d ominate the debate.” Although the internal chaos at the NRA has soured some of its members, activists said they re- main unified in their support for gun rights, particularly in the face of calls for restrictions by Demo- crats. And other pro-gun groups — some more hard-line than the NRA — are trying to fill any poten- tial void. Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, said he has seen an uptick in support of more than 20 percent in recent months. The additional resources, he said, will allow the group to file more lawsuits on behalf of gun owners. “The single biggest concern that attendees at our annual con- ference next month want us to address is picking up the NRA’s slack and building a firewall,” Gottlieb said. Adam Kraut, a past runner-up for the NRA board who turned down a chance to replace one of the recently resigned board members, on Monday joined a different gun-rights group, the Firearms Policy Coalition, as its new director of legal strategy. Unlike the NRA’s decision to wait until the Blumenthal- Graham legislation is introduced to take a position, the coalition came out Monday in opposi- tion to the measure. “Red flag firearm prohibition and confiscation laws are unconstitutional, unsound, and dangerous policies,” the group said Mon- day. “Te ll the key DC leaders that they MUST OPPOSE any attempt to pass these unconstitutional laws.” Gun Owners of America, which bills itself a s “the only no-compro- mise gun lobby in Washington,” also opposes what spokesman Erich Pratt calls “dangerous red- flag laws, better known as gun confiscation orders.” The group, which has pub- lished criticism of the NRA on its website, is promoting a discount- ed annual membership of $15. That’s significantly less than the NRA’s $45 fee, though the group is offering a discount to $30. [email protected]

Se ung Min Kim, Carol D. Leonnig and Mike DeBonis contributed to this report.

also played a central role in devel- oping the group’s strategy. In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook massacre, Cox advocated for the group to take a lower-key ap- proach amid a wave of national outrage, although LaPierre ulti- mately overruled him. “The question i s, under the current turmoil and crisis, when they speak, will it be different than statements in the past?” said NRA member and firearms trainer Robert Pincus, who is advocating an overhaul of the organization’s board. “Has the current crisis ca used them to reevaluate their message?” Gun-control activists, who have been gaining clout and out- spent the NRA in the 2018 mid- term elections, said they wel- comed signs that the group was faltering, but remained pragmatic about prospects for new legislation. “The more energy the NRA has to use to deal with their problems, the harder it is for them to project their energy outward,” s aid David Chipman, senior policy adviser at Giffords, a group founded by former congresswoman Gabrielle

cials and others to petition a judge to bar firearms from someone they believe is an imminent threat to themselves or others. As the NRA’s chief lobbyist, Cox announced his support for courts issuing risk protection orders in March 2018, about one month after a massacre at Marjo- ry S toneman D ouglas High School in Parkland, Fla. But the NRA has opposed such laws in several states on the grounds t hat they do not protect due-process rights. The organization declined to comment Monday on Blumen- thal’s p roposal until it reviews the legislation. Cox’s abrupt resignation — along with those of some of his top aides — has left a void, with some Republicans lawmakers uncer- tain whom to talk to at the NRA, said one senior GOP aide who spoke on the condition of ano- nymity to describe internal con- versations. Cox was a “whisperer to a lot of Republicans,” t he aide said. Cox — who stepped down after being accused of conspiring with ousted board president Oliver North to overthrow LaPierre —

last year, most recently lamenting that “our great NRA” i s a “victim of harassment” by the New York at- torney general, whose office is in- vestigating the tax-exempt group’s s pending. He has also expressed concern about the ongoing turmoil at the organization, tweeting in April, “It must get its act together quickly, stop the internal fighting, & get back to GREATNESS - FAST!” Still, some gun-control advo- cates are seizing on the upheaval inside the NRA to argue that its sway on Capitol Hill is weaken- ing. “The gun lobby is really crum- bling; the NRA is imploding,” s aid Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D- Conn.), whose home state was where 20 children were killed at Sandy H ook Elementary School in

“The vise lock grip of the
whole gun l obby is breaking.”
Blumenthal and Sen. Lindsey
O. Graham (R-S.C.) are writing
legislation that would offer feder-
al grants and other incentives for
states to pass legislation for emer-
gency risk protection orders.
Those s tatutes would allow f amily
members, law enforcement offi-

television address Monday he blamed “mental illness and hate” f or the shootings. The only limits on gun sales he mentioned were “red-flag laws” that aim to identify mentally ill people who should not be allowed to buy firearms. Focusing on mental illness, not restricting gun sales, has long been an NRA talking point in the aftermath of shootings. In one of two brief statements released since the weekend massacres, the organization said it “welcomes the President’s call to address the root causes of the horrific acts of violence that have occurred in our country. It has been the NRA’s long-standing position that those who have been adjudicated as a danger to themselves or others should not have access to firearms and should be admitted for treatment.” Although Trump has mocked lawmakers as fearful of the NRA, he has repeatedly lavished praise on the organization, whose political arm spent $30 million to help elect him. The president has tweeted support for the NRA nearly a dozen times since early

not get another dime o f my m oney
until w e get an accounting.”
That’s a n increasingly common
sentiment among listeners to
Gresham, who has called for NRA
chief executive Wayne L aPierre to
resign.
“Everyone on the gun-rights
side is concerned with what’s go-
ing on at the NRA because they
recognize the vital role it plays in
protecting our civil rights,” the
radio host said in an interview.
“We would like to get through this
turmoil and get to the other side
as quickly as possible so we can
get back to the work of protecting
the Constitution.”
NRA officials did not respond
to requests to interview LaPierre.
Marion Hammer, one of his most
outspoken defenders on the 76-
member board, said the group
would not be distracted from its
core m ission.
“I don’t h ave a crystal ball and I
never make predictions, but the
one thing I can say for certain is
that the NRA will fight to protect
the Second Amendment as hard
as we always do,” said Hammer,
who lobbies for gun rights in Flor-
ida. “Protecting the Second
Amendment comes first, and it
always will.”
After the massacres in El Paso
and Dayton that killed 31 people,
former vice president Joe Biden
and other Democratic presiden-
tial candidates renewed calls for
an assault weapon ban and other
measures to try to curb gun vio-
lence. Grieving residents of Day-
ton shouted “Do something!” at
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R), who
then on Tuesday proposed in-
creasing background checks and
other measures. Outside NRA
headquarters in Fairfax County,
Va., on Monday evening, gun-
control activists held a vigil
and demanded that lawmakers
take action.
But there is little sign of mo-
mentum behind specific propos-
als in Washington that would test
the NRA’s vaunted a bility to mobi-
lize its millions o f members.
A handful of Republican law-
makers on Sunday endorsed
stricter gun controls, but the GOP
largely ignored Democratic de-
mands that the Senate abandon
its summer recess and return to
Washington to address the issue.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mc-
Connell (R-Ky.) has refused to con-
sider restrictions the House
passed in February, the first feder-
al legislation of its kind since the
late 1990s.
Although President Trump
called for “strong background
checks” on Twitter, in a national

NRA FROM A

mass shootings in america

Other gun groups push for membership amid NRA turmoil

MICAHEL A. MCCOY FOR THE WASHINGTON POST Protesters called for new gun laws Monday during a demonstration outside National Rifle Association headquarters in Fairfax County.

“Racism,” he said. “That’s America.” The recent Te lemundo poll showed that 34 percent of Latinos in Florida, another key swing state, favor Trump’s reelection. The shooting and its aftermath do not appear to have changed many opinions. Placing groceries i n her car outside a Miami supermarket, Cuban American Yuri Ricardo, 28, said she is a Republican but abstained from voting in 2016 because she did not like any of the candidates. “Trump incites the wrong people with his rhetoric,” s he said in reference to the El Paso shooting. Ricardo, who works for an in- surance company and has two sons, 4 and 12, said she owns a small handgun. But she said gun control is a top concern, believing in the right to bear arms but favor- ing an assault-weapons ban and a higher legal a ge t o buy firearms. Her second main concern is illegal immigration. “It would be good if there could be a more organized system in place with more regulation,” she said. Beatriz Hernández, 56, came from Cuba, where she was a doc- tor, six years ago. She said Trump has qualities she likes, and that his anti-immigrant rhetoric is only directed toward those who come to the country illegally and commit crimes. “No country has open borders and allows everyone to enter,” s he said. Coming from Cuba, where people do not usually carry a firearm, she said all weapons should be limited in the United States. “I am in favor of banning arms in all countries,” s he said. [email protected] [email protected]

Kim Kavin in Allentown, Pa., Carmen Sesin in Miami, Lourdes Medrano in Tucson, and Scott Clement and Hannah Knowles in Washington contributed to this report.

“If they put up the wall, t he people are going to go at it like rabbits and come underneath.” Hernandez said Obama was more concerned with black people than “the rest,” and that he probably wouldn’t vote for another black person for president. If Obama were up for election, he would c hoose Trump, unbothered by what he has said about immigrants. “I’ve lived here for almost 40 years in peace,” he said. “It doesn’t interest me.” In s everal swing states, Trump’s standing among Hispanics, though small, has remained rela- tively stable, helped in large part by an economy that many view as healthy. David Callejas, 35, was born in New York and raised in Colombia. For the past six years, he has lived in Allentown, Pa., working in a bio-tech lab. He did not vote in 2016, but he said he will support Trump in the next election. Trump lost Lehigh County in the last election. “Ever since he [Trump] got elected, going to Twitter and bash- ing people, that doesn’t seem presidential, but it’s who he’s always been,” he continued. “I like the business background he has. America needs that. We don’t want to go through another eco- nomic crisis. The Democrats are too radical. We don’t want to be- come Venezuela.” Waiting for lunch at the road- side Ta co To wn food truck off Lehigh Street, Mario Carcamo, an immigrant from El Salvador, said, “I believe that most of us believe in the law in this country.” Carcamo, 59, holds down mul- tiple jobs — fixing houses, making soda for Dr Pepper, working in sanitation. He has been in the United States for 15 years. “Everybody believes that all of us are illegal, but I respect the law, I respect everybody,” he said, add- ing that he believes Trump is us- ing racist rhetoric.

tears and sick to his stomach. He told his brother he had a dream that his mother died in a mass shooting while they were shop- ping together. “He’s still seeing it,” Astorgas said of the news about the massacre. But Hernandez, more than three decades older than Astor- gas, voted for Trump and plans to do so again. He was born in Mexi- co — in Santa Barbara, a small town in the state of Chihuahua — and raised in Juarez on the far bank of the Rio Grande. He m oved to El Paso almost 40 years ago. In r etirement, Hernandez cares about one issue above every other: the Social Security checks he lives on. He said the check’s amount has risen more under Trump than it did during President Barack Obama’s time in office. “It’s incremental, but you can see it,” he said. Hernandez said Trump’s words about immigrants were directed more at M exico than at p eople like him. While he is not enthusiastic about Trump’s proposed border wall, it does not bother him either. “It isn’t going to work,” he said.

the vote in 2016. Astorgas recalled the February rally here where Trump said, falsely, that his border wall had cut down the crime and chaos in El Paso. Astorgas was angered by the image the president portrayed and fearful of what it might signal to anti-immigrant groups. “He just went in there and started blasting away,” he said. “What he said at the coliseum probably put a bull’s eye on El Paso. Like there’s a big immigrant problem, like we’re letting them in through the border.” Astorgas said he also does not understand why Trump has cho- sen Latinos f or such criticism. “Not all immigrants are rapists,” he said, mentioning his an- cestors who came to Te xas a few generations ago. “They weren’t rapists. They c ame to work.” The shooting has left him and his family d isturbed and insecure. He hunkered down in the house with his three sons from Saturday to Sunday, h is gun nearby. “We just decided we’re not leav- ing,” he said. His 8-year-old son, the young- est, woke up Monday morning in

to embrace a traditional Republi- can message of self-reliance and a younger group dismayed by the president’s broad disparagement of Latinos. Astorgas and Hernandez are two end points o n the spectrum. Trump won Te xas in 2016 but lost in El Paso County to Hillary Clinton by more than a 2-to-1 mar- gin. His visit to El Paso in Febru- ary still resonates with many Lati- nos here for the image of lawless- ness along the border that Trump described, one that few who live in El Paso recognized. Wednesday’s visit comes as the president’s 2020 campaign effort has begun to focus on Latino voters in several key swing states, where their support will be key to his reelection. In places such as Pennsylvania and Florida, which Trump won narrowly in 2016, La- tino voters who support the president are in a significant minority, but enough may back Trump for him to hold those states. A recent Te lemundo poll, for example, found that a quarter of Te xas Latinos support his reelection — a figure that mirrors his national approval rating among adult Hispanics, a ccording to Gal- lup. That figure has remained largely constant since his election, with an occasional dip and rise again, suggesting there is an immovable core of Latino voters who support him, albeit a clear minority. “Those who haven’t been shaken by that are hardly going to be shaken by what happened” i n El Paso, said Pablo Pinto, a professor and director of the Center for Public Policy at the University of Houston, referring to Trump’s past criticism of Hispanics. “Peo- ple who had voted Republican will continue voting Republican and tend to buy into this rhetoric that getting into the country illegally shouldn’t b e rewarded.” Here in El Paso County, w here 8 in 10 of its 840,000 residents are Latino, Trump won 26 percent of

BY SCOTT WILSON AND ELI ROSENBERG

el paso — Manuel Astorgas did
not vote for President Trump in
2016, but he said he viewed the
president with an open mind.
Trump’s message about the im-
portance of work and criticism of
government handouts resonated
with Astorgas.
But the president’s negative
characterization of Latinos even-
tually turned him off, Astorgas
said. And Trump’s p lan to visit this
city Wednesday in the aftermath
of one of the nation’s worst acts of
violence against Latinos seems to
Astorgas like a bad idea.
“It just brings in hate,” said
Astorgas, a 46-year-old employee
of an auto-parts store. “We are
seeing things that we hadn’t seen
in a long time. We thought we
were finished. We thought we
were a bove that.”
Across this largely Hispanic
city in far West Texas, Trump’s
visit was viewed with a mixture of
anger and trepidation in the com-
munity allegedly targeted by a
21-year-old man intent on killing
as many Hispanics as possible.
But not everyone opposed the vis-
it.
The president still has support
from people such as Manuel Her-
nandez, an 80-year-old who has
lived half his life in El Paso and
voted for Trump in 2016.
“A lot of bad things are ex-
pressed against Latinos,” said
Hernandez, speaking in Spanish.
“But we don’t k now if it’s t his [that
inspired the gunman] or not.
There are a lot of supremacist
groups, white supremacists, that
don’t l ike minority groups — black
people, Latinos. It’s not the fault
of the president, because this has
always been around, from way
back in time.”
The political differences
among Hispanics here are often
generational and ideological, a
contrast between longtime Mexi-
can American citizens who tend

In El Paso aftermath, Trump’s Latino backers say they’re sticking with him

MICHAEL ROBINSON CHAVEZ/THE WASHINGTON POST Carlos Santos talks to police Sunday near the scene of the mass shooting in El Paso, where 22 people were killed and 2 4 injured.

The Washington Post - 07.08.2019

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