See, I came across the supposed press release from an organization that says they're trying to combat special interest groups. So far, so good. However, it seems they really only care about particular special interest groups. This presser, for example, tries to call out pro-gun, anti-crime attorneys general.

Despite law enforcement professionals raising alarms about the rising use of ghost guns in violent crimes, including homicides and mass shootings, these state officials—many of whom claim to be “tough on crime”—are aligning themselves with the gun lobby to oppose measures that would help keep their own communities safe. Accountable’s report also sheds light on the financial ties between these attorneys general and the gun lobby, which has donated over $663,000 to the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) since 2021.

Now, no one seems to blink at the financial ties between gun control organizations and anti-gun lawmakers, which I think is strange. Why is it that one side's motives are as pure as the driven snow while the other is clearly engaging in vote-buying?

However, they don't just make their claims as they try to blast these AGs for opposing so-called ghost gun rules created out of thin air by the ATF. They try to give examples, what they call "key findings" from their so-called report.

Shall we? Lets!

• 27 Republican Attorneys General Are Backing the Gun Lobby in Opposing Ghost Gun Regulation: Despite rising gun violence, attorneys general from states like Kentucky, Florida, and Texas are urging the Supreme Court to strike down a federal rule aimed at regulating ghost guns, untraceable firearms often used in violent crimes.

First, those attorneys general recognize that most people who build their own guns are law-abiding citizens. They also recognize that so-called ghost guns account for a tiny fraction of guns used in violent crime. In fact, crunching the numbers of ghost guns recovered in 2022 was used in a violent crime before being recovered by police, it still only accounts for something like two percent of all "crime guns."

And the data only says those guns were recovered at "crime scenes," which means someone who made guns for fun being arrested for tax evasion would still make the count.

So they're not "often used in violent crimes." They can't be. There aren't enough of them. They just get a lot of press because the media is engaging in hysterics about them.

• Ghost Guns Pose a Serious Threat to Public Safety: Ghost guns have become a tool for those seeking to bypass background checks and evade law enforcement. Between 2016 and 2021, the number of ghost guns recovered by law enforcement increased by over 1,000%, contributing to high rates of firearm-related homicides in recent years, according to law enforcement officials..

Once again, this "increased by over 1,000%" bit is presented without context. If you start with two and end up with 200, that's a 1,000% increase, but it's not an epidemic by any stretch of the imagination.

Further, as noted above, if ever gun recovered was used in a violent crime, you're looking at two percent of all firearms. For "ghost guns" to contribute to the high homicide rate, they'd have to be both used almost exclusively to murder people and act in their own volition. Neither of those are remotely true.

• Law Enforcement Supports Federal Regulations on Ghost Guns: The Major Cities Chiefs Association, representing top police officials across the U.S. and Canada, filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold the federal ghost gun regulation. The group emphasizes that ghost guns severely hinder efforts to combat violent crime, terrorism, and gun trafficking.

The Major Cities Chiefs Association doesn't represent law enforcement as a whole. It represents the police chiefs of large urban centers and, as a matter of necessity, reflects the politics of those cities. That includes on issues like gun control.

After all, they have to appease liberal, anti-gun mayors and city councils.

As such, their anti-gun rhetoric isn't exactly the most moving argument one can find. Especially when there are plenty of other organizations that do represent law enforcement. If those groups supported a ban on so-called ghost guns, why aren't they mentioned? You'd think they'd want to stack the deck on this point as much as possible. The lack of any other law enforcement group's mention here is notable.

• Financial Ties to the Gun Lobby: The Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), of which all of these attorneys general are members, has received over $663,000 in donations from the gun lobby since 2021. Just two months after a $15,000 donation from Smith & Wesson, nearly all Republican AGs joined a brief defending the gun manufacturer in a separate case before the Supreme Court this term.

Do you mean to tell me companies and organizations support politicians that won't try to put them out of business? Shocking!

There's never any mention of anti-gun groups spending massively to elect anti-gun candidates, though. Again, it's like only one side could remotely be suspect here.

• Hypocrisy from Attorneys General Claiming to be “Tough on Crime”: Many of the attorneys general opposing the ghost gun rule have publicly touted their commitment to fighting violent crime, yet their actions, in this case, align them with the gun industry and against law enforcement recommendations aimed at reducing gun violence.

This is a prime example of what we typically see from anti-gun people and organizations. There's this belief that everyone actually thinks gun control works, but some oppose it for political reasons. As a result, this is part of the "hypocrisy" charge being leveled against these AGs.

The problem is that gun control doesn't work.

While anti-gunners like to point to the studies they claim that prove it does, each and every one has serious flaws. Those flaws are so bad that even left-leaning RAND is unable to say it works in the vast majority of cases. Also consider that at the time following the homicide rate's peak in the 1990s, gun laws liberalized significantly across the nation due to states removing past restrictions on things like concealed carry. If gun control were the answer, then the opposite should be true. Liberalization of gun laws should have sent the homicide rate skyrocketing.

It didn't.

Further, we also note that while anti-gunners say the issue is guns, we also know that if we stripped every single gun homicide from the statistics, we'd still have a higher homicide rate than the rest of the developed world.

So guns aren't the issue. Those supposedly hypocritical AGs know this and aren't going to restrict people's rights when there's absolutely no gain for it. 

Let's also remember that attorneys general are elected by the people of their state. The voters chose people for those roles that oppose gun control. For an organization that elsewhere repeated the hysterics about "democracy," you'd think they'd know that. Or does democracy only count when they get what they want? Sounds like of hypocritical to me.

All in all, this is just a pathetic attempt to paint people who disagree with them as hypocrites, all while displaying their own hypocrisy.