“This can’t be! Can it?”
Those were my thoughts when I read an email that someone sent me recently. It obviously gave me great cause for concern. The email described how, over the past few years, a company called The Freedom Group was slowly and quietly buying one gun manufacturer after another. The collection of companies included Marlin, Remington, and H&R, among others. Additionally, The Freedom Group was purported have bought several ammunition manufacturers as well.
“So what?”, you say. “Nothing inflammatory about that.” You’re right, but the e-mail didn’t stop there.
The email went on to say that philanthropist and progressive-liberal idealist George Soros was secretly behind the deals. His plan, according to the email, was to control the majority of the gun and ammunition market as a way to effectively control guns. If the left cannot legislate gun control, the email speculated, they would accomplish their objective by controlling the supply of guns and ammunition.
That was a clue to me that something was amiss. Capitalism is not the typical modus operandi of left leaning groups. They tend to prefer a governmental legislation backed by a small but vehemently vocal group of supporters that espouse a heart wrenching story of why the legislation is needed. (I’m not knocking the left or their tactics; the right has equally predictable, subtle, and misleading practices. I’m just explaining how I recognized that the email I received wasn’t what it seemed.)
So, with doubts that this was legitimate, I turned to my favorite search engine and started doing research. I quickly found that Snopes.com had a list for this modern-day email chain letter. They listed the status of the email as False and even pointed to another source for confirmation: the NRA ILA (National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action). Knowing that Snopes sometimes has a liberal bias, I continued my brief investigation. The NRA-ILA site also indicated that this story wasn’t true.
As the old joke goes “Abraham Lincoln once said you cannot believe everything you read on the internet.” We, as preppers, must not believe everything we read on the internet either. Chasing red-herrings like this only serves to distract us from our goals and makes us look a bit silly and fanatical to others. There is enough to be concerned about out there without adding to it the distractions of intentionally false causes.
The left has lots of tactics at their disposal to accomplish their agenda. They lobby lawmakers, they personalize the issue the media, and they tax products into oblivion. All in an attempt to push their ideals and legislate morality (or in some case immorality). Fortunately, in this case, they haven’t attempted to use capitalism to trample the Constitutional rights that the founders of America held dear.
Got a good story about an internet hoax that you’d like to share?
PreppingToSurvive.com 
May 28, 2012 at 6:26 pm
Since the left wasn’t behind this internet hoax, maybe it was the right ! Makes one wonder about the truthfullness behind tv news broadcasts as well. What and how much can we truely believe. The best thing to do to find the truth would be to get corraborationg accounts from seperate sources. I reckon it’s easier though for the masses to blindly believe any story that fits in with thier agenda though.
May 29, 2012 at 6:59 am
Couldn’t agree more Lonnie! I don’t like being a skeptic but I’ve learned to read things with a critical eye. Even the main stream media, who absolutely must check their facts, can slant a story one way or another depending on how they’d like the public to receive it. They can even guide public opinion by specifically choosing what stories to run and which ones to omit.
Thanks for the comment!
Joe