The National Rifle Association (NRA) finally found a gun related conspiracy theory they don't want circulating around the internet; one targeting the NRA and their legislative efforts. According to the NRA, other pro-gun groups are trying to get noticed and raise money by spreading “ridiculous” “mischaracterizations” about NRA-backed H.R. 822, the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act.

If these gun groups are advancing conspiratorial misinformation to raise money, then it's not hard to figure out where they could have gotten the idea. In recent months the NRA has continued to put out e-mails warning of black helicopter style schemes by the United Nations to go after guns in America, accused President Obama of plotting to "destroy the Second Amendment" by not pursuing gun control, and used the memory of 9-11 terrorist attacks to raise money.

H.R. 822 would force states to accept out of state concealed carry permits no matter how dangerously weak the standards are in those states. The legislation is opposed by law enforcement and anti-domestic violence groups, but it appears the NRA is more concerned with even more extreme pro-gun groups like the National Association For Gun Rights (NAGR). From the NRA lobby shop's most recent effort to get the "truth" out about H.R. 822:

But more and more, a small cadre of self-described “pro-gun” groups continually sound false alarms and “stir the pot” in an effort to be noticed. (And to raise money, of course.) These repeat offenders peddle mischaracterizations as the gospel, and dilute the good work being done to protect the Second Amendment by legitimate groups.

Of course, NAGR's attack mirrors the NRA's own paranoid narratives. NAGR suggests H.R. 822 is a “trojan horse” that, through a hazy slippery slope process, would lead to advancing gun control:

Even worse, once this bill starts moving, anyone can amend the bill with anything ... and no legislation can bind a future Congress in any way. And that doesn't count what Obamacrats in the Department of Justice might dream up as the “regulations” to carry out the legislative “intent.”

But mark my words, H.R. 822, the National CCW Registration Act, will become nothing more than a Trojan Horse for even more federal gun control.

They will use this bill as the foundation to create a federal database of CCW permit holders.

Paranoid slippery slope arguments are the bread and butter of NRA rhetoric, as are flagrant mischaracterizations of gun-related policy proposals. NRA executive vice-president Wayne LaPierre has spent the last several months falsely calling an Obama executive order requiring gun dealers to report multiple sales of Mexican cartel favored rifles "gun owner registration". The NRA constantly asserts that efforts to require backgrounds checks for all gun sales constitutes a "ban" on "private sales", even through it wouldn't actually keep private citizens from selling a gun.

1980s NRA chief Ray Arnet famously said, “You keep any special interest group alive by nurturing the crisis atmosphere”. Other extremist gun groups appear to have learned that lesson well.