John McCain and the NRA Make Nice

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


McCain is speaking at the NRA today, as part of his quest to woo traditional parts of the Republican base. Like with so many other situations, McCain has a history opposing the group he now seeks to cozy up with. Here’s McCain in 2000:

For its part, the NRA called McCain “one of the premier flag-carriers for enemies of the Second Amendment.” Nowadays, though, the organization is ready to play ball. Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s executive vice president told the press that there are “vast numbers of areas” where McCain and the gun lobby agree. And McCain showed last year that he can parrot the right talking points when necessary: “I strongly support the Second Amendment and I believe the Second Amendment ought to be preserved — which means no gun control.”

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate