Consider This from NPR - BONUS: A World Where The NRA Is Soft On Guns

Episode Date: June 13, 2021

About two months after the coronavirus began spreading in the United States, groups of Americans began to protest the quarantine lockdown measures in their states. At some of these anti-lockdown rallies reporters Lisa Hagen of WABE and Chris Haxel of KCUR discovered they weren't the spontaneous grassroots uprisings they purported to be. Rather, they were being organized by a group of three brothers: Aaron, Ben and Chris Dorr.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hey, Consider This listeners, it's Audie Cornish, and we've got a great weekend lesson for you. And this comes from our colleagues at NPR's No Compromise podcast, which this past week was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for audio reporting. Very big deal and very well deserved. The show is about three brothers, a group of gun rights activists who make the NRA seem soft in comparison. And it's about how they use social media to spread their message. The whole series is out now, so after you finish this episode, you can listen to the rest. Hosts Chris Haxel and Lisa Hagen take it from here. Y'all see that? Oh, how wonderful.

Wonderful. Defiance of tyranny is so alive and well in the great Keystone State. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It's late April, and thousands of people are protesting outside the state capitol. Coronavirus has been disrupting American life and killing people for almost two months. The governor here has ordered Pennsylvanians to stay home. Businesses are closed, hospitals are packed, but Americans are stubborn people. To all the haters who are watching the page right now,

I hope this display of American love for freedom triggers all of you. What you're hearing is video posted on Facebook. This guy, Chris Doerr, started a Facebook page called Pennsylvanians Against Excessive Quarantine, and 60,000 people joined almost instantly. Folks, this whole Facebook page was started in order to get people to start fighting back against these tyrannical moves that Governor Wolf has been foisting upon the people of Pennsylvania.

And I got to tell you, I was at the Ohio rally. Now, Chris Doerr doesn't actually live in Pennsylvania. He just started a Facebook page there, and it's not the only one. He also launched Ohioans Against Excessive Quarantine. Two of his brothers are in on it, too. They started Reopen Minnesota and Wisconsinites Against Excessive Quarantine. In just a couple weeks, each Facebook group had tens of thousands of followers spawning state rallies of their very own.

It didn't take long for reporters to start noticing this family. The Doors. Over the last 72 hours, we have been attacked by the Washington Post, Washington Compost, Time Magazine, who else was on there?

Al Jazeera, the Daily UK Mail, The Sun, out of England, CNN tried to... Days after the Pennsylvania rally, the brothers post another video, this time with some buddies.

You know what? That's what happens when you stand up against left-wing media. That's what happens when you stand up against left-wing media. That's what happens when you stand up against tyrannical governments. Picture a Zoom meeting. Five men in squares, all in front of webcams. They've got near-identical banners behind them,

a grainy image of someone aiming a tactical rifle. Government and media never, ever, ever give back your rights without an absolute bloodbath fight. And that's what we're facing here, guys. It's been incredible. It's been incredible. These aren't just random guys who don't like the government telling them what to do. These are seasoned gun rights activists. You might be thinking, what could the Second Amendment possibly have to do

with a pandemic? And you wouldn't be the only one. I know how many times in the last couple of days I've been asked by media outlets, well, don't you guys do guns? Like, what's your big deal on this coronavirus issue? Why don't you stay in your lane? We do. Stay in your lane. Freedom. Stay in your lane. And I have had so much enjoyment telling media outlets all across the country that, you know, our lane is freedom. We just don't give a dang. That's Aaron Doerr, Chris's brother. All this media scrutiny actually marks a triumph for them. In their eyes, fake news coming for you is a badge of honor.

President Trump was tweeting about it just before it got started. The story of Americans protesting public health orders made headlines all over the world. The reports read like there was some kind of network of conservative activists secretly engineering what looked like organic grassroots protests. And the brothers were having a great time with that idea. I told that idiot reporter, they're like, so it's just we saw that the Facebook grew very quickly, seemingly overnight.

Are you guys being financed by the Koch brothers? I said, oh, no, no, no, no. You must have me mistaken. We're not the Koch brothers. All of America is Doerr brothers right now. We're all Doerr brothers. And my goodness, we just want to get this country back. The Doerr brothers, Aaron, Ben, and Chris.

For them, the pandemic is an opportunity. So many Americans looking for a way to channel their feelings of helplessness into outrage, the Doerr family specialty. It's their big fat chance to massively expand government's footprint and chokehold on American freedoms. And they're coming unglued right now. Ordinarily, state-level gun rights groups can seem like small potatoes compared to the National Rifle Association, which most people think of as the gun lobby. But the truth is, there's a rift in the gun world,

and it's growing. So we wanted to know why. When did so many gun owners start thinking the National Rifle Association is soft on guns? That NRA stands for Negotiating Rights Away. These brothers are just one faction in a whole anti-NRA movement, but they get a lot of people talking. And the more we heard,

the more we realized the story of the Doors might help explain what's changing about gun culture and America. I'm Lisa Hagan. And I'm Chris Haxel. You're listening to No Compromise, an NPR investigative series. This is the story of one family on a mission to reconstruct America using two powerful tools, guns and Facebook. But gun culture is just the beginning of what they want to change. Because what we learned by following the Doors is that American gun politics isn't what you think. Whether you love guns or want

nothing to do with them. To understand the Doors, we got to go back in time, before lockdowns, before the pandemic hit, way back in January 2020. The Doerr brothers were part of another protest. That's when they and about 20,000 other gun owners descended on the old capital of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia. Lisa was there too, with a photographer. Okay, we're here. My recorder does not work for some reason,

which is very exciting. It might be the cold. I'm warming it up in my jacket right now. I never did get it to work. I just ended up using my phone to record. So it's 6.30 in the morning. The streets around the state capitol are already slammed. These people are here to rally for gun rights. And a lot of them have brought along the firearms they aim to protect.

Like this guy, with an AR-15 and a 60-round drum of ammunition. He's passing out flyers. Oh, look at this. It's a giant flag of a... Hi. You want some literature on the flag? Sure, yeah. Thank you. Can you tell me about it as well? I'm a reporter. Sure. Yeah, that's the Come and Take It flag.

It's based on the October 2, 1835 flag that was flown in Gonzales, Texas. We're next to an enormous white flag. Up top, a black star. Then a rifle, a Barrett.50 cal. And at the bottom, a message in all caps reads, COME AND TAKE IT. Well, I'm impressed with you being able to recite history this early in the morning, to be honest.

Well, I can hardly talk. It's so cold. I know. What's your name? David. David, last name? Tribes, T-R-E-I-B-S. He's here from Texas. And we came here to stand with the people of Virginia to defend the Second Amendment

and to let the governor know when the Constitution says, shall not be infringed, that's what it says. And that's what we're going to defend. You see, this huge gathering is happening in Virginia because Democrats just flipped the state legislature from red to blue. The election was months after a gunman killed 12 people in Virginia Beach. The Democrats campaigned hard on gun control. And they won big. Took the statehouse for the first time in a generation. Right away, the Democrats and Governor Ralph Northam proposed sweeping gun regulations.

The governor doesn't care about the Constitution of the United States. He doesn't care about the rights of people. Interpreting the Second Amendment, ambiguous commas and all, is what gun politics is all about. So let's read it. A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. And it's that last part that's the real sticking point. Tell me what shall not be infringed means to you. That means that the government has no authority to restrict the keeping and bearing of arms. I mean, that's what the Second Amendment says. Whatsoever? Is that where you're coming from?

Yes, it is. Are all gun laws unconstitutional? Yeah, I would say that. I would say that. That right there. It's the heart of what we're going to call the no-compromise philosophy. Both this guy and the Doerr brothers are part of a gun movement that's fundamentally distrustful of centralized government. And some NRI members might agree, but a big part of this fracture in the gun world comes down to the fact

that plenty of gun folks take a softer line. So my father, career Marine Corps, he loves guns. He's been a conservative his entire life, without a doubt. And he recently has started saying, I don't see, you know, he doesn't like ARs.

He would be concerned about seeing that gun on you. Do you have any response to him? You have to go back to what the Second Amendment is about. It's not about duck hunting. It is about the people being armed well enough with good enough weapons, with the same weapons the military has, to stop the government. That's what it's all about. This is the same kind of thing you hear from the doors. At the end of the day, gun rights is not about hunting. It's not about sports shooting. It's the kind of thing you hear from the doors. At the end of the day, gun rights is not about hunting.

It's not about sports. It's about a response to tyrannical government. Tribes tells me he's been writing about gun rights since high school. He's got it all laid out on a couple websites. I have ComeAndTakeIt.com, which has basically this stuff in it. And I also have another one called godandguncontrol.com, which covers the Bible perspective on weapons and stuff. So what is it with the Bible and guns?

Basically, you look at the Bible. The Bible is the one who gave us life. Human life is made in the image of God. And life is sacred. And there are only certain instances when we are allowed to take human life. Self-defense, capital punishment, a just war, things like that. And to preserve life, God has given us

the right and the duty to defend ourselves, our families, other human beings, and use deadly force to do that. One second, this is important, what you're saying. I feel like these buses are never going to stop coming, though. As I'm talking to David, busloads of rally-goers are rolling in and emptying into the street. This is a big moment for the gun rights world. And on this day in January,

the thousands of gun owners in this crowd aren't here because of the NRA. In fact, rather than supporting this rally, the country's richest and best-known gun rights organization kept its distance. The NRA held its own separate event a week before, and only a few hundred people came. The NRA has a long history of compromise, and I have to credit them. They did a lot to spread a lot of good pro-gun information, but when it comes to actual action and, you know, like favoring or

disfavoring legislation or politicians, they have a long history of compromising. I mean, what does that mean, compromise, in this case? Allowing the Second Amendment to be infringed, the right to keep and bear arms. Like he says, the NRA has done a lot over the years to fight gun regulation, to boost gun ownership and sales. But it's been around a long time, since just after the Civil War. And Tribes is talking about all the moments in that long and winding existence. All the moments the NRA allowed any form of gun regulation to pass into law. There are a bunch of them. Washington restricted machine guns in 1934, made rules about moving guns across state lines in 1968.

The Brady Bill in 1993 brought us the background check system. That's gun regulation after gun regulation. And sure, in many cases, the NRA did what it could to shape those laws to benefit gun owners. But for folks like David, any negotiating with lawmakers, that there is a compromise. Plus, when it comes to the NRA these days. And I guess you probably heard about the problems they were having with the funding and the spending. Yeah. And, you know, that's so disappointing. The NRA hasn't been doing so hot lately. New York's attorney general wants to dissolve the organization.

They've been taking flak from all over the political spectrum. This is Fox News host Steve Hilton. The NRA's CEO, Wayne LaPierre, is tonight's Swamp Watch. According to leaked internal documents, LaPierre spent over $270,000 of your money on clothing. The Doerr brothers love making fun of Wayne's wardrobe. For years, Wayne LaPierre has taken NRA members' money to live the life of a king.

But he's not a king. He's the head of a non-profit trusted by millions to use its funds to secure constitutional rights. Wayne LaPierre is an odious little grifter, and it's time for him to go. Pretty much everyone in this crowd in Richmond, they would know this stuff. We're in a period of introspection for a lot of long-time supporters of the NRA. It's not just cable news talking about this. The gun world has a lot of influencers on YouTube, like this guy with 5 million subscribers.

Hickok45 here. We wanted to let you all know because in light of recent events, so much has gone on with the NRA. It's kind of gotten to a point where the last straw, we decided that we are just no longer going to be working in an official capacity with the NRA and asking you all to join. IraqVeteran8888 and the Military Arms Channel each have a million plus subscribers. They're even more emphatic. So see, it's all a racket. There's no intention to further the Second Amendment. There's only the intention to maintain status quo and

keep getting them dollars in. That's all they want. It is not effective in its current state. It is completely broken and it exists solely to make Wayne and Chris Cox and a few others filthy rich and drunk on power. And that's all it exists for. Like a lot of people at the rally, David tells me he's supported gun rights all his life. But this moment in Virginia, he's never seen anything like it. It's exciting. It's about time that the gun owners finally said, this is it. We're not backing down anymore and we're going to speak up. It's about time. It's been a long time coming.

You know, I remember another issue when the Branch Davidians were surrounded. The Branch Davidians? Suddenly he's talking about the Waco siege in 1993 when federal agents laid siege to a religious compound in Texas. After 51 days, the feds moved in, and fires broke out. Well, as you can see, the parts of the building have collapsed. The fire has indeed engulfed the vast majority of this compound. Bonnie, the entire roof is gone. The entire roof is gone, Mike.

What else can you tell us? Seventy-six people died, including lots of women and children. The whole thing unfolded on live TV. This guy David, he says he was there, that he and some other people wanted to rescue the group from the feds. A number of us in Texas, we were going to go rescue them. I mean, that sounds funny. We were going to have thousands of people come

and just walk up there and walk them out. We were going to do that. But just a couple hundred people showed up. I mean, you can't do anything with that. We're talking about an incident that helped inspire the Oklahoma City bomber. So I don't want to be, you know, offensive, but you were talking about how interested you were in the Waco standoff. Am I wrong that Timothy McVeigh was also pretty interested? He was. He was up there. He was like right there, right? I might have actually seen him.

I just, you know, I didn't know who he was. So, I mean, that's another question of there is something potentially about this movement, about saying, about being really concerned about the government, right? And when you're talking about we're concerned about the government, we're armed to the teeth, you're not going to take our weapons, you have to have a certain degree of restraint. So some people may be more inclined to pop off too soon. Too soon?

That's right. As in there is a right time for popping off? There is a time. That's right. Okay. What's that time? There has to be. That's a good question. And I've thought about it. The Democrats, he tells me, along with the deep state, are trying to overthrow President Trump. He says they're the ones who are planning violence against American gun owners. What they're going to do, they're going to use deadly force to overthrow the Constitution. That's the way I see it.

And see, what the others are like, they say, well, y'all are terrorists. No, you're the ones initiating the violence. We're just going to stop you. That's it. Are you concerned that we're close to that? Yes, I think, I'll be honest with you, I think that violence is inevitable. The streets and the park were absolutely packed, but you could see David's flag from almost everywhere in the crowd.

The thing was about 18 feet high, like a magnet. All day, people lined up, took a pamphlet, and waited for a come-and-take-it photo shoot. It was like a featured attraction at this Second Amendment carnival. Alex Jones rode into town in an armored truck, the Infowars battle tank as he calls it. And if you try to take our firearms, 1776 will commence again, you baby killing ghoul, you piece of shit. Tons of people are walking around the rally with their phones, streaming live to friends and followers across the country, like MAGA activist Diana Ploss. There aren't a lot of women here, so we need more women. We need more women.

Ladies, ladies, I'm talking to you right now. And if you know what you're looking for, you just might be able to track down a door brother live streaming about the fake news media. One thing there is no shortage of here, folks, is the gun control crowd's favorite friends, the media. They're in it for an agenda. The agenda is not for you. It's for themselves, as our president once said. I knew I wanted to talk to the Doors, but as a reporter, I wasn't exactly expecting them to be friendly.

Now is probably my time. I'm just nervous. It's like he's setting up a mic or something. Not that I'm just talking to myself. One, two, why? And go on ten. Oh. One, two, three,

four, five. Excuse me. Can I ask who you were broadcasting to? Missouri Firearms Coalition. Oh, cool. My name's Lisa. I'm with Public Radio in Georgia. How's it going? Good, good. So you're from Missouri? Yeah, we work for the Missouri Firearms Coalition. I'm from Iowa, but we work in Iowa and Missouri as well, and we're here on behalf of our members.

This is Aaron Doerr. I ask him about running a state gun rights group. Yeah, we're a lot more aggressive. We don't care about being liked. We don't care about being loved by politicians. We don't care at all. You're going to vote the right way, you're going to get kicked out of office. That's the way it works. Aaron tells me gun control doesn't work because criminals don't obey laws. It's always been that way. That's why the background checks are a joke.

Magazine limits are a joke. It only affects law-abiding citizens. It's not going to stop any criminals. So you don't like these ideas because you think they don't work? Oh no, we have an absolute divine right from God and enshrined in our Constitution to keep and bear firearms. It's an inherent right that we have as people to keep and bear arms. He's saying the right to bear arms doesn't come from the Constitution. It comes from God. The Constitution is just where that right is transcribed. Aaron's a busy guy today.

He gives me about 10 minutes, and he's looking ready to wrap it up. Great. Do you mind if my photographer takes a picture of you since I talked to you? Great, thank you. He poses for the camera. There's a big group in Georgia, Georgia gun owners. We're hoping to go live on their page here in a little bit. Oh, that's cool. Okay, yeah.

The conspiracy runs deep. And then he does this weird thing. He's in Georgia. I'm in Iowa and Missouri. We're just good friends. There's a lot of gun guys like that. Are you still live right now? Yeah, I'm recording.

I mean, I usually don't turn this off. I'm off record right now. Oh, why is that, though? I thought we were off record. We were just chatting about him doing a video for their other group, Georgia Gun Owners, when out of nowhere he tells me that part of the conversation is off the record. As someone who speaks to reporters a lot, he knows that's not how off the record works. And why does it matter?

He's posting videos all over the Internet today. Well, it's part of a juggling act. See, as Lisa is weaving her way through thousands of people on the ground, I'm back home in Missouri, sifting through all of the live videos, helping Lisa stay oriented, and keeping tabs on the Doerr brothers. Because there's a lot going on there. Aaron Doerr, as we know, is streaming to people in Georgia. And I'm here doing a video right now for Patrick with Georgia Gun Owners. Guys, we're live here on behalf of GGO in the Capitol, at the Capitol, right now in Richmond. But it's not just Georgia.

I have three screens going so I can also see him, just minutes later, talking to people in Iowa. Good morning, folks. Aaron Doerr here with Iowa Gun Owners. We are live at the Capitol in Richmond right now. And then Missouri. Hey, guys. Aaron Doerr here, policy advisor with the Missouri Firearms Coalition. Guys, we have had a very hard time. And then Idaho, the gem state. Hey, guys. This is Aaron Doerr here doing a video for Greg Pruitt with the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance. And then Idaho, the gem state.

His big message of the day is a threat. Today it may be Virginia that's turning blue, but tomorrow, they're coming for you. And if they can pass radical gun control in Virginia, it's going to happen in other states. Aaron is the oldest door brother. He's kind of the ringleader. Folks, if you don't ever want this to happen in our beloved state of Ohio. We're from Minnesota, but this applies everywhere. This applies everywhere. Those are Aaron's brothers, Ben and Chris. There's my brother Ben. He runs Minnesota Gun Rights.

He's got 960. Oh! 1,300! We're winning! Minnesota's beating us! Here they are comparing how many people are live streaming each of their feeds. Ah! There's Chris. Ohio's probably all working this morning.

No, that's all right. That's what's going on. That's all right. Actually, half of Ohio is right here. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! After Aaron started the first group, Iowa Gun Owners,

his brothers joined him, along with a couple friends, Patrick Parsons and Greg Pruitt. These five guys now run operations in about a dozen states, and they are always hustling to keep those audiences interested and donating. Which is why they're here in Richmond. Now, do the Doors themselves have anything to do with organizing this rally? No. But remember, all eyes are on Virginia today.

Thousands of people are watching live. It's a pro-gun bonanza that the brothers can turn into a flood of content for weeks. Videos, articles, memes, many of them identical and posted simultaneously across their network of Facebook pages. Which is great if you're pro-gun and stuck at home. See, if you care about this rally, you could watch CNN. Ahead of today's demonstration, the governor declared a state of emergency and banned all weapons on Capitol grounds. But outside that secured area, many demonstrators were heavily armed. Look at them. They look like soldiers there, some wearing body armor.

And there are fears there could be violence, particularly from white extremists. Last week, the FBI arrested three alleged white supremacists who plan to attend today's rally. Or you can skip the media and watch Facebook. Beautiful patriots. Look at them. This is what keeps governments at bay, what keeps tyrants at bay,

it's what keeps criminals at bay right here. We love it. A guided tour from people you trust for five minutes or five hours. You've got the fake news media helicopters and stuff flying around. They'll probably do here today what they do at Trump rallies. Hundreds of people showed up. Hundreds of people. And then they'll show some video clips from 4.30 this morning. Or 4.30 this afternoon when everybody's leaving. Now, if you're a Missourian watching, say, the Missouri Firearms Coalition page,

you think, look at our hometown guy on the ground. Aaron's giving me a tailored virtual experience. We know how crazy they are right now in Jeff City. We know how insane guys like Peter Meredith are. All the rest of these people in the Capitol, the Jill Shoups, these radical, nutjob socialist idiots who want to disarm us. But he does that for Iowans, too.

If they ever had the votes to do it in Iowa, they would do it. They would do it. And that's the lesson here today. It makes me think of a traveling salesman who's got girlfriends scattered across all the states in his circuit. If you're smart, you make each one feel special. All those area codes. 770-404-208-614. Uh-huh.

Now, the Doerr brothers and their friends aren't the only gun rights group with this no-compromise philosophy. We found active organizations in 36 states. Some are independent. Others are part of Doerr-style networks. Sign up right now for Frontline Defender program. You'll be automatically entered to win this giveaway. Or donate to this case. You can do so with the link on the screen. Do the $10 a month program. After the third month, you get a unique hat. You can't just buy this hat, right?

You have to be a Liberty member to get the hat. Usually, memberships aren't expensive. With the Doors, the Liberty level is $35 a year, or you can go for Patriot level, which is $125. They all come with swag. Made in the USA. One size fits all. Read it and weep.

China, and stick it where the sun don't shine. Some groups bring in more donations than others. But remember, none of what we're talking about is being led by the NRA. These are no compromise activists. And that's what got our attention about the doors in their crew. In Georgia, their nonprofit brings in three times the donations of a competing gun rights group, one that's older and better established. And that ended up being the case almost everywhere we looked.

Over the years, we're talking millions of dollars. So, of course, we wanted to know, where's all that money going? Who are the people supporting the Brothers' Door? Do their no-compromise tactics really work? And the more answers we got... I'm as red as the blood in my veins. I am so diehard Republican that anybody would even question that. It's hysterical to me and everybody that knows me. I have never questioned Aaron's integrity or his sincere desire to fight for the Second Amendment.

The way that they go about things, it's not to actually have a structured, civilized government. They don't want any government. I think it's the call to action for people to use violence. There really is no other conclusion you can come to. They're very in-your-face and offensive, and by God, I love them for it. It's what you've got to do. You don't go into a war zone with Nerf guns and pillows. Well, the more answers we got, the more we realized this isn't just a story about guns.

It's more like, welcome to your future. Next time on No Compromise, we meet some of the Doors followers, and we learn how the brothers built a Facebook powerhouse by preaching the good word of guns. designed by Josh and Graham. Our music comes from Peter Duchesne, Brad Honeyman, and the Hump Muscle Rolling Circus. Thanks to Neil Carruth and Anya Grunman from NPR Programming, and our legal team, Steven Zansberg and Micah Ratner. Special thanks to Nigery Eaton and the folks at StoryLab, Michael May, Alex Goldmark, Bruce Oster, and Cheryl W. Thompson. Also to A.C. Valdez and our colleagues at the Guns in America Reporting Collaborative. No Compromise is a production of NPR, working in partnership with WABE in Atlanta, KCUR in Kansas City, and WAMU in Washington, D.C.