I’ve got lovely friends. Decent people, but often gullible. The latest example of this was several copies of an identical letter I got this morning titled “Now all guns must be listed on your next (2010) tax return.”
The body of the letter states that the new law was introduced by the Obama staff in an amendment to the Internal Revenue Service Act of 1986 and that it’s been signed off by the Finance Committee. It also states that no one will know about the law until it has been in effect for 30 days. “Trust Obama? You must be kidding!” the writer shouts in large boldface type.
The email goes on to say that Obama administration has begun work on the firearms confiscation bill and that “It has begun…Whatever Obama’s secret Master Plan is…this is just the tip of the iceberg.”
The only problem is that it’s all bullshit. The amendment in question was introduced by a democratic legislator during Clinton’s last year in office in 2000. It went nowhere.
Today’s email went on to discuss the Blair Holt’s firearm licensing bill, a bill first introduced in 2007 and now again this year. That is a real bill introduced to Congress by Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Chicago). Unfortunately the letter doesn’t make it clear that it was introduced with no co-sponsors and was sent to a committee to die, just as it died in 2007.
This is the sort of thing the far right wingnuts talk about on the radio, and what my poor gullible friends believe is true. They won’t spend a moment looking things up on the net to verify the story; they’d rather just spread the venom. Freaking idiots piss me off.
And if you got that letter and passed it along, then you’re a freaking idiot too.
Is there a nefarious conspiracy to put something in our water that makes people be that gullible? Must be.