PA Bill Number: HB837

Title: In firearms and other dangerous articles, providing for limit on handgun purchases; and establishing the Violence Prevention Account.

Description: In firearms and other dangerous articles, providing for limit on handgun purchases; and establishing the Violence Prevention Account. ...

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Last Action Date: Mar 8, 2025

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Attkisson's 'Astroturfers' column highlights anti-gunner deception :: 02/21/2015

Some prominent agenda-pushing groups many Americans assume are grassroots citizen efforts promoting change in government policies are really "progressive" fronts, investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson notes in the "Top 10 Astroturfers," a special report published Tuesday on her website. “These groups include Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Everytown, Everytown for Gun Safety, Gun Sense, It’s Time for Gun Sense in America, Gun Sense Voter, I’m a Gun Sense Voter, Moms Take the Hill and Stroller Jam.”

Attkisson is the award-winning former CBS News reporter whose interview with ATF whistleblower John Dodson put a face on the government’s Operation Fast and Furious “gunwalking” scheme. That's one of the stories explored in detail in her New York Times bestseller “Stonewalled: My Fight For the Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation and Harassment in Obama’s Washington.” Since leaving CBS, she has focused on subjects establishment media outlets are many times unwilling to acknowledge, let alone cover in depth, and has soldiered on independently, providing “fearless reporting” on what she understandably terms “untouchable subjects.”

The “Astroturf” phenomenon may not surprise activist gun owners weary of media-amplified attacks on the right to keep and bear arms, particularly of late in responding to state ballot initiatives bankrolled by the Bloomberg Everytown machine. But Attkisson has a wider appeal that reaches a larger cross-section of Americans, to help alert them to the agenda-serving manipulation they’re being subjected to.

As such, her “Top 10” list includes other “progressive” front groups, including propaganda outlets Joe Biden refers to as “legitimate news media” and Dianne Feinstein labels “real reporters.” Curiously, “number two” on the list, Media Matters, which collaborated with the Justice Department on spinning Fast and Furious, frequently tries to savage Attkisson – as did their DOJ “handler” Tracy Schmaeler.

Attkisson clearly speaks from experience, having been the target of administration and media attacks attempting to discredit her. This report will help more Americans -- at least those with fair and open minds – see for themselves that what the “Astroturfers” are really doing is discrediting themselves.

UPDATE: Seattle Gun Rights Examiner Dave Workman adds to the discussion.