An open letter to Ceasefire PA

As mentioned here and elsewhere, a particularly nasty, hateful, malignant bigot, calling himself "NRAFOUREVER," has been spreading his vile, venomous vitriol all over the internet.

More disturbing still is the apparent possibility that "NRAFOUREVER" may actually be a pseudonym used by Professor Alexander Tristan Riley, who has recently joined the Ceasefire PA board of directors.

Presumably (and certainly hopefully), Ceasefire PA would not wish to be associated with such a loathsome hatemonger as NRAFOUREVER.

I am therefore sending them this email, asking them to look into the situation. Perhaps others would care to join me? The email address is info@ceasefirepa.org.

Dear Ceasefire PA,

In the interests of full disclosure, I should start out by acknowledging that your organization and I stand on opposite sides on the issue of gun legislation. I am not writing to ask you to change your position--such a request would waste your time and mine.

This correspondence is instead intended to bring some civility and honor to a debate that would seem to be in danger of losing both.

It has come to my attention that Professor Alexander Tristan Riley has recently joined your board of directors

While no one would deny that Professor Riley is an outspoken, dedicated advocate of restrictive gun laws, I cannot help but question the wisdom of appointing such a divisive, hyper-partisan individual to such a position. As pointed out here, his "debating" technique would seem to consist largely of screaming insults at whomever has the temerity to disagree with him. He, in fact, recently had a blog, titled, charmingly enough, "Mike S. Adams is Vermin" (from which all the previous text has recently been removed, but the cached version of which can--for now, anyway--still be seen here) devoted almost exclusively to calling Dr. Mike Adams, and anyone who dares support him, stupid (and in rather over-the-top fashion), and referring to them as "vermin."

Still, perhaps you believe his combative style is what you need, and that, of course, is your decision to make.

I would now like to bring your attention to a particularly disgusting individual, who calls himself "NRAFOUREVER." As cataloged here, the comments he posted on YouTube are truly reprehensible. Similarly, particularly vile comments posted by someone calling himself "NRAFOUREVER" have been left on certain gun rights advocacy blogs (here, here, and here, for example). The IP address from which those comments were posted was also the source of other vile comments left anonymously on various other gun rights advocacy blogs--the "Anonymous" commenter here, for example.

Finally, "NRAFOUREVER" briefly administered what was apparently intended to be a parody of gun rights blogs, called "Guns Makes Us Free." That blog, after being up for only a brief time in early to mid-December, is now gone, although a screen capture of one page from it can be seen here.

The reason I mention "NRAFOUREVER" is that the IP address from which he posted traces back to Lewisburg, PA, home of Bucknell University, where Professor Riley teaches--in fact, my fellow bloggers and I received several visits from Bucknell University, following the same visitor pathways favored by "NRAFOUREVER."

Finally, both the "Guns Makes Us Free" blog and the "Mike S. Adams is Vermin" blog were taken down on the same day (which happened to be around the time it was becoming clear that there was a great deal of suspicion of a link between the two).

I realize that any claim that "NRAFOUREVER" is actually a pseudonym for Professor Riley would be based on nothing more than circumstantial evidence. Still, it seems apparent that if Professor Riley is not responsible for the disgusting vitriol posted by "NRAFOUREVER," then someone has gone to some trouble to make it appear that he is.

Either way, someone is engaging in egregious, loathsome conduct, that serves only to make truly toxic the already rancorous debate about gun legislation. Such behavior is harmful not only to Ceasefire PA, which I admit would not particularly bother me, but to everyone earnestly engaged in the debate.

This is a matter for which there is an urgent need for investigation, and I urge Ceasefire PA to make some inquiries.

Sincerely,
Kurt Hofmann

UPDATE: Come to think of it, that is curious.