David Clark, NRA, Russia [View all]

Could our next secretary of homeland security really be a gun-loving, Russia-visiting jails boss who’s left a trail of dead inmates behind him?

SNIP

Clarke—who shows up at annual NRA conferences to promote insurrection and sits on the board of the Crime Prevention Research Center, which essentially gun nuts’ propaganda arm—is also featured in a commercial the group released praising cops in the face of the Black Lives Matter movement, which he has said is made up of “slimy people” who “only care about political power.”

The Crime Prevention Research Center is run by former academic John Lott Jr. Listening to his thoughts on guns is akin to taking Lance Armstrong’s advice on clean living or tips from Chris Christie on talking with your inside voice. Lott has pretended to be a former female student—named Mary Rosh—online, who just loves and praises, well, John Lott. He fabricated an entire survey that “found” 98 percent of the time guns are used defensively. Pressed to show his work, he claimed his hard drive had eaten his homework. This is the company Clarke keeps.

And Clarke has served as a virtual Bering Land Bridge between the NRA and its counterpart in Russia, The Right to Bear Arms, taking a trip to the country almost exactly a year ago with a who’s who of NRA brass. Present on this bizarre excursion were ex-NRA President David Keene, NRA First Vice President Pete Brownell—who also just happens to run an enormous firearm accessory empire—and NRA Women’s Leadership Forum executive committee member Hilary Goldschlager.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/05/how-david-clarke-bridges-donald-trump-s-gun-nuts-and-vladimir-putin-s-kleptocrats.html