Larry Pratt

Lawrence D. Pratt (born November 13, 1942) is the executive director of Gun Owners of America, a U.S.-based firearms lobbying group, and a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates.

Early life

Larry Pratt was born in Camden, New Jersey on November 13, 1942. His father was an electrical engineer. Several years after graduating from American University with a degree in political science, Pratt founded Gun Owners of America. [cite web |url= http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C01E2D61F3AF935A15757C0A96F958260 |title= Speaking Up for Guns, Lots of Them, for Nearly Anyone |accessdate=2008-04-23 |last= Bruni |first= Frank |coauthors= |date= 1999-09-26 |work= |publisher= New York Times]

Political career

Pratt was elected to the state legislature of Virginia, as a Republican member of the 1981 session of the Virginia House of Delegates, elected from the 19th District in Fairfax County. He was also a Reagan delegate to the 1980 Republican National Convention.cite web |url= http://www.publiceye.org/ifas/cnp/bios/prala.html |title= Lawrence D. Pratt |accessdate=2008-09-23 |work= |publisher= Institute for First Amendment Studies |date= 1998]

In the 1996 U.S. presidential election, Pratt served as a co-chairman of Pat Buchanan's campaign. In February 1996, the liberal Center for Public Integrity issued a report that claimed Pratt spoke at meetings organized by white supremacist and militia leaders. Pratt denied any tie to racism, calling the report a smear aimed at hurting Buchanan before the New Hampshire primary election. However, Pratt was forced to resign his position with the Buchanan campaign. [cite web |url= http://www.adl.org/mwd/oldnew1.asp |title= Larry Pratt Drops From Buchanan Campaign |accessdate=2008-09-23 |work= |publisher= Anti-Defamation League |date= 1996-06-19] [ [http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/3041/edition_id/53/format/html/displaystory.html j. - News Analysis: Buchanan dogged by links to extremists ] ] [cite web |url= http://www.main.nc.us/wncceib/96whole.htm#10.%20BUCHANAN%20CO-CHAIR%20RESIGNS%20AFTER%20CAUSE%20FOUNDATION%20&%20OTHER%20WHITE%20SUPREMACIST/MILITIA%20CONNECTINS%20REVEALED |title= Buchanan Co-chair Resigns After CAUSE Foundation & Other White Supremacist/Militia Connections Revealed |accessdate=2008-09-23 |work= |publisher= Western North Carolina Citizens For An End To Institutional Bigotry |date= ]

Pratt also addressed delegates at the 1996 national convention of the U.S. Taxpayers Party/Constitution Party. [Shasha Abramsky, [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1295/is_n10_v60/ai_18710715/print "'When God laughs, it's not funny,' the U.S. Taxpayers Party prepares for doomsday"] , "The Progressive"; October 1996.]

Political organizations

Pratt has founded a variety of organizations, including English First, Gun Owners of America,, U.S. Border Control, and Committee to Protect the Family. [http://www.publiceye.org/research/directories/immig_grp_undermine.html PublicEye.org - Anti-Immigrant Organizations ] ]

Pratt is the president of English First, an organization within the English-only movement.Elain Shannon, et al., [http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,94912,00.html "John Ashcroft's Dubious Pen Pal"] , TIME; Thursday, Jan. 11, 2001.] The organization was founded in 1986, and works to pass English Only amendments at both state and federal levels. Pratt also helped found and served as secretary of the Council for Inter-American Security, which was founded in 1976. Pratt has served as a board member of the American Legislative Exchange Council, founded by Paul Weyrich.

Larry Pratt has also been listed as a member of the Council for National Policy (CNP). [ [http://www.publiceye.org/ifas/cnp/text.html Council for National Policy Unofficial Information Page ] ] [ [http://www.namebase.org/main3/Lawrence-D-Pratt.html Lawrence D Pratt ] ] [ [http://www.apfn.net/MESSAGEBOARD/07-02-04/discussion.cgi.15.html The Council For National Policy ] ] A January 13, 2001 article in "The Guardian" explored Pratt's relationship with then-Attorney General nominee John Ashcroft, stating they knew each other from the CNP. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/bush/story/0,,421615,00.html Bush's choice linked to 'guns for pupils' group | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited ] ] The January 11, 2001 edition of TIME Magazine included an article on Pratt and Ashcroft's relationship.

In October 1992, at Estes Park, Colorado, Pratt addressed a three-day meeting of neo-Nazis and Christian Identity adherents organized by Pete Peters in the wake of the Ruby Ridge incident. [Frederick Clarkson, "Eternal Hostility" (Common Courage Press: Monroe, Maine, 1997), p. 21.] [Leonard Zeskin, [http://www.rickross.com/reference/militia/militia7.html "Armed and Dangerous"] , "Rolling Stone"; November 2, 1995.] [ [http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=507 Southern Poverty Law Center: Bombs, Bullets, Bodies ] ] Pratt shared the stage with Richard Butler and Louis Beam.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Pratt used his Committee to Protect the Family organization to raise $150,000 for the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue which paid $50,000 in court-imposed fines. [ [http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=410 Southern Poverty Law Center: Anti-Abortion Extremists ] ] [cite web |url= http://www.mhrn.org/publications/fact%20sheets%20and%20adivsories/OperationRescue.pdf |title= Operation Rescue |accessdate=2008-09-23 |work= |publisher= Montana Human Rights Network |date= ] The Southern Poverty Law Center also reports that Pratt "was a contributing editor to a periodical of the anti-Semitic United Sovereigns of America, and that his GOA had donated money to a white supremacist attorney's group." [cite web |url= http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=365 |title= False Patriots |accessdate=2008-09-23 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= Summer 2001 |work= Intelligence Report |publisher= Southern Poverty Law Center]

However, Pratt is also affiliated with the Congress of Racial Equality, one of America's oldest civil rights organizations, and with Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. Anti-gun control advocate Rabbi R. Mermelstein stated, in response to an "Ask the Rabbi" question, that "Larry is a longtime friend of mine. The man doesn't have an anti-Semitic thought in his fertile, patriotic mind." [Mermelstein, R. " [http://www.gunownersalliance.com/Rabbi_0324.htm Ask the Rabbi] ." November 2000. Accessed September 28, 2008.] Pratt's wife is an immigrant from Central America, and they speak Spanish at home.

Television appearances

Pratt has appeared on numerous national radio and TV programs such as the "Today Show", "Good Morning America", "Crossfire", "Larry King Live", "Hannity & Colmes", and the "Phil Donahue Show".

Books

*"Armed People Victorious" (1990).
*"Safeguarding Liberty: The Constitution and Citizen Militias" (1995).
*"On the Firing Line: Essays in the Defense of Liberty" (2001).

References

External links

* [http://gunowners.org/ Gun Owners of America]
* [http://www.englishfirst.org/ English First]
* [http://www.usbc.org/ U.S. Border Control]
* [http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/d6bb1df8c3a498b785256c23006d3f83/5e7c94a2cbdf25da85256c140065019f?OpenDocument Virginia House of Delegates: Member Bio]
* [http://www.gunowners.org/op9511.htm Larry Pratt, "The People are Part of the Answer," "National Crime Monthly" 1995]