to oppose the government. “When a government no longer fears the people, atrocities become possible,” he had written as if he were one of the insurgents in Guatemala instead of one of the regime’s defenders. “Long live the militia! Long live freedom! Long live a government that fears the people!” 15
Pratt also argued: “We have to take every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ and then all disobedience will be punished . . .” In his theology, “punishment” loomed larger than guns.
Pratt’s corporate complex rivaled Willis Carto’s in its intricacy. The largest entity, Gun Owners Foundation, is a nonprofit educational corporation, contributions to which are tax deductible. The second company is Gun Owners of America, Inc., a nonprofit corporation. Attached to GOA Inc. is a third group, a federal political action committee, Gun Owners of America Political Victory Fund, which contributes money to sympathetic congressional candidates. Together, GOF, the GOA, and the Victory Fund all operated in tandem as a more militant alternative to the National Rifle Association.
In addition to directing the gun groups, Pratt formed the Committee to Protect the Family Foundation, a Virginia nonprofit corporation he used for various Christian right causes, including a bit of gay bashing for money. In one fund-raising letter, Pratt called for the quarantine of anyone with AIDS: “Our judges coddle criminals instead of caring for the victims of crime. They’ve chased God out of our schools, defended abortions . . . and now they are trying to infect us and kill us with strange and horrible diseases.”
Among its other jaunts along the edges of respectability, Pratt’s Family Foundation raised funds for an antiabortion group, Operation Rescue, run by Randall Terry, at a time when Terry’s group was under a court order restricting its activities. Operation Rescue’s modus was staging large-scale sit-in–style blockades of women’s health clinics. Beginning in Atlanta during the Democratic Party’s 1988 convention, Terry called for hundreds of activists from around the country to descend on a city, mobilized local sympathizers, and then blockaded the clinics andclogged the city’s jails with arrests. When Terry came to New York City in 1989, the National Organization for Women (NOW) got a court injunction ordering Operation Rescue not to interfere with the clinics. Terry flouted the court order, attempted a blockade, and was arrested. Operation Rescue was fined fifty thousand dollars. After Terry refused to pay the fine, the U.S. attorney’s office seized two Operation Rescue bank accounts, and the group was essentially closed down.
At that point Larry Pratt entered, wearing his hat as president of the Committee to Protect the Family Foundation. During the first six months of 1990, Pratt sent potential contributors three letters from the Committee to Protect asking contributors for money to pay the debts and operating costs of Operation Rescue. Pratt’s first letter stated his sympathies: “Many of us are grateful for the work of Randall Terry and Operation Rescue over the past two years . . . As you well know, the federal government has seized Operation Rescue’s operating and payroll accounts . . . We have set up a separate account to pay off . . . [its] debt.” 16
A July 16 letter was slightly more hysterical: “THE GOVERNMENT IS DOING THE FEMINISTS’ DIRTY WORK WITH YOUR TAX DOLLARS [emphasis in original].” 17
The Committee to Protect spent more than $146,000 on Operation Rescue’s debts that year. When a U.S. district judge ruled that it could also be liable for Operation Rescue’s fines—since it was raising money and paying bills—Pratt stopped sending letters, and Terry shuttered his Operation Rescue office.
Pratt’s Christian nationalist résumé at the Committee to Protect the Family Foundation and his gun rights profile at Gun Owners of America were a remarkable
Pratt also argued: “We have to take every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ and then all disobedience will be punished . . .” In his theology, “punishment” loomed larger than guns.
Pratt’s corporate complex rivaled Willis Carto’s in its intricacy. The largest entity, Gun Owners Foundation, is a nonprofit educational corporation, contributions to which are tax deductible. The second company is Gun Owners of America, Inc., a nonprofit corporation. Attached to GOA Inc. is a third group, a federal political action committee, Gun Owners of America Political Victory Fund, which contributes money to sympathetic congressional candidates. Together, GOF, the GOA, and the Victory Fund all operated in tandem as a more militant alternative to the National Rifle Association.
In addition to directing the gun groups, Pratt formed the Committee to Protect the Family Foundation, a Virginia nonprofit corporation he used for various Christian right causes, including a bit of gay bashing for money. In one fund-raising letter, Pratt called for the quarantine of anyone with AIDS: “Our judges coddle criminals instead of caring for the victims of crime. They’ve chased God out of our schools, defended abortions . . . and now they are trying to infect us and kill us with strange and horrible diseases.”
Among its other jaunts along the edges of respectability, Pratt’s Family Foundation raised funds for an antiabortion group, Operation Rescue, run by Randall Terry, at a time when Terry’s group was under a court order restricting its activities. Operation Rescue’s modus was staging large-scale sit-in–style blockades of women’s health clinics. Beginning in Atlanta during the Democratic Party’s 1988 convention, Terry called for hundreds of activists from around the country to descend on a city, mobilized local sympathizers, and then blockaded the clinics andclogged the city’s jails with arrests. When Terry came to New York City in 1989, the National Organization for Women (NOW) got a court injunction ordering Operation Rescue not to interfere with the clinics. Terry flouted the court order, attempted a blockade, and was arrested. Operation Rescue was fined fifty thousand dollars. After Terry refused to pay the fine, the U.S. attorney’s office seized two Operation Rescue bank accounts, and the group was essentially closed down.
At that point Larry Pratt entered, wearing his hat as president of the Committee to Protect the Family Foundation. During the first six months of 1990, Pratt sent potential contributors three letters from the Committee to Protect asking contributors for money to pay the debts and operating costs of Operation Rescue. Pratt’s first letter stated his sympathies: “Many of us are grateful for the work of Randall Terry and Operation Rescue over the past two years . . . As you well know, the federal government has seized Operation Rescue’s operating and payroll accounts . . . We have set up a separate account to pay off . . . [its] debt.” 16
A July 16 letter was slightly more hysterical: “THE GOVERNMENT IS DOING THE FEMINISTS’ DIRTY WORK WITH YOUR TAX DOLLARS [emphasis in original].” 17
The Committee to Protect spent more than $146,000 on Operation Rescue’s debts that year. When a U.S. district judge ruled that it could also be liable for Operation Rescue’s fines—since it was raising money and paying bills—Pratt stopped sending letters, and Terry shuttered his Operation Rescue office.
Pratt’s Christian nationalist résumé at the Committee to Protect the Family Foundation and his gun rights profile at Gun Owners of America were a remarkable
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