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Cuccinelli Touts Endorsement Of Radical Gun Group With Ties To White Supremecists, Conspiracy Theorists

Earlier this month, the extremist gun group Gun Owners of America announced (link is external)that it was endorsing Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli in next month’s gubernatorial contest and urged its supporters to do “everything you can” to elect the Republican. Though Cuccinelli’s campaign doesn’t seem to have touted GOA’s endorsement at the time, it is now prominently featuring the endorsement on its website(link is external).

While it’s no surprise that GOA is backing Cuccinelli, Cuccinelli’s touting of the GOA’s endorsement should raise some eyebrows.

GOA is an extreme group that trades in racism and conspiracy theories. The group’s executive director, Larry Pratt is so radical that he was forced out of Pat Buchanan’s 1996 presidential campaign after it became public that he had spoken at white supremacist and militia movement rallies(link is external).  Just this past fourth of July, Pratt was scheduled to speak alongside a prominent white nationalist at an event hosted by an anti-Semitic rock band.(link is external)

Today, Pratt regularly appears with far-right fringe talk show hosts including Alex Jones(link is external), Stan Solomon(link is external) and Pete Santilli(link is external), where he has:

GOA’s legislative counsel Michael Hammond(link is external) and its communications director Erich Pratt(link is external) (Larry’s son) also push conspiracy theories on fringe media.

So, why is Cuccinelli touting GOA’s endorsement?