Larry Pratt

Larry Pratt is the executive director of the Gun Owners of America and a former Virginia state legislator.

Pratt is known for opposing measures that have the potential to increase voting power of minorities because he believes it would threaten his pro-gun agenda.

English Only Movement and Racist Connections
Pratt is also the founder of English First, an English-only lobbying group which was formed in 1986. The group's " publications have regularly featured racism and anti-Latino innuendo since [it] was created."

Pratt ardently supported the apartheid in South Africa and has been tied to leaders of the Aryan Nations and former members of the Klu Klux Klan. His ties to white supremacists led to his ouster from Pat Buchanan's 1996 presidential campaign.

Most recently, Pratt and his Gun Owners of America have came out against the immigration reform bill claiming that those granted provisional residency status will eventual vote to "take away your guns."

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council
Pratt's relationship with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) began in 1978 with ALEC's effort to oppose a constitutional amendment giving full Congressional representation to DC residents. ALEC formed an alliance with Pratt's Gun Owners of America in 1979 to develop a plan to prevent ratification of the amendment, which involved states sending formal resolutions of disapproval to the federal government. Pratt was quoted as saying, "The amendment would bring in two senators who would probably be minority and would definitely be liberal on gun control."

In 1981, Pratt was elected to the Virginia State Legislature and took on a leadership position in ALEC, sitting on ALEC's board and serving as treasurer into the 1980s even after he left the legislature. Pratt's Gun Owners of America was an ALEC member into the 1990s.

Related Sourcewatch

 * Gun Owners of America
 * John Tanton
 * English First

External articles

 * Nick Wing, "Larry Pratt, Gun Owners Of America Leader: Obama Building Paramilitary Homeland Security Force", Huffington Post, May 16, 2013