Gun lobby depicts NYC mayor as anti-Semitic symbol

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A magazine cover by the National Rifle Association protesting New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's campaign against guns is raising questions for its depiction of him as an octopus, which has a history of use as an anti-Semitic symbol. The cover of this month's issue of the NRA publication America's 1st Freedom features an evil-looking cartoon caricature of the Jewish mayor, with a headline warning: "Tentacles!" The NRA, an influential lobbying group representing gun owners, opposes efforts to stiffen controls on firearms. The eight-armed octopus has been used in Nazi propaganda as a representation of Jewish conspiracies and control, and was referenced by Adolf Hitler in his political manifesto "Mein Kampf." The NRA magazine dedicates several stories around a central theme of alarm that the "rogue Mayor Michael Bloomberg is working to bring his gun-control schemes to your hometown." The publication is described on the NRA's Web site as a hard-hitting news magazine for its members, and has a circulation of nearly 600,000.