Lock and Load against Lockdown

"Reopen America" protest groups in various US states against recent coronavirus lockdown measures were set up by conservative gun lobbyists. The coordinated effort seems to be driven by the apparent long-term aim of building a larger base of support for gun law relaxation.

Between April 8 and 16, at least 34 website addresses  were purchased. These web addresses automatically redirect to pages on pro-gun sites. The registration of so many reopen website addresses in a short period of time led social media users to conclude that the campaign was "astroturfing" — the practice of making a campaign appear grassroots while withholding that it was organized by a single entity.  These reopen websites were for Iowa, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Ohio, each of which has laws allowing open carry of firearms with a permit, with five tracing back to one family in the American Midwest, the Dorrs. These laws are not loose enough for the Dorrs, who are ultra-conservative pro-gun political campaigners.

For example, the "reopen" websites for Ohio, Pennsylvania and Minnesota were registered in quick succession, indicating that they were bought in the same transaction. They also all share the same Google Analytics tracking ID, which is a unique code used to track webpage visits. Websites for Iowa and Wisconsin also use this code, in addition to having been set up on the same day. The active "reopen" websites owned by the Dorrs redirect to anti-lockdown protest pages, mostly on the Dorrs' pro-gun websites. On top of this, they look the same and contain similar, often identical text. Analyzing the inner workings of the website, namely the HTML code files, helps identify more connections to other pages and groups the Dorrs manage or people they collaborate with.

Unrestricted carry (sometimes referred to as permitless carry or constitutional carry) is already law in a number of US states, but not in any of the states for which the Dorrs have bought "Reopen America" domains. Based on the locations of these political campaigns and their previous political activity, it would appear that the Dorrs have a long-term goal of building a bigger supporter base for the gun lobby, using the coronavirus pandemic unrest as a vehicle.

This widespread online activity has contributed toward the impression that there is large-scale opposition to the lockdown measures. In contrast, nearly 70% of Republican voters and 95 percent of Democratic voters supported a national stay-at-home order, according to recent research by Quinnipiac, a nationwide independent public opinion poll.

https://www.dw.com/en/revealed-how-the-us-gun-lobby-exploits-the-coronavirus-pandemic-to-further-its-aims/a-53230399