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The National Rifle Association released a humorous statement on Friday that deserves a response.

Last week, the Associated Press reported on the release of a report by a group of policy experts called the Bi-national Task Force on the United States-Mexico Border.

Among other things, the Task Force recommended that the United States help improve security along our two nations’ common border “by aggressively investigating gun sellers, regulating gun shows, [and] reinstituting the Clinton-era ban on assault weapons….”

After some investigation — i.e., using the internet and the telephone — Brady Campaign staff found the source document on the Web site of the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations.

As you can see, however, that document is in Spanish, and an English-language version of the report was not yet available online.

Drawing on our network of grassroots activists, our Million Mom March Chapter President in South Florida quickly translated the relevant sections of the report’s Executive Summary, and confirmed what we saw in the Associated Press report.

Soon after, staff at the Pacific Council on International Policy sent us an English-language version of the Executive Summary.

We then issued this release.

Now, to return to the standard-issue NRA histrionics:

According to the Pacific Council, the report is being released under the auspices of the Mexican CFR on November 13th and is absolutely unavailable until that time. The Brady Campaign, naturally, has a copy of the report anyway….

(emphasis added.)

First of all, according to the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations, the report was rolled out on October 13th. Hence the AP report the next day.

Second, the Spanish-language version of the report’s Executive Summary was available online last Wednesday to anyone with an internet connection.

Third, the English-language version of the Executive Summary is now also online.

It is understandably difficult to crank out new conspiracy theories to keep the contributions coming in — such as the recent NRA telemarketing scheme to scare people about a UN takeover of U.S. gun laws.

But it’s a little sad that nobody at NRA HQ could speak enough Spanish or use “the internets” well enough to head off this latest embarrassing shout-out to Oliver Stone.

Meanwhile, America’s weak guns laws fuel the awful violence that plagues both sides of our southern border, and the NRA will do all it can do make sure this country does nothing to stop it.