in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, there was all of a sudden a weird russian twist in u.s. gun politics. i spelled out maria butina's plea agreement in december 2015 in the middle of the presidential campaign right before the iowa caucuses, a former nra president and a future nra president and a whole delegation of nra officials and members all got an all-expenses paid trip to moscow. it was organized by the right to bear arms, purportedly a gun rights group founded by a senior member of vladimir putin's political party. the head of that group is a deputy governor of the russian bank. a close ally of vladimir putin. and torchin's group, the rights to bear arms group has always been kind of a head scratcher. because putin and his party don't actually support gun rights in russia.