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Get the Duct Tape: This DIY Demo Will Teach You EXACTLY How to Add a Chainsaw to Your AR-15

November 09, 2017
Jon Boldt

Writer

As if the mainstream media hadn't already proven how gun-illiterate they are, USA Today decided to push the envelope and go all-in on the gun insanity.

In a tweet Wednesday afternoon, USA Today shared a video showing "common" and "rare" modifications to an AR-15 rifle that would turn your Walmart Special into a video game-esque, zombie-hunting chainsaw-shotgun-laser-hybrid from your worst nightmare.

Check out the tweet:

When he first saw the video, Glenn said he thought it was a joke and reacted accordingly.

"So when I saw the chainsaw bayonet, first of all, I was like, I’ve got to get me one of them," Glenn said on radio Thursday. "The second thing that I thought of is this: the people that are telling you that guns are evil are so disconnected from reality, that they actually think that there is a movement to attach chainsaw to AR's."

He then proceeded with a little DIY gun-modification project of his own. Stu captured the moment on Facebook Live.

Here it is for your viewing pleasure:

Maybe Glenn and Stu didn't get it quite right. Have a suggestion for them? Share your favorite modification ideas in the comments section below.

GLENN: So I saw something yesterday I thought had to be joke. It's really not.

STU: Yeah. Because you seem to be joking a lot so far in the show.

GLENN: I know. I know.

STU: You're mocking people who were screaming helplessly at the sky. But what are you supposed to do in a culture that allows legal chain saw bayonets on their guns?

GLENN: Right! Am I right?

STU: Right? And you might think it's a joke. You might think it's some silly thing. I don't know. But, I mean, I can tell you this. It scared the hell out of me when I saw it yesterday from USA Today.

GLENN: Okay. So USA Today put out a video of all of the attachments. Like a flash light. Good God, you could put a flash flight on the end of a gun. Why would someone ever need something like that?

STU: It's almost as if you'd want to see where the bullets were going.

GLENN: See what's in front of you. It's crazy these -- then they showed a laser site.

STU: Uh-huh.

GLENN: Hello. Does anybody remember Dr. Evil? What was he putting at the top of sharks' heads? Lasers.

STU: So that is really -- they actually did do this video, if you haven't seen it. First, they go through the actual attachments that were on the gun, that the shooter used. Then they go through some other possible attachments that are available.

GLENN: That are available.

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: And people do this, they put lasers on their guns.

STU: It says possible modifications. One hundred round drum magazine. They also have a shotgun attachment.

GLENN: A shotgun attachment.

STU: So you had attach another shotgun below the gun.

GLENN: A shotgun attachment, now, that is not something I've seen before. But if it's in USA Today, it's a shotgun attachment. I get that.

STU: And, of course, most terrifying is the chain saw baneet.

GLENN: Don't even say that out loud.

STU: Well, I unfortunately have. So it's impossible to stop now.

GLENN: I wish you hadn't. Because once people get the idea that this is available, that you can go out in a store and you can buy an attachment for your AR, and it's a chain saw and you just mount that chain saw underneath the barrel so it's -- it's a chain saw bayonet. My gosh, do you know the kind of carnage?

STU: Oh, my gosh. Everyone is going to have one by the end of the week. And that's what's terrifying to me. You know, I used to be for the Second Amendment. Then chain saw bayonet.

GLENN: So now let me just say that I don't think -- and I'm doing something at 5 o'clock tonight that I believe -- we're going to take you through the fantasy land that Hollywood lives in. Because I don't think that they can find the difference between truth and fiction. I really -- you know, it's like these actors who are like, well, when I was climbing the -- the Himalayas with HEP Niblick. With who?

He was my Sherpa guy. That was a movie, man. That was a movie. And they have no idea the difference between real life and movies and fiction. George Takei yesterday tweeted out how in the United Federation of Planets, they had universal health care.

George, I want you to -- I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but the United Federation of Planets, doesn't exist. It's a TV show.

STU: It's also movies.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: So...

GLENN: So.

STU: Back up. Second source there. That's how it works, right?

GLENN: When you're right, you're right.

So when I saw the chain saw bayonet --

STU: Hmm. Terrifying.

GLENN: First of all, I was like, I've got to get me one of them.

STU: I actually think I do want one if they exist.

GLENN: And then the second thing that I thought of is this -- the people that are telling you that guns are evil are so disconnected from reality, that they actually think that there is a movement to attach chain saw to ARs. That that is something -- you know, I'm --

STU: I'm going to Cabela's.

GLENN: I'm going to Cabela's. I'm just going to grab a chain saw attachment, honey. I'll be right back.

STU: That's like a totally normal thing to them.

GLENN: Right. That they would attach them. And they would -- it's ridiculous to believe. So we started to look into it. The gun exists. And I have it.

STU: You do? And this is -- by the way, do not try this at home. Because this is a very dangerous weapon.

GLENN: This is the actual gun, that they are basing -- and I'm not kidding you. This is the gun that they're basing that attachment on. And as you see, Stu, I don't want to point it to you.

STU: Please don't. It's very scary.

GLENN: I'm putting it at the camera. You will see that this is an AR.

STU: Oh, my gosh. I don't know if it's an actual --

GLENN: And right underneath it's a chain saw.

STU: Now, some would say that potentially, that gun seems to come from the video game games of war -- Gears of War.

GLENN: That's what some would say. What's the difference between real life and a video game?

STU: Apparently to many in the media, nothing.

GLENN: Exactly right. Exactly right.

This is from the video game --

STU: And a lot of people actually think that's where they got that idea. It's a popular video game from the '90s.

GLENN: Where else would you get that idea? Have you ever heard of that?

STU: I've never heard of that. There's a few YouTubers who have sort of jokingly attached, you know, chain saws to guns. I guess they then use the chain saw. But it's not like it's an actual functional thing. There's no reason --

GLENN: Oh, my gosh, Stu, you are so stupid. I am going to -- you know what, could we get -- here, here, I got it. I got it.

I brought in a few things today.

STU: He brought in a few things, he's across the room now.

GLENN: So I brought in the AR.

STU: Okay. Be careful with that.

GLENN: Okay. All right.

Yeah, no, I know. I brought the AR in. And I brought in a chain saw.

STU: That's a -- and a real chain saw.

GLENN: So I have the AR and the chain saw.

Wait a minute. I've got more.

I also have a shotgun.

STU: Right.

GLENN: Handgun. And some duct tape.

Now, I am -- I am of the mindset.

STU: Uh-huh.

GLENN: That USA Today was on to something.

And I believe that we need to make one of these.

So could we -- is Jason around?

Come here, Jason. Jason is our -- today in-house weapons expert.

Now, Jason, what I would like to do is first I would like to take the AR. And it is unloaded and safe.

I would like you to take the AR, and we want to attach the chain saw right here. Come here. We want to attach the chain saw. Now, I'm left-hand. So I'm going to be shooting like this. So I would like the chain saw right here, so I can -- you know what I mean? So I think it should be like that. Because that's --

STU: Wait. That's not how the design is on the actual chain saw bayonet. The chain saw bayonet from USA Today has it underneath.

GLENN: You know, you can go -- you can go with that. Sure, you can do that.

STU: I have the schematic right here.

GLENN: Yeah, well, I don't want it that way. I want it right there.

STU: You want it on the side basically?

GLENN: They have it like this. Yeah, because I want it on the side. Because I want to be able to chop their heads off.

STU: Wait. The concept of this would be you would shoot the person.

GLENN: You would shoot the person and then you would chop their heads off.

STU: After you've shot them?

GLENN: Sure.

STU: Why would you want -- what's the purpose of chopping their heads off after you've already --

GLENN: Because then there's dead, and then there's, that was sick.

STU: So straight out bloodlust?

GLENN: Oh, yeah.

STU: Making sure.

GLENN: Are you a member of the NRA?

STU: I'm not. So maybe I don't understand real blood lust.

GLENN: Yeah. It's just every member of the NRA knows, I want to shoot something, and then I want to take a chain saw and just hack it up.

STU: Really? Because the guy who was an NRA instructor who stopped the shooting.

GLENN: Yeah, he used one of these.

STU: He used the if one, not the chain saw.

GLENN: Yeah, he used the AR. ARs have to be removed only when killing people.

STU: Right.

GLENN: Except he didn't kill him. He wounded him and stopped the slaughter with his AR. But pay no attention to that. You know, because he didn't kill him.

STU: A lot of people aren't paying attention to him, it seems like.

GLENN: Yeah. So he had just the AR. But I'm going to have the AR with just the attachment. Okay? So can we work on that right now? Can you just take that over there? Because I'd got some other attachments that I would like to add to it as well.

For instance, Stu, what is this?

STU: Well, that's a knife.

GLENN: A knife. What kind of knife is it?

STU: I would say steak knife.

GLENN: That's what you would think.

STU: Looks like a steak knife to me. Is that what it is?

GLENN: Yeah. That's it. Just a regular knife.

I don't want you to freak out. I don't want you to freak out.

STU: Okay.

GLENN: But what is this?

STU: That appears to be another knife.

GLENN: Another knife.

STU: It's slightly larger. It's like a butcher knife. Not quite --

GLENN: So a butcher knife. Okay.

You don't see the difference here?

Besides the size. Oh, my gosh.

STU: What's the -- it looks like --

GLENN: What is this?

STU: That's like a butcher knife.

GLENN: That's a butcher knife, right?

STU: That's a butcher knife. Regular butcher knife, right?

STU: Yes.

GLENN: Does it make you afraid.

STU: No, we have them --

GLENN: What's this?

STU: Basically a butcher knife. I don't know the exact at the table term of that knife.

GLENN: But it makes you afraid?

STU: No.

GLENN: Yes, it does.

STU: It does?

GLENN: This one is spray-painted black. (?) this is a tabling knife. This is a steak knife. This doesn't make you afraid. This doesn't make you afraid. But I spray pained this one black, so it's now a tactical knife.

Don't you --

STU: But would they all be sharp and dangerous and stab you in the same --

GLENN: Yeah, but this one is more frightening.

STU: Okay.

GLENN: I come at you with this.

STU: Oh, that's just a normal silver knife.

GLENN: He's just going to come at me and maybe we're going to butcher some meat together. I believe at you with this, (?), but I come at you with this, and you know I have deadly intent.

STU: That's true.

GLENN: And I'm a serial killer.

STU: Right. Because it's painted.

GLENN: It's pained black.

STU: Okay. Now I'm getting it. (?)

GLENN: Good. We need to put the tactical knife. I was thinking, if we put -- except, I don't like the look of the tactical (?)

STU: It's just silver.

GLENN: No, it's just silver.

STU: That part is just scary.

GLENN: That part is scary. If I came (?) then you would be terrified.

STU: But you had the barrel.

GLENN: As soon as I put the barrel, and you see it's silver, you're like --

STU: It's not a big deal. By the way, that is essentially the subscription of the new Feinstein bill. It's basically her new (?) is it a black weapon? Then it must be banned.

GLENN: Wow. Racist. Listen to the racism.

STU: That's typical progressives.

GLENN: Hey, can I have some of that duct tape. Because I'm going to show you here at home, if you happen to be listening, you can go to TheBlaze TV and capture this sometimes later today, in case you want to make some of this yourself. But I'll try to be very descriptive on radio. But, again, if you can't follow this, and you want to get this exactly right --

STU: And we're getting this live on Facebook. Stu Burguiere on Facebook. (?) you can see this happen.

GLENN: You take a Smith & Wesson here. Okay? Regular Smith and resin. Because I can carry this. I'm going to show you how to make a concealed weapon with an at home attachment to make it a little more sick.

STU: Oh, my gosh. And this is legal, right?

GLENN: Oh, this is totally legal. Totally legal.

STU: Because the NRA. The freaking NRA.

GLENN: We'll do that just a second. (?)

STU: No, it's just silver.

GLENN: We'll go through all this. Because I'm an NRA member. And I know. And we'll also show you the finished product of the real chain saw AR coming up in a second.

A Sharia enclave is quietly taking root in America. It's time to wake up.

NOVA SAFO / Staff | Getty Images

Sharia-based projects like the Meadow in Texas show how political Islam grows quietly, counting on Americans to stay silent while an incompatible legal system takes root.

Apolitical system completely incompatible with the Constitution is gaining ground in the United States, and we are pretending it is not happening.

Sharia — the legal and political framework of Islam — is being woven into developments, institutions, and neighborhoods, including a massive project in Texas. And the consequences will be enormous if we continue to look the other way.

This is the contradiction at the heart of political Islam: It claims universal authority while insisting its harshest rules will never be enforced here. That promise does not stand up to scrutiny. It never has.

Before we can have an honest debate, we’d better understand what Sharia represents. Sharia is not simply a set of religious rules about prayer or diet. It is a comprehensive legal and political structure that governs marriage, finance, criminal penalties, and civic life. It is a parallel system that claims supremacy wherever it takes hold.

This is where the distinction matters. Many Muslims in America want nothing to do with Sharia governance. They came here precisely because they lived under it. But political Islam — the movement that seeks to implement Sharia as law — is not the same as personal religious belief.

It is a political ideology with global ambitions, much like communism. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently warned that Islamist movements do not seek peaceful coexistence with the West. They seek dominance. History backs him up.

How Sharia arrives

Political Islam does not begin with dramatic declarations. It starts quietly, through enclaves that operate by their own rules. That is why the development once called EPIC City — now rebranded as the Meadow — is so concerning. Early plans framed it as a Muslim-only community built around a mega-mosque and governed by Sharia-compliant financing. After state investigations were conducted, the branding changed, but the underlying intent remained the same.

Developers have openly described practices designed to keep non-Muslims out, using fees and ownership structures to create de facto religious exclusivity. This is not assimilation. It is the construction of a parallel society within a constitutional republic.

The warning from those who have lived under it

Years ago, local imams in Texas told me, without hesitation, that certain Sharia punishments “just work.” They spoke about cutting off hands for theft, stoning adulterers, and maintaining separate standards of testimony for men and women. They insisted it was logical and effective while insisting they would never attempt to implement it in Texas.

But when pressed, they could not explain why a system they consider divinely mandated would suddenly stop applying once someone crossed a border.

This is the contradiction at the heart of political Islam: It claims universal authority while insisting its harshest rules will never be enforced here. That promise does not stand up to scrutiny. It never has.

AASHISH KIPHAYET / Contributor | Getty Images

America is vulnerable

Europe is already showing us where this road leads. No-go zones, parallel courts, political intimidation, and clerics preaching supremacy have taken root across major cities.

America’s strength has always come from its melting pot, but assimilation requires boundaries. It requires insisting that the Constitution, not religious law, is the supreme authority on this soil.

Yet we are becoming complacent, even fearful, about saying so. We mistake silence for tolerance. We mistake avoidance for fairness. Meanwhile, political Islam views this hesitation as weakness.

Religious freedom is one of America’s greatest gifts. Muslims may worship freely here, as they should. But political Islam must not be permitted to plant a flag on American soil. The Constitution cannot coexist with a system that denies equal rights, restricts speech, subordinates women, and places clerical authority above civil law.

Wake up before it is too late

Projects like the Meadow are not isolated. They are test runs, footholds, proofs of concept. Political Islam operates with patience. It advances through demographic growth, legal ambiguity, and cultural hesitation — and it counts on Americans being too polite, too distracted, or too afraid to confront it.

We cannot afford that luxury. If we fail to defend the principles that make this country free, we will one day find ourselves asking how a parallel system gained power right in front of us. The answer will be simple: We looked away.

The time to draw boundaries and to speak honestly is now. The time to defend the Constitution as the supreme law of the land is now. Act while there is still time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

The Crisis of Meaning: Searching for truth and purpose

Mario Tama / Staff | Getty Images

Anxiety, anger, and chronic dissatisfaction signal a country searching for meaning. Without truth and purpose, politics becomes a dangerous substitute for identity.

We have built a world overflowing with noise, convenience, and endless choice, yet something essential has slipped out of reach. You can sense it in the restless mood of the country, the anxiety among young people who cannot explain why they feel empty, in the angry confusion that dominates our politics.

We have more wealth than any nation in history, but the heart of the culture feels strangely malnourished. Before we can debate debt or elections, we must confront the reality that we created a world of things, but not a world of purpose.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

What we are living through is not just economic or political dysfunction. It is the vacuum that appears when a civilization mistakes abundance for meaning.

Modern life is stuffed with everything except what the human soul actually needs. We built systems to make life faster, easier, and more efficient — and then wondered why those systems cannot teach our children who they are, why they matter, or what is worth living for.

We tell the next generation to chase success, influence, and wealth, turning childhood into branding. We ask kids what they want to do, not who they want to be. We build a world wired for dopamine rather than dignity, and then we wonder why so many people feel unmoored.

When everything is curated, optimized, and delivered at the push of a button, the question “what is my life for?” gets lost in the static.

The crisis beneath the headlines

It is not just the young who feel this crisis. Every part of our society is straining under the weight of meaninglessness.

Look at the debt cycle — the mathematical fate no civilization has ever escaped once it crosses a threshold that we seem to have already blown by. While ordinary families feel the pressure, our leaders respond with distraction, with denial, or by rewriting the very history that could have warned us.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

We have entered a cultural moment where the noise is so loud that it drowns out the simplest truths. We are living in a country that no longer knows how to hear itself think.

So people go searching. Some drift toward the false promise of socialism, some toward the empty thrill of rebellion. Some simply check out. When a culture forgets what gives life meaning, it becomes vulnerable to every ideology that offers a quick answer.

The quiet return of meaning

And yet, quietly, something else is happening. Beneath the frustration and cynicism, many Americans are recognizing that meaning does not come from what we own, but from what we honor. It does not rise from success, but from virtue. It does not emerge from noise, but from the small, sacred things that modern life has pushed to the margins — the home, the table, the duty you fulfill, the person you help when no one is watching.

The danger is assuming that this rediscovery happens on its own. It does not.

Reorientation requires intention. It requires rebuilding the habits and virtues that once held us together. It requires telling the truth about our history instead of rewriting it to fit today’s narratives. And it requires acknowledging what has been erased: that meaning is inseparable from God’s presence in a nation’s life.

Harold M. Lambert / Contributor | Getty Images

Where renewal begins

We have built a world without stillness, and then we wondered why no one can hear the questions that matter. Those questions remain, whether we acknowledge them or not. They do not disappear just because we drown them in entertainment or noise. They wait for us, and the longer we ignore them, the more disoriented we become.

Meaning is still available. It is found in rebuilding the smallest, most human spaces — the places that cannot be digitized, globalized, or automated. The home. The family. The community.

These are the daily virtues that do not trend on social media, but that hold a civilization upright. If we want to repair this country, we begin there, exactly where every durable civilization has always begun: one virtue at a time, one tradition at a time, one generation at a time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

A break in trust: A NEW Watergate is brewing in plain sight

Gary Hershorn / Contributor | Getty Images

When institutions betray the public’s trust, the country splits, and the spiral is hard to stop.

Something drastic is happening in American life. Headlines that should leave us stunned barely register anymore. Stories that once would have united the country instead dissolve into silence or shrugs.

It is not apathy exactly. It is something deeper — a growing belief that the people in charge either cannot or will not fix what is broken.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf.

I call this response the Bubba effect. It describes what happens when institutions lose so much public trust that “Bubba,” the average American minding his own business, finally throws his hands up and says, “Fine. I will handle it myself.” Not because he wants to, but because the system that was supposed to protect him now feels indifferent, corrupt, or openly hostile.

The Bubba effect is not a political movement. It is a survival instinct.

What triggers the Bubba effect

We are watching the triggers unfold in real time. When members of Congress publicly encourage active duty troops to disregard orders from the commander in chief, that is not a political squabble. When a federal judge quietly rewrites the rules so one branch of government can secretly surveil another, that is not normal. That is how republics fall. Yet these stories glided across the news cycle without urgency, without consequence, without explanation.

When the American people see the leadership class shrug, they conclude — correctly — that no one is steering the ship.

This is how the Bubba effect spreads. It is not just individuals resisting authority. It is sheriffs refusing to enforce new policies, school boards ignoring state mandates, entire communities saying, “We do not believe you anymore.” It becomes institutional, cultural, national.

A country cracking from the inside

This effect can be seen in Dearborn, Michigan. In the rise of fringe voices like Nick Fuentes. In the Epstein scandal, where powerful people could not seem to locate a single accountable adult. These stories are different in content but identical in message: The system protects itself, not you.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf. That does not mean they suddenly agree with everything that person says. It means they feel abandoned by the institutions that were supposed to be trustworthy.

The Bubba effect is what fills that vacuum.

The dangers of a faithless system

A republic cannot survive without credibility. Congress cannot oversee intelligence agencies if it refuses to discipline its own members. The military cannot remain apolitical if its chain of command becomes optional. The judiciary cannot defend the Constitution while inventing loopholes that erase the separation of powers.

History shows that once a nation militarizes politics, normalizes constitutional shortcuts, or allows government agencies to operate without scrutiny, it does not return to equilibrium peacefully. Something will give.

The question is what — and when.

The responsibility now belongs to us

In a healthy country, this is where the media steps in. This is where universities, pastors, journalists, and cultural leaders pause the outrage machine and explain what is at stake. But today, too many see themselves not as guardians of the republic, but of ideology. Their first loyalty is to narrative, not truth.

The founders never trusted the press more than the public. They trusted citizens who understood their rights, lived their responsibilities, and demanded accountability. That is the antidote to the Bubba effect — not rage, but citizenship.

How to respond without breaking ourselves

Do not riot. Do not withdraw. Do not cheer on destruction just because you dislike the target. That is how nations lose themselves. Instead, demand transparency. Call your representatives. Insist on consequences. Refuse to normalize constitutional violations simply because “everyone does it.” If you expect nothing, you will get nothing.

Do not hand your voice to the loudest warrior simply because he is swinging a bat at the establishment. You do not beat corruption by joining a different version of it. You beat it by modeling the country you want to preserve: principled, accountable, rooted in truth.

Adam Gray / Stringer | Getty Images

Every republic reaches a moment when historians will later say, “That was the warning.” We are living in ours. But warnings are gifts if they are recognized. Institutions bend. People fail. The Constitution can recover — if enough Americans still know and cherish it.

It does not take a majority. Twenty percent of the country — awake, educated, and courageous — can reset the system. It has happened before. It can happen again.

Wake up. Stand up. Demand integrity — from leaders, from institutions, and from yourself. Because the Bubba effect will not end until Americans reclaim the duty that has always belonged to them: preserving the republic for the next generation.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Grim warning: Bad-faith Israel critics duck REAL questions

Spencer Platt / Staff | Getty Images

Bad-faith attacks on Israel and AIPAC warp every debate. Real answers emerge only when people set aside scripts and ask what serves America’s long-term interests.

The search for truth has always required something very much in short supply these days: honesty. Not performative questions, not scripted outrage, not whatever happens to be trending on TikTok, but real curiosity.

Some issues, often focused on foreign aid, AIPAC, or Israel, have become hotbeds of debate and disagreement. Before we jump into those debates, however, we must return to a simpler, more important issue: honest questioning. Without it, nothing in these debates matters.

Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

The phrase “just asking questions” has re-entered the zeitgeist, and that’s fine. We should always question power. But too many of those questions feel preloaded with someone else’s answer. If the goal is truth, then the questions should come from a sincere desire to understand, not from a hunt for a villain.

Honest desire for truth is the only foundation that can support a real conversation about these issues.

Truth-seeking is real work

Right now, plenty of people are not seeking the truth at all. They are repeating something they heard from a politician on cable news or from a stranger on TikTok who has never opened a history book. That is not a search for answers. That is simply outsourcing your own thought.

If you want the truth, you need to work for it. You cannot treat the world like a Marvel movie where the good guy appears in a cape and the villain hisses on command. Real life does not give you a neat script with the moral wrapped up in two hours.

But that is how people are approaching politics now. They want the oppressed and the oppressor, the heroic underdog and the cartoon villain. They embrace this fantastical framing because it is easier than wrestling with reality.

This framing took root in the 1960s when the left rebuilt its worldview around colonizers and the colonized. Overnight, Zionism was recast as imperialism. Suddenly, every conflict had to fit the same script. Today’s young activists are just recycling the same narrative with updated graphics. Everything becomes a morality play. No nuance, no context, just the comforting clarity of heroes and villains.

Bad-faith questions

This same mindset is fueling the sudden obsession with Israel, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in particular. You hear it from members of Congress and activists alike: AIPAC pulls the strings, AIPAC controls the government, AIPAC should register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The questions are dramatic, but are they being asked in good faith?

FARA is clear. The standard is whether an individual or group acts under the direction or control of a foreign government. AIPAC simply does not qualify.

Here is a detail conveniently left out of these arguments: Dozens of domestic organizations — Armenian, Cuban, Irish, Turkish — lobby Congress on behalf of other countries. None of them registers under FARA because — like AIPAC — they are independent, domestic organizations.

If someone has a sincere problem with the structure of foreign lobbying, fair enough. Let us have that conversation. But singling out AIPAC alone is not a search for truth. It is bias dressed up as bravery.

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

If someone wants to question foreign aid to Israel, fine. Let’s have that debate. But let’s ask the right questions. The issue is not the size of the package but whether the aid advances our interests. What does the United States gain? Does the investment strengthen our position in the region? How does it compare to what we give other nations? And do we examine those countries with the same intensity?

The real target

These questions reflect good-faith scrutiny. But narrowing the entire argument to one country or one dollar amount misses the larger problem. If someone objects to the way America handles foreign aid, the target is not Israel. The target is the system itself — an entrenched bureaucracy, poor transparency, and decades-old commitments that have never been re-examined. Those problems run through programs around the world.

If you want answers, you need to broaden the lens. You have to be willing to put aside the movie script and confront reality. You have to hold yourself to a simple rule: Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

That is the only way this country ever gets clarity on foreign aid, influence, alliances, and our place in the world. Questioning is not just allowed. It is essential. But only if it is honest.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.