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On 19 May 2016, the web site NewsClub published an article headlined Found in Hillary’s Recovered E-mails: Obama Plan to Seize Republican Guns! that purportedly revealed a furtive plot by the Obama administration to seize guns belonging to members and supporters of the Republican Party: The nature of social media sharing is such that users are often exposed only to headlines or partial snippets of articles. In this case, even readers who went so far as to scan the first few lines of the article text might have been left with the impression there was some legitimacy to the claim about a gun grab. However, this piece was just another example of a familiar strain of Election Day humor, jokes whose punchlines posit that a particular group of voters can be tricked into staying away from polling places by confusing them about the date of the election or positing some imaginary danger that might befall them if they turn out to cast their ballots. This version took the latter approach, warning Republicans that their legally-owned weapons might be confiscated from their homes if they didn't stay home to protect them on 8 November 2016 (i.e., election day): Comments left on NewsClub suggested many readers didn't get the jape and were taking the report at face value:
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