https://youtu.be/XtGOQFf9VCE
A new recruitment ad by the National Rifle Association has angered gun control advocates and gun defenders alike, leading critics on both sides to denounce the pro-gun organization for its incendiary message and implied call to violence against members of the Trump “resistance.”
In the minute-long clip, released earlier this month, conservative media personality and NRA spokeswomen Dana Loesch describes anti-Trump demonstrations as pure “madness” filled with people who “smash windows, burn cars [and] shut down interstates.”
“They use their media to assassinate real news,” Loesch says. “They use their schools to teach children that their president is another Hitler. They use their movie stars and singers and comedy shows and award shows to repeat their narrative over and over again. And then they use their ex-president to endorse the resistance.”
“All to make them march,” she continues, “make them protest, make them scream racism and sexism and xenophobia and homophobia.”
The “TheBlaze” commentator goes on to accuse anti-Trump progressives of bullying and terrorizing “the law-abiding until the only option left is for police to do their jobs.” Then, Loesch says protesters will use the heavy-handed police response as an “excuse” for their outrage.
“The only way we stop this, the only way we save our country and our freedom, is to fight this violence of lies with the clenched fist of truth,” she concludes. “I am the National Rifle Association of America, and I’m freedom’s safest place.”
The inflammatory ad spurred a swift reaction from critics on social media, leading them to launch a petition urging Facebook to delete the video, the Huffington Post reported. So far, the online petition has garnered more than 8,000 signatures.
“The National Rifle Association has released a truly frightening recruitment video, pitting gun owners against anyone who stands against the [President Donald Trump] and his hateful ideals,” the document reads. “While the video never explicitly calls for violence, the implication is clear. It is a rallying cry.”
Others took to Twitter to denounce the NRA’s call for violence.
This new NRA ad is barely a whisper shy of a call for full civil war. https://t.co/N33s2KyvVz
— Jeff Sharlet (@JeffSharlet) June 28, 2017
This NRA ad is like a hybrid of George Orwell's nightmares and Joseph Goebbels' dreams. And you thought North Korean propaganda was insane. pic.twitter.com/yMUqpaTMVi
— Torraine Walker (@TorraineWalker) June 29, 2017
https://twitter.com/justinhendrix/status/880389163039719424
The new @NRA ad is disgusting and treasonous. You people are the problem, not the solution. I'm ashamed to be a gun owner after seeing this.
— BillyBillBlack (@BillyBillBlack) June 29, 2017
https://twitter.com/fivefifths/status/880418101829001217
In a Periscope video posted Wednesday night, Loesch doubled down on her subversive message in the ad, saying, “the language of the left is violence” and calling “these people … the dullest crayons in the box.”
