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NRA: Guns Should be Subsidized By Government, Like Healthcare (Video)

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One NRA representative is calling for guns to be mandatory, treated “as a need” and subsidized by the government — just like healthcare.

The NRA, contrary to how they portray themselves, is actually the world’s largest gun manufacturers’ lobbying group. The fact that they can and do boast they have 4.3 million members is a smokescreen for their larger agenda: ginning up fear to increase sales of firearms. And the NRA has been exceptionally successful at achieving this goal, by creating the false narrative that President Barack Obama is going to take away everyone’s guns, by claiming that he’s a socialist, and more recently, by perpetuating the lie that the “only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun.”

Looking at that sentence, it doesn’t make sense — not even grammatically.

But nothing the NRA does really makes sense.

This is what a Glock looks like:

glock.jpg

 

This is what an AR-15 looks like:

 ar15.jpg

In the 21st century, aside from the few among us who still hunt for food, or work in law enforcement, do most Americans need guns?

If a resident of New York City or Los Angeles or Minneapolis or Hartford or Seattle were to walk around with a Glock strapped to their waist or an AR-15 strapped to their back, people would not only think they were crazy, and up to no good, they would likely call the police. 

When members of a right-wing open-carry group decided to thank Starbucks for not banning guns, by hanging out in Starbucks with their guns and rifles, Starbucks issued a statement asking customers to not bring guns into their restaurants. The exact same thing happened at Target and Chipotle. Whole Foods, Peet’s Coffee, AMC Theaters, California Pizza Kitchen, Toys R Us, and Disney World and Disney Land have all requested customers leave their guns at home.

This week, the NRA issued a video as part of its NRA News Commenters project — people the NRA supports but who technically are not official spokespersons for the NRA, allowing them to project wild and ridiculous ideas the NRA likes but doesn’t want to take heat for.

“Everyone Gets a Gun” is the name of the video. In it, NRA News commenter Billy Johnson espouses the gun-lovers’ ideal that, yes, everyone should have to have a gun, that having a gun is a “need,” not a want, and that guns, like healthcare and education, should be subsidized.

Think about that for a moment. Aside from things that cause disease, like cigarettes or stress, what could be more diametrically opposed to healthcare than guns? 

Now, who would think this is a great idea? Maybe, people who have a financial interest in selling more guns? Maybe people who make guns? Maybe the world’s biggest lobbyist for gun manufacturers?

Yes, the NRA likes this idea very much.

Johnson asks, “what would happen if we designed gun policy from the assumption that people need guns — that guns make people’s lives better?” 

He says that instead of gun free zones there should be “gun-required zones,” and wants schools to require gun proficiency as a prerequisite to advancing to the next grade — or graduating. Of course, the NRA would be happy to teach every student in America how to use a gun — probably at the taxpayers’ expense, but they probably would be happy to work out a deal.

“As a country we have an education policy,” Johnson says in this NRA video. “Imagine if that policy was about limiting who has access to public education. I mean, let’s be honest, the danger in educating people to think is that they might actually start to think for themselves. Perhaps we should think seriously about who we give access to knowledge. They could use it to do a lot of damage.”

“We don’t have a U.S. gun policy. We have a U.S. anti-gun policy,” Johnson laments. “Gun policy driven by people’s need for guns would seek to encourage people to keep and bear arms at all times. Maybe it would even reward those who do so. What if instead of gun free-zones we had gun-required zones?”

Pity Oprah isn’t doing her show anymore. If the NRA had their way, “And you get a gun, and you get a gun, and you get a gun…” at least, in an alternate universe, might be what people remember her for.

“Just like we teach them reading and writing, necessary skills. We would teach shooting and firearm competency,” the NRA commenter continues. “It wouldn’t matter if a child’s parents weren’t good at it. We’d find them a mentor. It wouldn’t matter if they didn’t want to learn. We would make it necessary to advance to the next grade.”

A gun “mentor.” Doesn’t that sound all warm and fuzzy?

“I mean, perhaps we would have government ranges where you could shoot for free or a yearly allotment of free ammunition,” Johnson proposes. “Gun policy, driven by our need for guns would protect equal access to guns, just like we protect equal access to voting, and due process, and free speech.”

Watch:

 

Previously at The New Civil Rights Movement:

Racists More Likely To Have Guns At Home — More Racist, More Likely, Study Shows

Anti-Gun Is The Same As Anti-Gay, Says NRA News Commentator

On Gun Appreciation Day: 79 People Shot, Including 32 Killed, All With Guns

Look: 40 Pictures Of How Gun Freaks Celebrated ‘Gun Appreciation Day’

5 People Accidentally Shot At Gun Appreciation Day Events Probably Less Appreciative

 

 

Transcript via The Raw Story.
Hat tip: Eric Dolan and Gawker

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News

Fox News Host Suggests Trump ‘Force’ Court to Throw Him in Jail – by Quoting Him

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5 hours ago

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April 19, 2024

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The Fox News host who targeted a juror serving on Donald Trump’s criminal New York trial is now suggesting the ex-president should violate his gag order and “force” the court to throw him in jail, by quoting the Fox News host.

Jesse Watters came under fire earlier this week for profiling juror number two, sharing possibly identifying information published by a myriad of reporters but then using that information to pass judgment on her ability to serve.

“I’m not so sure about juror number two,” Watters concluded on Fox News.

Jurors, at the judge’s direction, were to remain anonymous, for their protection and the protection of the trial.

The judge excused her, after she said she felt she was not able to be impartial because friends and family were calling her asking if she had been chosen to serve on the Trump trial, after the media blitz.

New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan admonished the press for reporting the information, but some news outlets appeared to ignore his warning.

Watters on Wednesday “did a segment with a jury consultant, revealing details about people who had been seated on the jury and questioning whether some were ‘stealth liberals’ who would be out to convict Trump,” the Associated Press reported.

READ MORE: Gaetz: ‘Corrupt’ Republicans Could ‘Take a Bribe’ and Throw House to Dems, Blocking Trump Run

Trump later posted Watters’ quote on his Truth Social platform, leading some, including New York prosecutors, to ask the judge to cite him for allegedly breaking his gag order.

Judge Merchan ordered Trump to not mention witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, court staff, or the family members of prosecutors and court staff, CNN has reported.

New York prosecutors told Juge Merchan Trump has violated the gag order at least ten times.

“Prosecutor Christopher Conroy described the ‘most disturbing’ example as a social media message Trump posted on Wednesday evening quoting a Fox News host as saying, ‘They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury,'” Politico reports.

That host was Jesse Watters.

RELATED: ‘Afraid and Intimidated’: Trump Trial Juror Targeted by Fox News Dismissed

Friday afternoon, Watters appeared to egg Trump on, urging the ex-president to violate the gag order.

“I would make them put me in jail,” Watters said on Fox News. “I would have a tweet about something perhaps I said on ‘The Five’ or ‘Jesse Watters Primetime,’ and I would force them to throw me in jail.”

Watch Watters’ remark below or at this link.

 

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News

Gaetz: ‘Corrupt’ Republicans Could ‘Take a Bribe’ and Throw House to Dems, Blocking Trump Run

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7 hours ago

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April 19, 2024

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U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) says some of his fellow House Republicans would “take a bribe” to throw the razor-thin GOP majority to the Democrats if a far-right faction calls up a motion to oust Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, allowing Democrats to hand the gavel to the Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries. he warned if that happens, Democrats would immediately declare Trump ineligible to be President, pack the U.S. Supreme Court, and pass numerous laws like the American Rescue Plan.

“I do believe in a one seat majority there could be one or two or three of my colleagues who would take a bribe in one form or another in order to deprive the Republicans of a majority at all,” Gaetz said Friday on his podcast (video below.)

He added, “the risk that one or two of my corrupt Republican colleagues might take a bribe, take a walk, feign an ailment and flip this thing to the Democrats is a risk that is too high for me at this time.”

Gaetz’s fellow far-right Florida Republican member of Congress, Anna Paulina Luna, told listeners, “I heard that when, if and when the motion vacate is introduced, that there will be immediate resignations of a couple of more moderate members of Congress. And in the event that that happens, that ultimately means it does go to a Democrat speaker.”

RELATED: Jeffries Vows Democrats Will Ensure Ukraine Aid Passes as Johnson Defectors Grow

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) last month filed a “motion to vacate,” which she can use at any time to force a vote to oust the GOP Speaker, Mike Johnson. U.S. Rep. Tim Massie (R-KY) and just today, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) has signed on as co-sponsors.

Congressman Gaetz told listeners if Democrats do take the House through a force vote to remove Johnson, Democrats would “be declaring Donald Trump an insurrectionist and setting up a barrier to him being able to become the president United States.”

“That’ll be their leadoff hitter, and then the chaser to that shot will be a massive spending package that looks a lot more like the American Rescue Plan. They will blow past every concept of every cap ever imagined. You’ll be looking at Universal Basic Income, you could be looking at packing the Supreme Court.”

Watch a short clip of Gaetz’s remarks below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Stop Bringing Up Nazis and Hitler’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Smacked Down by Democrats

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News

Jeffries Vows Democrats Will Ensure Ukraine Aid Passes as Johnson Defectors Grow

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10 hours ago

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April 19, 2024

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Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries vowed Friday the majority of Democrats will support Republicans’ Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and Gaza foreign aid legislation as Republican Speaker Mike Johnson lost support of another member of his conference to a faction determined to oust him.

“Democrats will provide a majority of our majority as it relates to funding Israel, humanitarian assistance, Ukraine, and our allies in the Indo Pacific,” Minority Leader Jeffries said. “It remains to be seen what Republicans will do in terms of meeting the national security needs of the American people, but it was important for House Democrats to ensure that the national security bills are going to be considered.”

Despite Republicans having a one-vote majority, more Democrats on Friday voted to move the critical and long-awaited foreign aid bills forward than did Republicans.

READ MORE: ‘Stop Bringing Up Nazis and Hitler’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Smacked Down by Democrats

The 316-94 vote included 165 Democrats and 151 Republicans voting yes, and 55 Republicans and 39 Democrats voting no.

Axios’ Juliegrace Brufke posted the list of Republicans voting against their party’s legislation.

Calling it a “rare” moment in modern congressional history to have to rely on opposition party votes to pass legislation, BBC News reports Speaker Johnson’s “hold on power is tenuous, and the legislators who oppose him – and his bid to provide aid to Ukraine – occupy some key positions within the House’s power structure.”

Amid the procedural vote to move the foreign aid funding bills forward, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, a far-right Republican of Arizona, announced he is joining Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and Congressman Tim Massie (R-KY) in formally announcing their will vote to oust Speaker Johnson.

Gosar, like Greene, is reportedly a Christian nationalist. In 2022 CNN reported his “lengthy ties to White nationalists, [a] pro-Nazi blogger and far-right fringe received little pushback for years.”

RELATED: ‘Repercussions’: Democrats and Republicans Stand Against ‘Pro-Putin’ House GOP Faction

“We’ve been very honest in our assessment of the situation from the beginning,” Jeffries on Friday also declared. “At the appropriate time as House Democrats, we will have a conversation about how to deal with any hypothetical motion to vacate.”

“Moscow Marjorie Taylor Greene, Massie, and Gosar are quite a group. But central to our conversation is to make sure that the national security legislation in totality is passed by the House of Representatives.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

 

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