Connect with us

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

Published

on

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

There's a reason 10,000 people subscribe to NCRM. You can get the news before it breaks just by subscribing, plus you can learn something new every day.
Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

‘Did Not Rule Against Trump’s Tariffs’: Bessent Offers Alternative Interpretation

Published

on

Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent delivered an alternative interpretation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday that struck down the legal basis for the president’s sweeping global tariffs, which the justices ruled was an unlawful use of executive authority.

“President Trump will always put our national security and Americans first,” Bessent told the Economic Club of Dallas, as Mediaite reported.

“Let’s be clear about what today’s ruling was and what it wasn’t. Despite the misplaced gloating from Democrats, ill-informed media outlets, and the very people who gutted our industrial base — the court did not rule against President Trump’s tariffs,” Bessent insisted.

Rather, he continued, the six justices “simply ruled that IEEPA authorities cannot be used to raise even $1 of revenue.”

He vowed that the Trump administration would “invoke alternative legal authorities” to replace the vehicle used to collect tariffs, which he said would be “virtually” equal to the level that was previously being collected.

The Secretary, commenting on whether consumers will get refunds from the approximately $175 billion in tariffs already collected, also said, “I got a feeling the American people won’t see it.”

READ MORE: Bush-Era ‘Torture Memo’ Author Warns Trump to Stop Smearing SCOTUS Over Tariff Ruling

 

Image via Reuters 

Continue Reading

News

Bush-Era ‘Torture Memo’ Author Warns Trump to Stop Smearing SCOTUS Over Tariff Ruling

Published

on

A former Bush Justice Department official is warning President Donald Trump against smearing the U.S. Supreme Court after the justices delivered a highly anticipated ruling that struck down the legal foundation of his sweeping global tariffs — a major setback for his economic agenda.

“It’s my opinion that the court has been swayed by foreign interests and a political movement that is far smaller than people would ever think,” the president said on Friday, as the Guardian reported. Trump said he was “ashamed” of the six justices who sided with the majority opinion. “Absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country.”

“They’re just being fools and lapdogs for the Rinos [Republicans in name only] and the radical left Democrats, and not that they should have anything at all to do with it,” Trump added. “They’re very unpatriotic and disloyal to our constitution.”

John Yoo, the prominent Bush administration Deputy Assistant Attorney General known for writing what have been called the “torture memos,” appeared on Fox News on Friday and warned the president.

READ MORE: Donald Trump’s Very Bad Day

“I think President Trump would be wise to no longer call the justices somehow tools of foreign influence,” he said, reminding him that the Roberts Supreme Court has been giving him “a number of wins.”

Yoo also noted that, had he been at the DOJ under President Trump, he would have been “shuddering” when he heard him speak about the court as he did, “because President Trump has got a number of other big cases pending at the court, like whether it can fire the heads of independent commissions, whether it can fire a governor of the Federal Reserve Board, whether redistricting can go on.”

Even Fox News is telling Trump to pump the brakes on accusing SCOTUS of being controlled by foreign actors, reminding him he has other “big cases” before the court.

John Yoo: “I think President Trump would be wise to no longer call the justices somehow tools of foreign influence.”

[image or embed]

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona.bsky.social) February 20, 2026 at 2:31 PM


READ MORE: ‘Can’t Play Cute With Me’: Trump Tries to Spin Big-Power Snub of Peace Board
 

Image via Reuters 

 

Continue Reading

News

Epstein Files Scandal Is ‘Never Going to Go Away’: Carville

Published

on

Political commentator and strategist James Carville says the Epstein files scandal is not ever going to go away.

“It’s never gonna go away, and if you think about it, it can’t go away,” Carville told to Al Hunt on their Politicon podcast.

“What do you have?” he continued. “You have a really rich guy, filthy rich … with a glamorous woman who’s harvesting young women around the world. You got princes, and Ivy League professors, and politicians, and bankers, and sports organizers, and didn’t get all of that. And then you got a dead body.”

“And then you got secrecy everywhere, and it’s not going away 30 years from now. They’re gonna still be digging through that stuff. They lied about everything,” Carville said.

READ MORE: Donald Trump’s Very Bad Day

“There’s nothing you can say to make this go away,” he continued. “And there’s so much s — — we don’t know.”

“You know, I didn’t — I must say, six months ago, I did not think that the Epstein issue would still be with us, and certainly not with us through the 2026 campaign,” Hunt said. “I was wrong.”

“There are three reasons it’s not going away. Number one, the dissembling, by the White House, and its subsidiary, the Justice Department — there clearly is a cover up of some stuff,” he added.

“Two, Ro Khanna, a liberal Democrat, and Tom Massey, a conservative Republican, are leading the fight for full exposure. They have proven to be bulldogs, and they won’t give up,” Hunt said.

He added that the third reason the Epstein files are here to stay “is those victims, the women who have courageously spoken up against the sexual abuse trafficking of Epstein and his accomplice, Maxwell, won’t be silenced until the Justice Department ends this limited hangout approach.”

Hunt also pointed to “a headline in Wednesday’s Washington Post, quote, Epstein fallout rattles the globe. Many powerful people face consequences,” which he noted was “true in every place but the Trump administration.”

READ MORE: ‘Can’t Play Cute With Me’: Trump Tries to Spin Big-Power Snub of Peace Board

 

Image via Shutterstock

 

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.