GA-Sen B: Jezebel, “NRA Queen Apparently Doesn't Think The Second Amendment Applies to Black People”
From Ashley Reese at Jezebel:
Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler—who rose to national prominence after being implicated in an alleged covid-19 insider trading clusterfuck—has a fast and loose definition of who the second amendment applies to, despite presenting herself as a gun rights champion. And she made this loud and clear during a hilariously racist Fox News segment Thursday morning.
During the interview, Fox News host Ed Henry noted that “it isn’t every day you see people carrying long guns on the streets of America” as images of Black protesters carrying rifles—terror porn for Fox News viewers—popped up next to him. “What is happening on the streets of America this morning?”
“Well, Ed, this is totally unacceptable, we cannot allow mob rule,” Loeffler replied, as more scary images of Black people holding guns appeared next to her. “We’re a nation of the rule of law, and this is exactly what will happen if we defund the police, and this is exactly what the Democrats want to do. They have a move to defund, to dismantle law enforcement.”The images Fox News showed were of armed Black protesters at the Atlanta Wendy’s where Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed by police on June 12. A legally few armed Black people at a Wendys in an open carry state is clearly not mob rule. And this wouldn’t alarm a single Fox News personality or Republican politician if the individuals involved were white right-wingers or a group of armed anti-covid-19 lockdown protesters storming the Michigan state Capitol. Loeffler didn’t bother deriding those protesters, and neither, for that matter, did Fox News.
She even called the protestors “mob rule”:
In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Loeffler said Black Americans in Atlanta who are openly carrying guns while protesting the death of Rayshard Brooks at the hands of police were an example of “mob rule.”
The “mob” she is referring to are armed protesters who have gathered around the area of the Wendy's restaurant where Brooks was killed before it was burned down.
On her own website, Loeffler boasts about being a champion of the Second Amendment. In a post that makes sure to note that she's “pro-gun,” her campaign boasts of her co-sponsoring three congressional bills that would make it easier for Americans to carry concealed handguns across state lines for self-defense, purchase noise suppressors and avoid “having their Second Amendment rights unfairly infringed by the federal government without due process.”
The conservative Washington Free Beacon was just bragging this week about how Loeffler was looking out for gun owners rights:
Georgia senator Kelly Loeffler (R.) introduced on Tuesday a Second Amendment rights bill that would safeguard the privacy of gun owners.
Loeffler's bill, the Gun Owner Privacy Act, would ban the use of federal funds to store personal information collected during background checks attached to gun purchases. Federal agencies are already barred from creating a database of gun owners, but the legislation will give citizens recourse for any infringements on their privacy. While the law would not apply to Americans who fail background checks, those whose records are illegally stored will be able to sue agencies in federal court and collect damages.
Loeffler also introduced a resolution condemning what she said were “laws that unduly inhibit and infringe upon the rights of a law-abiding individual to carry a firearm outside of the home.” The resolution attacks limits on gun-carry permits as “unlawful infringements of the rights granted by the Second Amendment.“ She called on the legislature to step up to protect gun rights.
“The Second Amendment is our Founding Fathers' reaffirmation of our natural God-given right to defend life, liberty and property,” Loeffler said in a statement first obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. “Law-abiding citizens should be free to exercise their Second Amendment rights without overly intrusive government regulation.”
A leading national conservative group, the American Conservative Union, is endorsing Republican Rep. Doug Collins in his bid to unseat Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler in the Georgia Senate special election.
ACU Chairman Matt Schlapp told McClatchy in an interview that Collins’ history of support for conservative principles and Loeffler’s pandemic stock sales were factors in the endorsement.
Schlapp said that Collins’ defense of President Donald Trump during his impeachment trial and concerns that Democrats will use the procedure to try to remove Trump from office again also played heavily in the group’s decision-making.
“This is not a time for a rookie. This is a time for somebody who’s ready for the fight,” Schlapp said.
The endorsement provides a needed boost to Collins after months of curtailed campaigning due to the spread of the coronavirus. While it is largely symbolic, and does not come with any money attached, the endorsement from the group that puts on the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) will send a signal to the group’s activists that they should give their financial support to Collins.
But Loeffler just proved this classic College Humor sketch to be so accurate:
Even the Libertarian magazine, Reason.com, had to call out Loeffler’s hypocrisy:
Hannity, Fox, and Loeffler all represented this as evidence of the dangers of defunding police. Indeed, one young man with a gun (who seemed perfectly polite and respectful) told Fox he was carrying a 12-gauge shotgun because he didn't believe police officers would protect him, adding that cops were not going to be “allowed” in this space. Asked what he'd do if police rolled up and ordered him to drop his weapon, the man insisted he had the legal right under the Second Amendment of the Constitution to bear arms: “And at no point will I allow my right to be disturbed.” Good for him!
Carrying long guns in public is legal in Georgia, by the way (with exceptions for a few places like courts and schools). Fox does not actually accuse any of these men of breaking any laws. But they clearly intend viewers to see these men as a threat—and not just because they have put up barricades and hope to shut out the police, but because they're bearing arms. By contrast, when a predominantly white group of protesters showed up at Michigan's capitol in April to protest the state's COVID-19 rules, Fox's coverage was reasonably neutral and factual, giving voice to critics but pointing out that guns were legally allowed in the state Capitol building.
Loeffler isn't just a hypocrite about gun rights. She's trying to undermine another value conservatives are supposed to believe in: federalism. The senator is introducing legislation that would reduce federal transportation funding from states and municipalities that cut funding to law enforcement, unless they can show a “clear budgetary need.” The idea that the states and cities should have to get permission from the U.S. government to make a budget decision is, of course, absolutely anathema to local rule. It's up to a community's citizens to determine how much money their police department should receive—not the U.S. Senate or the Department of Transportation.
We really need to get rid of this racist hypocrite and replace her with a Reverend for the people. I received this e-mail today from Stacey Abrams in support of Rev. Raphael Warnock’s (D. GA) U.S. Senate campaign:
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