A GOP congressional candidate from Arizona released a campaign ad vowing to support the Second Amendment in order to defend against “Democrats in Klan hoods” with an AR-15.
Former NFL running back Jerone Davison — who is vying to represent Arizona’s 4th Congressional District — released the ad with a tweet that said “Make Rifles Great Again” on Wednesday.
“Democrats like to say that no one needs an AR-15 for self-defense,” Davison is heard saying in the thirty-second video. “That no one could possibly need all 30 rounds.
“But when this rifle is the only thing standing between your family and a dozen angry Democrats in Klan hoods, you just might need that semi-automatic and all 30 rounds.”
The ad frequently cuts to several people dressed in white hoods and white robes with a Donkey printed on the front.
At one point, the large group is seen charging a residential home with rakes, hammers, axes, and bats while Davison waits at a window wearing sunglasses and holding a semi-automatic weapon.
The group runs away after Davison walks outside the home with the firearm and the advertisement ends with a still shot of a white hood sitting in water before cutting to the Republican looking off in the distance.
Davison’s case for AR-15’s to stay legal comes two days after a 22-year-old killed seven people and injured dozens more with an AR-15 at a Fourth of July parade in Illinois.
Since then, several Democratic lawmakers and gun-reform activists have reiterated their calls to ban purchases of semi-automatic weapons in the US.
While many Republicans immediately praised Davison’s video as “awesome” or the “best ad ever,” dozens of other social media users remained in shock over the inclusion of the Ku Klux Klan in order to tout the Second Amendment.
“Don’t know how to feel about this. What do you guys think?” wrote former Congressional candidate Barrington Martin II.
“After lying for years that it really was interested in minority outreach, the GOP establishment is about to get its minds blown by the fact new minorities coming to the party in spite of them are going to be even more radicalized than their typical white base,” BlazeTV host Steve Deace tweeted.
“Donald Trump’s presidency normalized hyperbole and absurdity in political advertising. And that alone may stand as his greatest contribution to the world,” wrote author Justin O’Donnell.
Davison, who played for the Sacramento Gold Miners in 1994 and Oakland Raiders from 1996 to 1997, is set to face off against Republicans Kelly Cooper, Dave Giles, Rene Lopez, and Tanya Wheeless in Arizona’s Aug. 2 primary.
It is not the first provoking campaign ad to be released in recent weeks by a Republican candidate as the GOP keeps its eye on taking back the majority in Congress.
On Tuesday, Missouri’s attorney general Eric Schmitt released a video of himself holding a blowtorch, vowing to burn President Biden’s “socialist agenda.”
“I think Joe Biden is a total disaster. That’s why I’m taking my blowtorch to his socialist agenda,” he said while lighting the torch.
“As your attorney general, I put a stop to Biden’s open border policies,” Schmitt goes on. “I sued to get rid of [Dr. Anthony] Fauci’s COVID mandates. And I stood with President [Donald] Trump to stop election fraud.
“In the Senate, I’ll turn the heat up on the Biden Democrats,” the ad concludes. “I approve this message because now’s the time to take our country back.”
Just two weeks prior, former Missouri governor and fellow Senate candidate Eric Greitens released an ad calling on primary voters to order a “RINO [Republican in name only] hunting permit.”
“I’m Eric Greitens, Navy Seal, and today we’re going RINO hunting,” Greitens says in the 38-second ad.
In the disturbing video, the Republican is seen holding a double-barreled rifle while being flanked by several men wearing tactical gear, holding a battering ram, a smoke bomb and what appear to be semi-automatic weapons.
“The RINO feeds on corruption and is marked by the stripes of cowardice,” Greitens says in the video before the group forces entry into an empty home.
“Join the MAGA crew, get a RINO hunting permit. There’s no bagging limit, no tagging limit and it doesn’t expire until we save our country,” he continued.
