The National Rifle Association released a new ad this week, accusing supporters of a ban on high-capacity magazines of pushing a hypocritical and elitist campaign that would only leave ordinary Americans unable to defend themselves against heavily armed threats.
“So they want to ban high-capacity magazines. Not for the security that surrounds the president, Congress, Mayor Bloomberg, rock stars, CEOs and wealthy big shots,” the narrator says.
As the animation shifts to a $20 bill plowing through a line of what appears to be cocaine, the narrator warns of impending danger.
“And the mad men, drug cartels and home-invading killers will still get them from the same black market that sells drugs, stolen cars and everything else that criminals buy,” he says. “It’s just the rest of us, the law-abiding average people, who will have to defend our families with limited-capacity magazines. Welcome to Barack Obama's middle class."
(Watch the video above)
The NRA's latest offering adopts the production style and tone of a highly controversial ad released by the group earlier this year. While this one notably leaves out mention of the president's children, after the previous spot drew derision from the White House and members of the NRA leadership, it makes the same general argument: that gun-control efforts are elitist, because they seek to ban equipment available for the protection of certain individuals, and that typical American families are under the near-constant threat of being attacked by criminals armed with heavy weaponry.
Opponents of bans on high-capacity magazines and assault weapons have made the latter claim frequently.
Earlier this week, it looked like the NRA's public relations team might be stepping back from this type of messaging. After hiring a new ad firm, the NRA released its first product this week, an online spot featuring chief lobbyist Chris Cox speaking into the camera about Obama's anti-gun violence proposals. Cox concluded that key aspects would lead to a national gun registry or widespread gun confiscation, but the White House later told Talking Points Memo that it had not endorsed such measures.
The new spot, which TPM reports is produced by the same ad firm responsible for the group's earlier ad about Obama's daughter's, marks a rapid return to the type of frantic pro-gun reasoning that has been made by high-profile members of the NRA leadership.
On Wednesday, NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre suggested that the group wouldn't be abandoning this mindset anytime soon, giving an apocalyptic warning in an op-ed for the Daily Caller:
"Hurricanes. Tornadoes. Riots. Terrorists. Gangs. Lone criminals. These are perils we are sure to face -- not just maybe," he wrote. "It's not paranoia to buy a gun. It's survival. It's responsible behavior, and it's time we encourage law-abiding Americans to do just that."
Before You Go
