The National Rifle Association released its most controversial ad yet on Tuesday, targeting the president’s children, andJoe Scarborough says the group’s leaders are dragging Second Amendment supporters over the cliff and into fringe extremism.
“What’s wrong with these people? You have children that had no say in the decision on whether their father was going to step forward to be president of the United States,” Scarborough asked.
The NRA came under fire Tuesday for releasing a shooting iPhone game for children above the age of 4; following criticism from the Morning Joe gang, Apple raised the suggested age for the game to 17.
“What’s wrong with these people, putting out apps that four-year-olds can play on the anniversary of the Newtown murders and now putting out an ad talking about the president’s daughters?” Scarborough asked co-host Mika Brzezinski.
“And quite frankly, after seeing that I think some of the people who run that thing are sick. I really do. I think they’re sick in the head,” Brzezinski responded. “We have a section of our society—the NRA—which should have a voice certainly, trying to protect a Constitutional Amendment. There’s a really legitimate debate there and they just took it and brought it down to the lowest, most base level. Now—it’s fringe.”
Scarborough says it’s the group’s leaders that has turned the mainstream organization—one that used to provide shooting lessons, help with safety and insurance, according to Sen. Chuck Schumer, who grew up taking NRA sharp-shooter classes and now opposes their extremism—and turned it into an extremist, fringe group.
“They need new leadership, their leadership has dragged them over the cliff. They are now a fringe organization with millions of mainstream Americans, guys and women that love to hunt, and believe that they have the right to protect their families. What the NRA once was, it no longer is.
Jane Timm