Joy Reid Tries to Tie NRA to Man Arrested for Threatening David Jolly

March 10th, 2018 2:37 PM

On Saturday's AM Joy, host Joy Reid led another panel discussion that vilified the NRA and supporters of gun rights as the MSNBC host suggested that the NRA does not care about armed teachers shooting black students by mistake, and tried to link the pro-gun group to a man arrested for making death threats against one of her guests, former Florida Republican Rep. David Jolly.

Jolly -- a liberal Republican known for appearing on both MSNBC and CNN as a frequent guest to lambaste his fellow Republicans -- complained that the NRA has "indoctrinated today's generation of Republican leaders." Notably, after the Parkland school shootings, Jolly advocated giving Democrats control of Congress in order to enact more gun control, so it is very questionable for him to continue identifying himself as a "Republican."

In the segment which aired shortly after 11:00 a.m. ET, as panel member Nadine Smith of Equality Florida fretted over the new gun law passed in Florida that would also allow some school staff to carry concealed weapons, she suggested that those who advocate guns in schools should be feared as dangerous: "I grew up in the Panhandle of Florida. The people that you really don't want having guns in school are the people who really, really want to have guns in school."

After voicing agreement, host Reid then played a clip of a Democratic state legislator in Florida worrying that black students might be shot by armed teachers by mistake. Reid reacted:

And I want to amplify that point that that is not why the NRA opposed the bill. They are suing because they're upset the teenagers can't buy AR-15s. That is what they say is wrong with the bill. They don't care about that -- they just care about the fact that they think -- in their view, teenage girls should be able to buy it because they don't do any mass shootings. Pretty incredible.

The MSNBC host then agreed with her previous guest's suggestion that those who advocate gun rights are dangerous as she added: "The point that the people that want the guns the most and are the most vociferous and, really, extremist about this tend to be people whom you think, 'Yeah, that is a person I'd like to see restricted'"

Reid then brought up the man arrested for making threats against Jolly and tried to link him to the NRA: "Do you see that kind of extremism actually now whip sawing now on the NRA and hurting them because they're associated with people that crazy?"

Jolly began his response: "Sure, it should, and it's the product of 20 years of absolutism by the NRA."

A bit later, the former Republican congressman further railed against the NRA and Republicans: "The NRA has successfully indoctrinated today's generation of Republican leaders in Congress, but you're right, the next generation's going to be different."