On Sunday's AM Joy, host Joy Reid and her panel were again hating on the NRA, this time smearing the pro-gun group with a conspiracy theory that it recently had black rapper Killer Mike -- who notably supported Bernie Sanders for President -- as a guest for the purpose of scaring members to become afraid of blacks and therefore to buy more guns.
Frequent guest Michelle Bernard -- who has been an MSNBC contributor and a columnist for Roll Call -- pushed the theory, inspiring agreement from Reid.
Nearing the end of the show shortly before 12:00 p.m. Eastern, Reid played a clip of Killer Mike on NRA TV. Reid then came on and chided the rapper for associating himself with the NRA, and also repeated the myth that the NRA did not react to the shooting death of black motorist and concealed carry holder Philando Castille after he was pulled over by a Minneapolis police officer. Here's Reid:
There's a lot of thoughts that people have about what Killer Mike has decided to do and to say in support of an organization that has made threatening video, including threatening videos about yours truly, that has essentially treated black and brown people as fodder for a scare campaign to get more guns, and then said absolutely zero when Philando Castille, a legal gun owner, was shot down by police. NRA said nothing.
In fact, the NRA released a statement expressing concerns about the Castille shooting the day after it happened, and called for an investigation, but took the position that it would be inappropriate to continue commenting while the investigation was taking place.
When host Reid went to Bernard for reaction, she complained:
It's disgusting. The one time I've been able to find when the NRA actually supported gun control was in the 1960s when America was fearful of Bobby Seal, Malcolm X, and other Civil Rights leaders.
She soon added:
I cannot believe he has allowed himself to be a puppet for the NRA, and I believe that the only reason the NRA is doing it is because it will sell more guns. Any person who is fearful of black men will take one look at that man wearing his gold chain, and what are they going to do? They're going to run out to any local store they can and they're going to get another gun.
After Reid injected, "Right," Bernard continued: "It's a vicious cycle because then if a black man got killed in Sacramento last week holding a cell phone, 20 shots."
Reid asked, "Twenty shots -- where was the NRA?" leading Bernard to add: "How many black men might get shot if they actually go out and get more guns?"
