MSNBC anchor Joy Reid said Monday on her show “The ReidOut” that it was ironic the Republican-led Tennessee government is in “moral panic” over drag shows but not gun laws after six people were killed in a mass shooting at Covenant School in Nashville.
Reid said, “The congressman that represents this district, his name is Andy Ogles. He’s a Republican. He represents this district. I want to show a picture. You tweeted out a picture. I guess it was his Christmas card. There it is, there he is, standing in front of the Christmas tree with his wife and children. One has a book, which also are things Republicans think are dangerous, but the rest of them have guns. This has become a common thing among Republicans, posing with guns, fetishizing guns, wearing AR-15 pins in Congress, and really making their love and adoration for guns kind of their primary political symbol. Their symbol is a gun. It’s very warlordish.”
She added, “This is coming at a time where the First and Second Amendments are in real tension. Not real tension among the public. It’s like an 80/20 issue. Even gun owners overwhelmingly want stronger gun laws. The gun lobby and politicians they are refusing to let it happen. You have this in the state of Tennessee, which ironically is the Scopes Monkey Trial state, where they used to have a law against teaching evolution in public high schools, in public schools. They now are enacting these First Amendment limiting laws to limit things like drag shows. You have rampant book banning. I think Tennessee might be the most book-banning state, even more than Florida. So they’re essentially saying it’s too dangerous to allow children to be exposed to a drag show. A drag queen is dangerous to children. These books are dangerous to children. When it comes to guns, they’re like, no, put more guns with children are. It is an irony that’s hard to get away from during this moral panic over books, history, and drag shows.”
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