The struggle to implement common sense gun law reform following the murders of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida has sparked widespread and often vicious debate between Republicans and Democrats, especially since the GOP is so reliant on the millions of dollars in campaign donations they receive from the National Rifle Association (NRA).
The number is 1.4M gun deaths in the United States over the last 50 years. Those gun deaths are directly attributable to the NRA's fierce resistance to any legislation which might have lessened those numbers, just as cigarette manufacturers share the blame for lung cancer deaths. https://t.co/CVAvxk668E
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) April 6, 2018
Now, a well-known activist organization is expressing their frustration and disgust with a very vocal opponent of gun law reform, who approved of tweets insulting the teenage survivors of the Parkland shooting, is being targeted by animal rights activists at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
Donald Trump, Jr., long criticized for his public display of photos featuring the dead carcasses of large animals he’s killed, has sparked the anger of PETA both for his love of big game hunting as well as his opposition to gun reform. In a statement released on Friday, PETA informed the public of billboards planned calling for the president’s son and namesake.
‘As President Trump deploys National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to help keep asylum-seekers out, PETA is warning people about the presence of “undesirables” much closer to home and pointing the finger at trophy hunter Donald Trump Jr. The group plans to run billboards in the border towns of El Paso and Laredo, Texas, showing a grinning Trump Jr. posing with a knife and the hacked-off tail of the elephant he shot in someone else’s country. Next to the picture are the words “Deport Callous, Cheating Opportunists Now! All Nations Have Their Undesirables. Kindness Welcome.”’
You think there’s any chance whatsoever that a mass shooters hateful Instagram and YouTube channels would be pulled immediately if they were NRA members as opposed to liberal Vegan PETA activists? Asking for a few million friends in the @NRA
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) April 4, 2018
The president of PETA, Ingrid Newkirk, explained why Trump, Jr. is so “undesirable” to the group and to the populations of the countries where he vacations to kill large animals for sport.
‘While people are fleeing to the U.S. to escape violence, over-privileged, callous, cheating louts like Donald Trump Jr. are flying to other countries to gun down living, feeling beings just for fun. PETA’s border ad is a reminder that kindness is a virtue and that Central America doesn’t hold all the cards when it comes to ‘bad hombres.’
The group’s campaign against Trump, Jr. and gun rights’ advocates include both billboards in Texas towns as well as banners outside the PETA offices in Washington, D.C., where Trump and his family are sure to see them.
Featured image via Getty/Chip Somodevilla