Tag Archives: Parkland

Gun Rights, Politics, US

Parkland Gun Control Activist Backs Out of Debate With Pro-2A Classmate

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Parkland, FL – On March 25, Kyle Kashuv, a Second Amendment-supporting student from Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, challenged classmate Cameron Kasky, a student activist promoting pro-gun control March for Our Lives, to a debate.

The challenge from Kashuv came after Kasky responded to a recent National Rifle Association (NRA) video, which stated “no one would know [Parkland students’] names” had their classmates not died, referring to Kasky, David Hogg, Emma Gonzalez and the select few gun control advocates being promoted across mass media – while pro-2A students are largely denied a platform.

“I think that’s the most pathetic thing I’ve seen out of this… And that’s the NRA — you’ll notice, they can’t attack our argument, so they’re attacking us personally. The fact that they’re saying all we want out of this is for people to know our names. They have no idea how much each of us would give for it to be February 13th again,” Kasky told “Fox News Sunday,” referencing the day before the school shooting took place.

In response to Kashuv’s tweet, Kasky agreed to organizing a debate “in the near future.”

But on Monday, Kasky backed out of a debate on the issue with Kashuv, claiming that Kashuv made a “personal” attack against a family member of a shooting victim.

Kasky explained his rationale for backing out of the debate in a tweet:

“Kyle, I’ve enjoyed my discussion about gun laws with you so far, but after seeing this, I think I’m out. For personal reasons. I disagree on certain policies with some family members of some victims, but I never go after them, especially not like this. This is low.”

Kashuv’s tweet, which apparently caused Kasky to back out from the planned debate, countered an argument from a victim’s family member about clear backpacks by musing “Instead, let’s violate our Constitution?”; Kashuv apologized for the tweet and explained that he was unaware he was responding to a victim’s family member.

The Daily Wire reported that conservative political pundit Ben Shapiro viewed Kashuv’s question as not “some sort of egregious sin” as he was simply responding “to the argument of a victim’s family member in perfectly polite political fashion.”

Kasky has been accused of directing personal attacks numerous times while promoting his gun control views, including infamously declaring that Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) “allowed this to happen.”

“It’s Rick Scott and Marco Rubio who allowed this to happen,” he said. “They’re enablers, and they — the blood of 17 people and all those injured and all the families that have been hurt — this is all them.”

Most recently, Kashuv turned his attention to another Parkland student and gun reform activist, David Hogg.

Civil Liberties, Featured, Gun Rights, Politics, Social Media, US

YouTube Increases Limits on Gun Content, Bans Firearm Demo Videos

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San Bruno, CA— YouTube has announced that beginning in April, the company will ban how-to videos related to building or refashioning guns, as well as all content that promotes the sale of guns or gun accessories.

According to YouTube’s statement:

Specifically, we don’t allow content that:

— Intends to sell firearms or certain firearms accessories through direct sales (e.g., private sales by individuals) or links to sites that sell these items. These accessories include but may not be limited to accessories that enable a firearm to simulate automatic fire or convert a firearm to automatic fire (e.g., bump stocks, gatling triggers, drop-in auto sears, conversion kits), and high capacity magazines (i.e., magazines or belts carrying more than 30 rounds).

— Provides instructions on manufacturing a firearm, ammunition, high capacity magazine, homemade silencers/suppressors, or certain firearms accessories such as those listed above. This also includes instructions on how to convert a firearm to automatic or simulated automatic firing capabilities.

— Shows users how to install the above-mentioned accessories or modifications.

“We routinely make updates and adjustments to our enforcement guidelines across all of our policies,” a YouTube spokeswoman said in a statement. “While we’ve long prohibited the sale of firearms, we recently notified creators of updates we will be making around content promoting the sale or manufacture of firearms and their accessories.”

The announcement by YouTube marks the latest company to take a stance in the U.S. gun-control debate, following major retailers like Dick’s Sporting Goods and Walmart, which have taken assertive steps to implement 21-plus age limits for gun sales in the wake of the Parkland school shooting. Bloomberg reports that YouTube, owned by Alphabet Inc.’s Google, has faced criticism for hosting videos about guns.

According to a report by Bloomberg:

For many gun-rights supporters, YouTube has been a haven. A current search on the site for “how to build a gun” yields 25 million results, though that includes items such as toys. At least one producer of gun videos saw its page suspended on Tuesday. Another channel opted to move its videos to an adult-content site, saying that will offer more freedom than YouTube.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun industry lobbying group, expressed concern about the “censorship of commercial free speech,” and called YouTube’s new policy “worrisome.”

“We suspect it will be interpreted to block much more content than the stated goal of firearms and certain accessory sales,” read a statement released by the National Shooting Sports Foundation. “We see the real potential for the blocking of educational content that serves instructional, skill-building and even safety purposes. Much like Facebook, YouTube now acts as a virtual public square. The exercise of what amounts to censorship, then, can legitimately be viewed as the stifling of commercial free speech.”

[RELATED: Reality Check: The True Meaning of the Second Amendment]

A report from MSN revealed that in the midst of YouTube’s new policy announcement, Spike’s Tactical, a gun manufacturing company in Florida, had claimed that their Facebook and YouTube accounts had been suspended for “violating community guidelines.”

The move to censor pro-gun content comes only days before Saturday’s March For Our Lives, a rally described by the media as an event organized by survivors of the February 14 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida that left 17 dead; the highly-publicized March 14 walkout had an early push from “organizers of the Women’s March on Washington — the same group that donned pink ‘pussy’ hats in a Washington, D.C., protest march following President Donald Trump’s inauguration” according to a report by Lifezette.

https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/976201267654594562

Although the new policies will reportedly begin being enforced in April, Bloomberg reported that InRange TV, a channel devoted to firearms, posted on Facebook that they would immediately begin uploading videos to PornHub, an adult content website.

“YouTube’s newly released released vague and one-sided firearms policy makes it abundantly clear that YouTube cannot be counted upon to be a safe harbor for a wide variety of views and subject matter,” InRange TV wrote. “PornHub has a history of being a proactive voice in the online community, as well as operating a resilient and robust video streaming platform.”

With the continued and growing censorship on social media/video platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, many of these gun enthusiasts may find comfort in decentralized blockchain-based alternatives like Steemit, DTube and BitChute.

Gun Rights, Politics, US

Father of Parkland Victim Attacks MSM for “Polarizing” America

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Andrew Pollack, the father of Meadow Pollack, lost his daughter during the February 14th shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Pollack spoke to Chris Wallace about the aftermath of the tragedy on Fox News Sunday; he focused specifically on criticizing the media for “polarizing” the incident and concentrating their attention on gun control.

Wallace: Andrew, when you were at the White House at that very raw and emotional moment, you said ‘look after 9/11 we fixed the situation, we made a lot harder for people to get onto planes with guns’. When you hear what Governor Scott just said, when you hear what President Trump is saying— would that fix the problem?

Pollack: It’s not going to be fixed because I just heard what you said. What you are focusing on, polarizing this event, the murder of these kids. You are talking about gun control. I just had to listen to you and Governor Scott talk about gun control.

Gun control is a big issue. No one in America is going to come together on gun control, Chris. We’re here— you didn’t say one thing about fixing it. The American people, we could get together on school safety, but when you polarize it, this event and every other media, we don’t care about gun control right now. That’s a big issue in the country and you are not going to get everyone together on it.

But we are going to get everyone together on fixing our schools and I just listen to you. So, I just listen to you. You didn’t talk— you didn’t mention one question to Governor Scott about what are we going to do about the security of our children? How are we going to do that?

But you’re just talking about gun control, which is going to just give you more ratings and every other media or event. My daughter is dead. I want to know our kids are going to school in Kentucky on Monday— how are those kids safe? How about bringing that up to the media? How about bringing that up to Governor Scott?

Not about guns. It’s not about guns now. Today, it’s not about guns. It’s about the safety in our schools.

And that’s what you ask Governor Scott about and I got to listen to that at my house. My kid is not here because the schools weren’t safe, that’s the main thing. If you go into a courthouse, the judge is safe. The stenographer is not worried someone is coming in with a gun because they can’t get in with a gun.

The American people, we just want our school safe. We don’t want to talk about guns right now.