A recruitment video by the National Rifle Association gaining traction on social media has come under attack for promoting violence from critics across the political spectrum.
The one-minute Facebook spot features conservative talk-show host Dana Loesch calling for a strong police response over footage of protesters and marchers objecting to President Donald Trump and his policies.
She said the demonstrators "smash windows, burn cars, shut down interstates and airports, bully and terrorize the law-abiding," adding "the only option left is for the police to do their jobs and stop the madness.
"The only way we stop this, the only way we save our country and our freedom, is to fight this violence of lies with the clenched fist of truth," she said.
"I'm the National Rifle Association of America, and I'm freedom's safest place."
The ad brought widespread Twitter attacks.
Conservative columnist Anne Applebaum:
DeRay McKesson, Black Lives Matter:
Tamika Mallory, Women's March organizer:
Liberal commentator Sally Kohn:
As of Thursday, an online petition to remove the ad had attracted more than 8,000 signatures, the New York Daily News reported.
But Loesch said in a Periscope video posted Wednesday "the language of the left is violence" – describing her critics as "these people . . . the dullest crayons in the box," according to Business Insider.
And an NRA spokesman told Quartz Media on Thursday: "We stand by the ad, 100 percent."
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