NRA Removes Video That Called For Arming The Blind

NRA commentator Dom Raso talks about the rights for the blind to own guns.
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The National Rifle Association has yanked a video posted to one of its websites this week that advocated for the right of blind people to carry guns.

The video, titled “Firearms and the Blind,” featured NRA commentator Dom Raso, who argued that a person doesn’t need to see to be able to fire a gun.

“Do you think you need to see where you’re shooting if someone is on top of you trying to kill or rape you, while their hands are slowly squeezing your neck and they’re yelling ‘I’m going to kill you’? I didn’t think so,” Raso said.

The video had been posted to YouTube as well as the NRA News website.

On Thursday afternoon, the YouTube video was gone, bearing only the message: “This video has been removed by the user.” The page on the NRA News site where the video had appeared now showed the message: “404 Page Not Found.”

An NRA spokesperson did not immediately respond to TPM’s request for comment.

The video drew complaints from some supporters of the visually impaired in Massachusetts, according to Boston.com. The former president of Perkins School for the Blind and a candidate running for Massachusetts attorney general teamed up Thursday in criticizing the NRA for the “insensitive video.”

“The fact that the NRA would exploit blind people to push their extreme agenda with this insensitive video is just wrong,” Warren Tolman, candidate for Massachusetts attorney general said in a statement to Boston.com. “As Attorney General, I will not back down when the NRA tries to stop common sense gun reform in Massachusetts and I will stand up to them to make smart gun technology a reality.”

It is unclear whether the video was removed in response to the criticism. TPM was unable to confirm when exactly the video was removed.

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