A Republican running for Congress in Arizona launched a controversial ad campaign this week which shows him preparing to gun down Ku Klux Klan-hooded attackers while defending AR-15s as an appropriate form of self-defence.
Jerone Davison, a former professional football player and pastor, shared the inflammatory video on his Twitter on Tuesday, alongside the caption “Make Rifles Great Again”, “#SelfDefense” and “#2A” – a reference to the Second Amendment – to amp up his message of pushing back against a ban on assault weapons ahead of the crowded Arizona primary.
“Democrats like to say that no one needs an AR-15 for self-defence … that no one could possibly need all 30 rounds,” the Republican candidate narrates over the video, while people clad in Klan gear begin to emerge donning pitchforks and what appears to be a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire.
Meanwhile, Mr Davison sits at what appears to be his kitchen table in a suit, hands clasped in a prayer position, before he reaches for what appears to be some kind of assault rifle.
“But when this rifle is the only thing that’s standing between your family and a dozen angry Democrats in Klanhoods, you just might need that semi-automatic,” he says, as a now sunglass-wearing Mr Davison strides to the front porch, rifle in tow, adding that the gun and “all 30 rounds” might be needed.
Mr Davison is squaring off in a crowded congressional race for the Republican seat in Arizona’s 4th Congressional District, and if successful, he’ll be challenging Democratic incumbent Rep Greg Stanton.
The Republican congressional candidate, who spent 10 years in California before making his way back to Arizona where he worked as a liaison reuniting children with incarcerated parents, according to the AZCentral, has described his campaign as being driven by his values of family, faith and freedom.
Both the content and the timing of Mr Davison’s ad has drawn ire online, as it was released just days after a gunman used an AR-15 style rifle to fire off more than 80 rounds into a crowded group of people attending a Highland Park Independence Day parade, leaving seven dead and dozens more injured.
The controversy-stirring episode, however, might be partially explained by Mr Davison’s management. Earlier last month, MediaMatters confirmed with the Republican candidate that he had hired a known QAnon influencer to run his campaign.
Austin Steinbart, who boasted weeks before Mr Davison’s campaign had confirmed his employment, that he’d accepted a role as campaign manager, is known online as “Baby Q” and had said in previous online announcements when discussing his new title that he was working hard to push QAnon in a “very mainstream” way with the ultimate goal being to get to Washington to “set our own narrative”.
The Arizona primary is scheduled for 2 August.
