Normally, gun control involves taking guns away from people, but one Texas lawmaker is endorsing a plan to push for a gun ban by giving AR-15s away. State Rep. Ron Reynolds told Houston news anchor Isiah Carey that "desperate times call for desperate measures", which is why he's all in favor of a plan to give Black men semi-automatic rifles; convinced that conservative Caucasians will be so freaked out that they'll almost immediately fall in line behind a gun ban. 

We have seen hopes and prayers from the MAGA extremists, but no common sense gun reforms. No raising the age to purchase an assault weapon from 18 to 21. You can't buy cigarettes or alcohol, but you can buy an AK. So I guarantee if June Bug or Tyrone, these thugs get their hands on an AR assault rifle, then that may pause them so they go 'you know what, maybe we do need to get some gun control reform, because we don't want these thugs, we don't want these N's to be carrying these assault rifles.' So maybe this will work, because nothing else has worked thus far.

When I first saw this clip on the FOX 26 website, I thought for sure that The Isiah Factor Uncensored was a parody of a news show, but no, that's not the case. Rep. Reynolds really does represent the 27th House District in the Texas legislature, and presumably he meant what he said, as appalling as it is. 

The whole "Scare the Racists Straight" campaign, and the organization supposedly behind it, on the other hand, isn't real at all. The genesis for the story came from a satire piece by writer Jeff Charles, who came up with a fake story that's totally believable given the daft ideas we've seen from other groups like Here 4 the Kids, which held a sit-in at the Colorado state capitol last summer demanding Gov. Jared Polis sign an executive order banning the sale of firearms across the state. 

To be fair, Carey and Reynold aren't the only ones who fell for Charles' spoof. Our own Tom Knighton (sorry Tom) wrote about the supposed plan last June, but at least updated his story when he learned it was satire. 

Fox 26 should have done a much better job of separating fact from fiction before devoting a segment to "Scare the Racists Straight", but in a way, their lack of research actually led to some real news being generated. We now know that Rep. Ron Reynolds will sign on to virtually any gun control effort, no matter how obviously stupid it is, so long as it supposedly comes from progressives.... even if it would lead to more guns "in the hands of thugs." 

The segment also offered a revealing look at how Reynolds views his constituents, whatever their race. He's just as happy to label Black men "thugs" as he is insinuating that every white person is a closeted racist who'd be terrified at the prospect of Black men with AR-15s. 

Honestly, you don't have to be aware of the fact that Charles made up the group Unpull the Trigger and its "Scare the Racists Straight" campaign to realize how silly the proposal is. Black gun ownership has surged over the past four years, and groups like the National African American Gun Association have seen exponential growth as well. I'm sure that racists and gun control advocates are both horrified by these developments, but most folks either don't care or see that as a positive development. 

I don't know why Isiah Carey decided to cover this non-story now when Charles' piece appeared last year. I suppose it's possible that Fox 26 reposted an old segment on their website today, but if that's the case the station really didn't do its due diligence before regurgitating the discussion and republishing it. 

Whatever the rationale for hosting this discussion and treating Charles' satire as a serious topic of discussion, I'm glad they did, and I bet Reynolds' Republican challenger is too. HD27 is pretty blue district, but if voters become more aware of Reynolds' bizarre stance, it could be surprisingly competitive this fall.