Two days after another mass-shooting at a school in the US which left 17 dead, a video has emerged explaining why firearms should not be regulated.
The shocking video by by America’s National Rifle Association (NRA) uses World War Two-era Britain as an example of why firearms shouldn’t be controlled.
In footage taken from a 1963 edition of ‘The Big Picture’, a short documentary produced by by the United States Army Signal Corps between 1951 and 1964 viewers are told why guns are essential to US citizens.
An NRA-supported video has emerged explaining why firearms should not be regulated
The narrator explains that there will always be ‘bad guys’ and ‘careless people’ who have access to firearms but that shouldn’t lead to restrictions.
He draws similarities between banning guns because of shootings to banning cars because of road accidents.
And, in a reference that will particularly resonate with the mostly anti-firearm British public, the narrator also uses wartime Britain as an example of why guns should remain unregulated.
The shocking video by by America’s National Rifle Association (NRA) uses World War Two-era Britain as an example of why firearms shouldn’t be controlled
Footage taken from a 1963 edition of ‘The Big Picture’, a short documentary produced by by the United States Army Signal Corps between 1951 and 1964 viewers are told why guns are essential to US citizens. Pictured: An arms factory
Speaking about the rescue of British troops from Dunkirk in 1940, which saw the British leave tonnes of military equipment on the beaches of France, he says:
‘In Great Britain, gun legislation of this kind almost ended in disaster.
‘The time: 1940. The British army after Dunkirk facing a terrifying shortage of arms. While the citizens of the nation threatened with imminent invasion by Hitler’s forces dug entrenchments in the cities and fields.
The NRA-supported video has resurfaced after the horrific mass-shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida by former pupil Nikolas Cruz
Footage in the documentary show people of Britain ‘dig trenches in the street’ to prepare for invasion, as they have no guns to prepare themselves’
‘There were only a few thousand rifles in all of Britain. The British arms industry, virtually legislated into oblivion in peace years, could not supply the needs.
‘Ten Downing Street urgently requested aid from The White House. America responded and sent shiploads of arms to the embattled British, and helped turn the tide.’
However the pictured that is painted during the NRA documentary depicts Britain as a nation on the brink of collapse with no means to defend itself its incorrect.
The narrator explains that there will always be ‘bad guys’ and ‘careless people’ who have access to firearms but that shouldn’t lead to restrictions. Pictured: An arms factory
The narrator draws similarities between banning guns because of shootings to banning cars because of road accidents
Although it is true that the United States supplied Britain with arms during World War II, Nazi Germany’s plans to invade were only in their infancy after Dunkirk.
A lack of superiority in the air above Britain and the English Channel meant that they were never seriously considered.
The NRA-supported video has resurfaced after the horrific mass-shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida by former pupil Nikolas Cruz.
The shooting has already re-opened the gun control debate in America, as the nation reels from one of the largest mass shootings in its history.
Social media has been awash with comment and opinion ever since news of the attacks broke, with several people severely criticising the no-compromise position of the NRA.
The organisation was founded in 1871 and is a non-profit organisation advocating gun rights for Americans, based on the second amendment to the United States constitution which guarantees citizens the right to bear arms.