Claude Taylor (pictured), a former White House staffer for President Bill Clinton, funded the posters
A billboard has gone up in Florida, targeting the National Rifle Association as a ‘terrorist organization’.
The poster was funded by Claude Taylor, a former White House staffer for President Bill Clinton, and Mad Dog PAC, the political action committee which erected billboards calling for the impeachment of President Trump.
The Pensacola poster bears a simple message: ‘The NRA is a terrorist organization’.
Taylor said he plans to put up more billboards in Republican controlled states across the US, including one in Oklahoma and two in Texas.
In the wake of the shooting that killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the NRA has been the focus of many activists calling for increased gun control.
‘With the GOP majority in the House and in the Senate, the NRA makes impossible any meaningful, common-sense gun reform,’ Taylor told Pensacola News Journal.
But some locals are not happy with the billboard’s presence. ‘It’s a freedom of speech thing, but it kind of borders on slander,’ said Patrick Eakins, an auto shop worker.
Mad Dog PAC’s website also sells a ‘March For Our Lives Rally Pack’ which includes an ‘NRA Terror’ T-shirt and rally signs emblazoned with ‘Impeach Now’, as well as buttons and bumper stickers.
Bold statement: The Pensacola was funded by Mad Dog PAC, a political action committee
Anti-gun protesters recently defaced a billboard outside of Las Vegas to read ‘Shoot A School Kid Online $29’.
In October last year a shooter killed 58 at a country music festival. Activist group INDECLINE later claimed responsibility.
Last month, another sign was edited to read ‘Kill The NRA’ on a major highway in Kentucky.
Claude Taylor took to Twitter to announce that more billboards will go up in red states
And in February, three red billboard messages appeared on the side of trucks in Miami, criticizing Senator Marco Rubio for his inaction on gun control in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The signs, paid for by activist group Avaaz, read: ‘Slaughtered in school and still no gun control? How come, Marco Rubio?’
Political billboards have attracted increased attention since the film ‘Three Billboards in Ebbing, Missouri’ premiered.
The movie details a mother, played by Frances McDormand, who pays for a trio of billboards which criticize the local sheriff after he fails to find her daughter.
It comes after Florida’s state Senate has passed a bill that would allow some teachers to carry guns on campus and put new restrictions on rifle sales.
The state’s upper chamber voted 20-18 to pass the package of school safety and gun legislation, which comes as a response to the February 14 school shootings in Parkland.
In February three signs appeared in Miami, which read: ‘Slaughtered in school and still no gun control? How come, Marco Rubio?’
Last week Democrats leased billboards in Orlando and Tallahassee declaring that Governor Rick Scott did nothing to address gun safety following the 2016 Orlando nightclub massacre
The bill also includes sweeping appropriations to establish or expand school-based mental health programs.
Florida senators voted on Monday to name the new school guardian program in honor of Aaron Feis, an assistant football coach killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He has been hailed as a hero for shielding students during the attack.
School districts can choose to participate in the guardian program, which is administered by local sheriff’s departments.
After passing drug and psychological screenings, and training programs totaling over 270 hours of instruction, coaches and administrators could be certified to concealed carry on school campuses.
People are brought out of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after a shooter killed 17
A law enforcement officer directs traffic outside of Stoneman Douglas High School. Florida’s Senate yesterday voted to allow some teachers to carry weapons
Full-time classroom teachers are not eligible for the program, unless they are either: JROTC instructors, current military service members, or current or former law enforcement officers.
The bill would also raise the age limit for purchasing shotguns and rifles to 21, from the current limit of 18. Handgun purchases are already restricted to age 21 and up at the federal level.
It also expands the current three-day waiting period to purchase handguns, applying the three-day period to all firearms.