Congressional candidate refuses to take down 'AR-15 Giveaway' following Florida school shooting

[Julian Englis]

Source: NY Daily News

A congressional candidate is being called "tone-deaf" after refusing to stop an "AR-15 Giveaway" he announced one day before the Florida school shooting where 17 people were killed with the same type of rifle.

Tyler Tannahill, a Marine veteran, posted the announcement on his campaign's social media pages Tuesday.

"As an avid sportsman, I'm excited to announce our first AR-15 Giveaway! You can earn multiple entries and no purchase is necessary to win!"

Less than 24 hours after the campaign was announced, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz stormed Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Wednesday, opening fire using an AR-15 assault rifle a family attorney says he legally purchased.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/candidate-continues-ar-15-giveaway-florida-shooting-article-1.3823045

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He's from Kansas and a Republican.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

1. If he knew his own kid would get shot by that give-away, he'd still do it.

[C Moon]

2. They sell their souls to guns and the NRA. It's a very strange thing.

[RKP5637]

36. Frankly, it's become a form of mental illness manifesting in this behavior. n/t

[qwlauren35]

41. I'm really tired

of this "mental illness" crap. I have a mental illness. Being a sociopath is not a mental illness that we should be excusing. You don't "get help" for being a sociopath. There's no magic drug that "cures" a sociopath. Or even curbs a sociopath. If you truly have no conscience, and you go on a shooting spree, then you need to be in jail, preferably on death row.

[Hortensis]

53. I agree. This is how NORMAL people behave when indulging

in excessive political partisanship takes over and pushes aside good sense, decency, morality, and even religious precepts.

And speaking of, how rational is it for normal people here to say or agree that this man would give away a gun he knew would kill someone he loved?

Maybe step back, take a breath, re-engage brains? Say no to self-induced idiocy.

[Bettie]

10. If he knew every member of his family would be shot by

that give-away, he'd still do it and then cry crocodile tears about how "God called them home".

These people are soulless.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

11. You're right!

[Hortensis]

55. NO. But he is too stupid to check THIS rifle giveaway for recoil.

[kairos12]

3. They believe in guns, not sons.

[sheshe2]

4. Why does an avid sportsman need an AR-15 to hunt?

Little man is terrified of a squirrel or perhaps Bambie?

[ffr]

6. I was going to ask the same thing. Avid sportsman: translation rabid maniac.

[sheshe2]

8. Yup.

I think that covers it.

[Jedi Guy]

42. Growing up in the deep south, I knew a lot of guys who hunted.

Every fall, off they'd go for a week for deer season. Naturally, teachers and school administrators would excuse these absences.

I remember listening to this one guy going on at great length about his "awesome kill" where he shot a deer from ambush from dozens of yards away. My response was, "I'll agree that you have big nuts if and only if you go bear-hunting with a bow and arrow."

If you want to call it a "sport" then level the playing field so that animal has just a good a chance of killing the hunter as it does of being killed. Otherwise, don't talk to me about being a "sportsman." What they do isn't the least bit sporting.

[sheshe2]

44. Agree, Jedi.

Welcome to DU.

[Jedi Guy]

50. Belated thank you for the welcome message! :)

[SergeStorms]

24. They have to....

even the playing field with those blood-thirsty animals. Otherwise they'd never stand a chance stepping into the forest.

[Jedi Guy]

43. Right?

Stroking themselves about shooting a defenseless deer from ambush and calling it a "sport." A sport, by definition, requires that each party have a sporting chance. When they go after dangerous game like bears or mountain lions with a regular old bow and arrow, then I'll be willing to call it a sport.

You and I both know it isn't a bit about the sport of it. It's about killing. That's all it's about. And it's nauseating that, to many people, killing is a badge of manhood.

[SergeStorms]

47. The Trump boys, for example.

They don't eat anything they kill. They hunt for the pure "pleasure" of killing another living animal. Then they take the animal's tail, or head, for a "trophy". A "trophy" for what, cowardice? Rotten little pigs, both of them, and the acorn never falls far from the tree. I despise those two cowardly jackasses.

[Jedi Guy]

49. Especially since I think they both do those "canned hunts."

You know, those "hunts" where the animal is essentially raised in captivity and habituated to accept humans being nearby as something normal. Those "hunts" where the animals don't have any chance at all, since they're basically glued to the ground for the "hunter" to "hunt." That's like me saying that I "hunted" the leftover pizza I ate for dinner.

Next time those two go "hunting" I'll be rooting for #TeamLion or #TeamElephant or whatever it is they're "hunting."

[SergeStorms]

52. There are "hunting" clubs.....

mostly in the south, where diseased, injured, aged, almost dead animals are sometimes tethered in a field, where these brave hunters can have the "thrill" of shooting the animals in an outdoor "safari" setting. I kid you not. They're very nondescript, and you probably wouldn't know it if you were driving right past one. They're called, "ranches", or "hunting clubs". They don't want to draw attention to the sordid, cowardly activities that go on inside, of course. These "Great White Hunters" pay handsomely for the chance to shoot a Rhino or Cape Buffalo without the hassle of leaving the country. Of course their every desire is catered to within the confines of these slaughter houses, and alcohol is almost always involved.
Please don't ask how I know about these places and the events that take place there. Suffice to say I know some "connected" individuals and they love to tell stories of their derring-do.

[Mountain Mule]

26. An AR-15 for the "avid sportsman"??????

Give me a break. An avid sportsman who clobbered Bambi with a semi-automatic would only have a few pathetic bits of hide to hang in his trophy room. You use a rifle, son.

[Vogon_Glory]

40. Why Indeed?

I see no reason for this aspiring politician to raffle off an AR-15, even if he is a genuine hunting enthusiast. Most hunters make do with civilian-grade hunting rifles and do very well.

The ONLY reason I can think of for any sportsman to need such a weapon is if he or she is hunting bears.

And let's get real, most of us aren't going to be dealing with rampaging bears.

[CurtEastPoint]

5. He is getting CLOBBERED on his Facebook page. Deservedly so.

https://www.facebook.com/tannahillforcongress/

Oh, and make sure you scroll down to see him and the Mrs. at the KANSANS FOR LIFE blurb. What a fucking moron. Fetuses = SAVE... Kids = fair game, gotta have my gunz.

[Initech]

48. I always have to laugh at the "pro gun, pro life" people.

If you support assault rifles, you waive the right to call yourself pro life.

[Phoenix61]

7. What an ass nt

[RandySF]

9. Who fucking cares if he was a veteran?

It doesn't change the fact that he's an asshole. Why do they always lead with that?

[notdarkyet]

14. Lot of asshole veterans and servicemen. It involves a psychological willingness to obey

Orders and kill perceived enemies.

[GWC58]

15. Sir, I respect your service to country,

you fucking moronic asshole. Take your AR15 and stick it where the sun don’t shine!”

[dchill]

18. Loaded?

[raccoon]

33. Because people feel guilty that there are own kids or grandkids

Because people feel guilty that there are own kids or grandkids aren't going to fight imperial wars for the USA. Therefore, all veterans or active duty service people are perceived as saints.

[pangaia]

12. Avid sportsman !! AR-15? WTF is that?

[blueinredohio]

13. Avid sportsmen don't need AT 15 assault rifles.

[dchill]

19. Depends on what the 'sport' is.

[weissmam]

16. while i appreciate his service he is still a dick

[d_r]

17. I want some recs for this

Your report
Today
You anonymously reported Tyler Tannahill for Congress's post for describing the purchase or sale of drugs, guns or regulated products.

We removed the post you reported
We reviewed the share you reported. Since it violated our Community Standards, we removed it. Thanks for your report. We let Tyler Tannahill for Congress know that their share has been removed, but not who reported it.
How was this experience?

[Leith]

20. Ya Done Good

Thanks for doing that.

[True Blue American]

39. Thank you!

Great to know people like you are stepping up to the plate!

[american_ideals]

21. He's complicit in American deaths. Period.

[Stuart G]

22. Republican...What else is there to say?

Doesn't give a crap about anyone...

[turbinetree]

23. Your a disgrace------------

[Blue Owl]

25. YOU could be the next deranged gunman!!!

n/t

[bdtrppr6]

27. If you hunt an animal with an AR-15,

besides being a total idiot in general, you are ruining your "food". That's the purpose of hunting, correct?

"Lookee, here, kids, Daddy gots us a squirrel fer dinner, just spit out the metal bits! Don't break off any more teeth, ya only got the two!"

[iluvtennis]

28. What a sadistic shithole. Not an ounce of human compassion/caring in him

[chwaliszewski]

29. I just replied to his insensitive, ignorant tweet.

Link to tweet

[Insomniac Ike]

30. Well then, come November, we'll just have to take down the candidate!

Or even sooner, if he hasn't won the primary yet.

[Skittles]

31. not one ounce of decency

we need to stop letting these cowards showcase their sickness

[magicarpet]

38. Toxic masculinity worn as a badge of honor.

[raccoon]

32. What a dip shit. Nt

[dembotoz]

34. no purchase needed...we ought to flood his site with entries from famous killers

[n2doc]

35. Well, I hope the voters in that district send him a lesson

don't vote for these people. Vote for their opponents, even if you disagree with them on other things. Do that enough and they will go back under the rocks from which they came from.

[LongTomH]

37. We're still in the primary phase of the election cycle; once we know who his Democratic opponent....

...........will be: Flood him /her with donations.

I truly hope, as long as this continues to be publicized, and IF he turns out to be the GOP nominee for Kansas 2nd (Which is quite likely) his opponent will get donations from all over the country.

By the way, I live out here in Flyover country - Missouri - but, I'll be watching elections and primaries in Kansas, and I'll be supporting Democratic, Progressive candidates.

[Aristus]

45. "Um, Mr. LaPierre, sir?

My constituents are complaining about this AR-15 giveaway. Is it all right if I cancel?-"

"NO!"

"Yes, sir..."

[dalton99a]

46. +1

[LonePirate]

51. A DUer the other day told me the AR-15 was a hunting rifle. Of course a Repub would auction one.

[workinclasszero]

54. It is a hunting rifle...human beings are the prey.

Specifically designed to kill as many human beings as possible, as fast and efficiently as possible.

A hunting rifle for human beings you see? The first choice of mass killers in the USA, a military assault weapon made for the battlefield.

Thanks to the Republican party and it's terror arm the NRA, the battlefield is now every school in America, every public place in fact.