Representative Ted Yoho (R-FL) sent out an invitation through his Facebook page for a ‘Family Firearm Safety Event’ that will be held in Lake City, FL on December 14th. That date just happens to coincide with the one year anniversary of the tragic mass shooting at Newtown, CT, where 26 people, most of them young children, were killed.
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As you can see, the event is supposed to be something where families can bring their children to learn how to use firearms responsibly while also ‘encouraging responsible firearm ownership.’ In other words, this is a gun show for kids, where parents can potentially purchase a gun for their 8-year old and teach them how cool and fun guns really are. Sure, they are wrapping it up as an ‘educational event’, but let’s face it, this is nothing more than an effort to indoctrinate kids to learn that guns are good and to help parents push their children into handling guns at an early age.
Obviously, Yoho realized that people might be a little offended, so he tried to explain that this wasn’t intentional and offered his ‘thoughts and prayers to the victims and families’ of Sandy Hook. On Monday he posted this to his Facebook page:
I think everyone knows that this is utter BS. Obviously Yoho scheduled this event to be on the anniversary of Newtown. He knew that he would get more attention by doing so and then he could discuss how this was a way to help families and children learn ‘responsible gun ownership.’ He doesn’t care that many will be put off and offended by him holding an event for kids to be around guns on a date that will forever be known as one where 20 young children were heinously murdered. This is just a way for him to appeal to the gun nuts in his district, while at the same time grabbing a bit of the national spotlight for himself.
Yoho is no stranger to doing idiotic things and making moronic statements. He is the one who felt that if the United States didn’t raise its debt ceiling, it would be a good thing for the world’s economy.
“I think we need to have that moment where we realize [we’re] going broke…I think, personally, it would bring stability to the world markets.”
A day later, he went ahead and said, ”Somebody needs to convince me why we need to raise the debt ceiling.”
Of course, Yoho’s most idiotic comment came during a town hall meeting he had in Gainesville, FL when he claimed that the tanning salon tax that was part of the ACA was racist while also claiming to be oppressed:
“So therefore it’s a racist tax. And I thought I might need to get to a sun tanning booth so I can come out and say I’ve been disenfranchised, because I got taxed because of the color of my skin. As crazy as that sounds, that’s what the left does right. By God, if it works for them, it’ll work for us.”
Obviously, Yoho is a REALLY deep thinker who truly understands the economy and the financial markets. He also really is in tune with racial issues in this country and understands the plight that white people have to go through on a daily basis. Additionally, he gives that same level of deep thought when it comes to other social issues as well as gun safety and control.
Yoho is just another Tea Party clown cut from the same cloth as Michelle Bachmann, Steve King and Louie Gohmert. He only sees things through a very narrow prism and is only interested in bringing attention to himself, so he will say and do extreme things in order to get people to notice him. With this event, he gets to appeal to that section of the population that doesn’t care about the rest of the country, but only themselves. The whole appeal of guys like Yoho for these voters is that he doesn’t care about the ‘others.’ He couldn’t give a crap about what is occurring in other parts of the country. For his Tea Party base, he is perfect because he is simple-minded, heartless and uncomplicated. That’s the way they like him.
Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).
