‘Who Is America’: Conservatives Duped by Outlandish Guns-for-Kids Project

Sasha Baron Cohen’s new show Who is America? apparently fooled gun rights supporters and activists into talking about arming children and, in some cases, toddlers in its debut episode.

In one segment from the show, Virginia Citizens Defense League president Philip Van Cleave demonstrates firing guns disguised as stuffed animals.

Van Cleave recites nursery rhymes reworded with firearm terminology. In one rhyme, he held a gun disguised as a stuffed bunny (branded a “gunny rabbit”) and sang about where to shoot bad guys: “Head and shoulders, not the toes, not the toes.”

Cohen also interviewed Gun Owners of America’s Larry Pratt, who voiced support for a children’s gun training program. Cohen said, “The only thing that will stop a bad man with a gun is a boy with a gun.” Pratt responded, “Or a good toddler.”

Pratt read a script praising children’s ability to make quick judgments — failing to notice that the “scientific” evidence for the claim was laden with names of pop music artists as though they were biology terms: “Children under five…have elevated levels of the pheromone Blink-182, produced by the part of the liver known as the Rita Ora. This allows nerve reflexes to travel along the Cardi B neural pathway to the Wiz Khalifa 40% faster, saving time and saving lives.”

Cohen then went to Capitol Hill to find supporters for his “Kinder Guardians” program.

He spoke to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who demurred when asked to sign onto the program. But former Senator Trent Lott (R-MS) said, “I support the Kinder Guardians program. We in America would be wise to implement it too.”

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), and former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL), also voiced varying levels of support for arming kids during their time with Cohen.

Who Is America airs on Showtime, a premium cable network owned by CBS.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.