On March 16th Charleston, West Virginia Mayor Danny Jones (R) got worked up during an on-air debate over SB 317, claiming his state’s senate is controlled by the NRA.
Jones was opposite West Virginia senate majority leader John Unger (D-Berkeley), who said the senate unanimously passed SB 317 “to make the gun laws uniform throughout the state.”
As the debate aired on CBS 13 WOWK, Jones said the legislation “hinders the enforcement of the law” and actually changes the way authorities “can enforce it now.” When host Bray Cary said he read the bill and did not see that it hindered law enforcement, Jones retorted, “Well please keep reading, because it’s there.”
When Unger joined in and said he did not see the hindrance either, Jones said, “Well it’s there.”
Jones then said he wanted to discuss SB 317’s impact on “rec centers” and the way “[Unger] and his friends with the NRA want to put guns in our rec centers.” Unger responded by reading directly from the bill, explaining how SB 317 still allows prohibitions to be put in place on the carrying of guns in municipally-owned rec centers. As Unger read, Jones interrupted, trying to redirect the conversation.
When host Bray Cary gently tried to show that Jones had misunderstood the bill, Jones countered and screamed, “You don’t run the rec center, Bray, we do.”
Unger then calmly begin pointing back to bill and was preparing to read another portion of it when Mayor Jones screamed, “Don’t tell me what it says. We know what it says, we have lawyers.”
During another outburst later in the debate, Jones accused Unger of taking “marching orders from the [NRA].”
On March 25th Breitbart News reported that West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin (D) signed SB 317 into law.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.