Following a weekend full of NFL players refusing to stand for our National Anthem, the NRA released an ad making clear they will not take a knee after so many American heroes “charged into battle through bombs and bullets.”
The ad is narrated by NRA spokesman and veteran Navy SEAL Dom Raso, who says:
For the land of the free and the home of the brave, from high school gyms to towering stadiums, every time I see our flag wave, I feel a humbling reminder of the brave who keep — and have kept — us free. I stand to honor the sacrifices of the generations before me — heroes who charged into battle through bombs and bullets, who lost their brothers and still pushed through — fighting for every inch of our freedom.
The viewer sees markers on graves at a national cemetery and Raso says:
I stand for my brothers who can’t stand anymore — men who hunted terrorists to the ends of the earth, who sacrificed their bodies and their lives so that we could peacefully live ours. I stand for the children, the spouses, and parents whose family made the ultimate sacrifice for us. We are all standing. We are the National Rifle Association of America and we are freedom’s safest place.
The NRA ad was released on the very day in which the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Alejandro Villanueva made clear he actually meant to stay in the tunnel with the team instead of coming out to hear the National Anthem. It was the same day that Dallas Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones walked out on the field and took a knee with his team before the National Anthem began.
The NRA’s approach is different; they are standing for the anthem without apology. They are honoring those who paid such a high price to keep us free.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.