NBC News Reporter Deletes Post Calling Pro-Second Amendment Event ‘White Nationalist Rally’

NBC News reporter Ben Collins deleted a January 19 tweet in which he referred to the then-pending Virginia Second Amendment event as a “white nationalist rally.”

Collins tweeted the white nationalist moniker on Sunday, the day before the rally was held.

Breitbart News reported on Collins’ tweet.

As the tweet gained more and more attention, Collins removed it.

This is what it said:

Reporters covering tomorrow’s white nationalist rally in Virginia, I’m absolutely begging you:

Verify information before you send it out tomorrow, even if it’s a very sensational rumor you heard from a cop.

Don’t become a hero in neo-Nazi propaganda circles with made-up stuff.

— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__)

Collins is not the only establishment media source to frame the pro-Second Amendment rally in racial and/or extremist tones.

For example, the Washington Post previewed the rally in a way that gave the impression January 20, 2020, in Richmond was going to be Charlottesville 2.0.

Gov. Ralph Northam (D) used a January 15 speech to warn of so-called “threats and violent rhetoric” associated with the rally, but he did not provide an example of the threats or the rhetoric. He did, however, declare a “state of emergency” and ban the exercise of Second Amendment rights on Virginia Capitol grounds.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News 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.