A Former CIA Terrorism Analyst Calls That Viral NRA Ad Fuel For Extremists

By now you have probably seen the latest NRA recruitment video. Or, at the very least, you've seen how people have been reacting to the viral ad, which features conservative television host Dana Loesch. The Washington Post reported that both sides of the gun debate had called the NRA out for going too far with the video, which was originally posted in April, that blames Hollywood, former President Barack Obama, and the liberal media for inciting protests against the current president, Donald Trump.

Now, a former CIA terrorism analyst has given her take on exactly why the NRA video is a big mistake. In fact, she thinks it's downright dangerous.

Cynthia Storer, who was one of the members of the mostly-female team of CIA analysts who helped find Osama Bin Laden, tweeted that "the NRA is feeding an us vs. them narrative of the kind that fuels all extremist movements." She closed her tweet with the warning, "I should know."

Being that she spent 20 years as an analyst at the CIA, focusing mostly on terrorism-related issues, it would be wise to pay attention to her. In fact, in a 2013 interview with PBS Newshour, Storer said she is always conscious of what the next big threat will be to America. "I’m always concerned that we’re not going to listen to the next people who are standing and jumping up and down with their hair on fire trying to get people’s attention to something totally new and different," she said. Perhaps, that's why she's speaking out about this ad now.

Especially, since the NRA's tone in the clip has been described as "barely a whisper shy of a call for full civil war" and an "open call to violence to protect white supremacy," by activist DeRay McKesson. Many citing Loesch's statement that "the only way to save our country and our freedom from their lies is to fight the violence with the clenched fist of truth" is a call to violence.

Loesch disagrees with that assessment of the video, tweeting that people are overreacting about its tone. Even asking for critics to apologize to her. "Lie. No one called for guns," she wrote of the ad. "You owe an apology for trying to purposefully incite with such impugnation."