Jokes about Trayvon Martin are always in poor taste, but politician J. Todd Kincannon probably wins the prize for making a bad joke about the situation. But apparently, Kincannon feels that the way “liberals constantly use tragedies to try to take away our constitutional rights” through gun control laws is more offensive than tweets from his personal Twitter account.
In a related report by The Inquisitr , Trayvon Martin’s father Tracy has been comparing his son to civil rights icons of the past when giving speeches, claiming that his son’s legacy should be used to push for further gun control laws even though the George Zimmerman trial only used standard self defense instead of the Stand Your Ground law that has caused so much debate. Even the so-called Trayvon Martin gun control laws have been losing to expansions of the Stand Your Ground law , with multiple states adding more conditions in which gun owners can use their weapons in self defense or as a warning shot. There’s also been recent studies that claim that black people benefit more from Stand Your Ground than other races.
In this case, Kincannon started talking about gun control laws shortly after Elliot Rodger went on his killing spree, and other politicians began talking about gun control in response to the Santa Barbara shooting :
“I’m sick of liberals trying to take my guns because they’re too wimpy and stupid to defend themselves from nuts. If that offends you, tough. If libs took responsibility for their safety and the safety of their families, they wouldn’t be sheep to the slaughter when a nut has a gun. I’m sorry a liberal shot some innocent people in a Blue State. Learn to defend yourselves instead of taking guns from law-abiding citizens. If liberals took responsibility for armed self-defense the way conservatives do, they wouldn’t constantly get shot in these situations. California liberals, by law and by culture, have banned armed self defense. I am not surrendering my gun because of their dumb choices.”
Kincannon has openly admitted that he is attempting to provoke people with his inflammatory tweets. He’s known for openly insulting other politicians, even going so far as to call Nancy Pelosi a “c**t,” a “b***h”, and a “w***e” at one point. But he believes that bad jokes can somehow help the political discourse when it comes to hot button issues. For example, perhaps because of the association between gun control laws and Trayvon Martin, he once made this bad joke:
“Hey what’s the difference between Trayvon Martin and a dead baby? They’re both dead, but Pepsi doesn’t taste like Trayvon.”
The politician also has a response for those who are tempted to rage at him in response:
Dear Liberals: Threatening to kill me and rape my wife every five minutes is not a very good way to get me on board with gun control.
— Todd Kincannon (@Todd__Kincannon) May 26, 2014
Personally, I realize that gun control laws will be discussed in the context of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman for years to come, even though Stand Your Ground was not part of the actual trial, but I think we can all agree that this is not the way to hold a productive political discussion, right?