NRA take a dig at Tim Walz and it totally backfires

Spat comes as both campaigns try to win over gun-owners

The National Rifle Association, the influential firearms lobbying group, was mocked online for allegedly getting the facts wrong on a video claiming vice presidential candidate Tim Walz doesn’t know how to use a shotgun.

“Tim Walz previously claimed he kept a shotgun in his car so he could hunt pheasants after football practice,” the group wrote introducing the video, posted on X on Tuesday. “This is Tim Walz attempting to load his shotgun this past weekend.⁩”

The clip then features a video of Walz using a shotgun over circus-like music, and captions that claim “that dog don’t hunt” and urging viewers to defeat “confiscation Kamala.”

X users quickly added a community note to the post, linking to a video suggesting Walz was in fact unloading the shotgun.

“Clearly unloading and checking the action,” one user, a Colorado cattle rancher, commented.

The NRA accused Tim Walz of not knowing how to load a shotgun, but social media users say the gun group is the one that got the facts wrong. (AP)

“You guys have an impressive miss rate for an organization founded to teach people marksmanship,” added journalist James Stout.

The Independent has contacted the NRA for comment.

If the NRA did get its gun claims wrong, it would be the latest embarrassment for the embattled group, which has been under a cloud of corruption scandals in recent years.

The group’s new CEO Doug Hamline, meanwhile, was reportedly involved in the gruesome killing of a fraternity house cat while in university.

“I do not in any way condone the actions that took place more than 44 years ago,” he told The Independent in a recent statement. “I took responsibility for this regrettable incident as chapter president although I wasn’t directly involved. Since that time I served my country, raised a family, volunteered in my community, started a business, worked with Gold Star families, and raised millions of dollars for charity. I’ve endeavored to live my life in a manner beyond reproach.”

The online spat comes as both campaigns seek to attract the support of gun owners.

The NRA video stems from a pheasant hunt Walz joined on October 12 in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota.

Walz, a veteran who grew up hunting in rural Nebraska, has spoken on the campaign trail about respecting the Second Amendment while restricting access to high-powered assault rifles.

Kamala Harris, for her part, has talked publicly about owning a Glock pistol.

The campaign even has an affinity group called Hunters and Anglers for Harris.

Republicans, meanwhile, allege that these overtures are disingenuous, pointing to Harris’s past, now-dropped, support for mandatory assault weapon buybacks.

After the pheasant hunt, the Trump campaign accused their rivals of “desperately attempting to make up ground with male voters.”