19:36

Why do Americans need AR-15 rifles during a global pandemic? To shoot “looting hordes from Atlanta.”

That’s the campaign message from a former Republican congressman from Georgia, Paul Broun, who is now running for congress again.

Broun lives in Gainesville, Georgia, a city that is 87% white, and that is about an hour outside of Atlanta, the state capital, which is majority-black.

In a new campaign video, Broun promises to give away an AR-15 rifle “to one lucky person who signs up for email updates” from his campaign website.

Marcus Baram (@mbaram) How to try to win election by stoking fear amid the COVID-19 crisis:



Former Georgia Rep. Paul Broun who is running to return to Congress just released an ad warning that “in uncertain times like these,” it’s important to protect yourself against “looting hordes from Atlanta” pic.twitter.com/bqS4rePrmP

“Whether it’s looting hordes from Atlanta or a tyrannical government from Washington, there are few better liberty machines than an AR-15.”



In a phone interview Tuesday, Broun defended his message as “not racial.”

“Only the liberal press would take that kind of position,” he said. “There are a lot of white people in Atlanta as well.”



“Ma’am, I have been a keynote speaker at an MLK Day celebration,” he said.



Broun was dismissive of the idea that his rhetoric might concern black Georgia residents, or that this kind of rhetoric might increase the risk of innocent black Americans getting shot while in majority-white neighborhoods.

“You’re the racist,” he added.



Asked what evidence he had that the coronavirus pandemic might result in hordes of looters, Broun referenced civil unrest in Baltimore, Maryland, and Ferguson, Missouri, both majority-black cities where police killings of unarmed black men led to sustained protests over police treatment of black Americans.



Broun, who had a reputation as one of the most conservative members of the GOP during his eight years in Congress, left office in 2015 under the shadow of an ethics investigation into his former chief of staff over taxpayer dollars spent to hire a political consultant known as the “tea party whisperer.”

