Enlightening: MSNBC’s Joy-Ann Reid Finds ‘Neo-Confederate Thread’ in Gun Rights Movement

n a discussion on MSNBC’s Now about a popular backlash leading to recall elections for Colorado Democrats who pushed for strict new gun laws, MSNBC contributor Joy-Ann Reid identified a more sinister phenomenon at work in the Centennial State. Reid said on Tuesday that she sees a strain of “neo-confederate” thought permeating the anti-gun control movement.

After noting that the recalls are being protested on virtually every possible ground – from their unethicality to the unnecessary cost to taxpayers – the panel guest and host of MSNBC’s Now singled out the most damning impulse fueling the recall effort: a Confederate vision of states’ rights.

RELATED: Confederate Flag Display At North Carolina State Capitol Outrages NAACP

“A sort of neo-Confederate thread that runs through the pro-gun movement and the NRA movement,” Reid opined.

However, she noted that pro-Second Amendment rights supporters are anti-federalist in the sense that they oppose restrictions on the right to gun ownership at the state and federal levels. Reid said that, even in blue states where the public is in favor of stricter gun laws,

“the NRA will come in – helicopter in – and undo them.”

It’s an odd strain of “neo-Confederate” thought that refuses to accommodate state-level laws which would violate the rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. In fact, it’s a strain of “Confederate” thought that might have amounted to treasonous thought in the actual Confederacy.

But… What the heck. She’s on a roll.

Watch the clip below via MSNBC:

> >Follow Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) on Twitter