Larry Pratt is not just the executive director emeritus of Gun Owners of America, he’s also an established bridge between fringe radical gun groups and some of the country’s most powerful politicians. Last night, Showtime debuted the first episode of Sacha Baron Cohen’s new show called “Who is America?” in which Pratt’s extremism was featured front and center.
The first episode featured Pratt and several GOP congressmen agreeing to appear in an advertisement supporting a fake program called “KinderGuardians” that advocates arming children as young as four years old with guns in the classroom. Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, Rep. Joe Wilson and former Congressman Joe Walsh were shown advocating for the fake program alongside Pratt in a clip released by Showtime.
In the clip, Pratt told Cohen, “Toddlers are pure, uncorrupted by fake news or homosexuality. They don’t worry if it’s politically correct to shoot a mentally deranged gunman. They’ll just do it. The science behind this program is proven. At age 4, a child processes images 80 percent faster than an adult meaning that essentially, like owls, they can see in slow motion.”
Cohen’s trickery also led to Pratt reciting a bit featuring the names of prominent musical artists.
“Children under five also have elevated levels of the pheromone Blink-182 produced by the part of the liver known as the Rita Ora. This allows nerve reflexes to travel along the Cardi B neural pathway to the Wiz Khalifa 40 percent faster, saving time and saving lives,” Pratt read into the camera.
In the clip, Cohen said that he was able to gain access to members of Congress after successfully duping Pratt, which speaks volumes about Pratt’s deep influence among Republicans on Capitol Hill.
“Now that I had this Pratt on board, I was welcomed into the halls of Congress,” Cohen says.
Under Pratt’s leadership, Gun Owners of America has lobbied Congress on behalf of fringe anti-government militia groups for gun laws that make the National Rifle Association look moderate.
Despite the fact that Pratt makes frequent references to assassinating political leaders, was forced out of Pat Buchanan’s presidential campaign after his ties to neo-Nazis were revealed, and peddles absurd conspiracy theories about school shootings on par with Infowars’ Alex Jones, Republican politicians still listen to the demands of Gun Owners of America and tout the group’s endorsement.
In recent years, Pratt has:
- Suggested that Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg may be a crisis actor.
- Insisted that liberals have “plans to enslave an entire nation.”
- Issued a veiled warning toward Merrick Garland, saying that “the Second Amendment is all about people like Judge Garland.”
- Demanded that the judge who found Kim Davis in contempt for denying a same-sex couple a marriage license be arrested.
- Said that states should arrest federal agents who enforce national gun laws.
- Suggested regulating how much alcohol that bars serve so that patrons can carry guns inside them.
- Claimed that a shooting in South Carolina was tied to the transgender rights movement.
- Repeatedly compared Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler
- Told a “sovereign citizen” that most federal laws were unconstitutional.
