On Tuesday, violent clashes broke out across Venezuela as the U.S.-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido, who declared himself the country’s rightful president earlier, called for a military uprising against Maduro. Video of the violence shows members of Maduro’s national guard plow through a group of protesters supporting the uprising.
MSNBC reporter Kerry Sanders accidentally made a case for the Second Amendment during a segment on her network about the chaos in Venezuela.
“It has been surprising to a lot of people in Washington [D.C.] and the administration, at least, that this is taking longer than they thought,” MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell said. “Despite the sanctions — despite the pressure, with the help of Russia and other outside forces — Maduro is hanging on.”
Sanders replied by explaining the vulnerability of a disarmed population in this kind of situation.
“And not only hanging on, but he appears to still control the military,” Sanders said. “You have to understand, in Venezuela, gun ownership is not something that is open to everybody. So if the military [has] the guns, they have the power. And so as long as Nicolas Maduro controls the military, he controls the country.”
Fox News noted that when only 37 firearms were voluntarily turned in, Venezuela’s socialist government went around and forcefully confiscated thousands of firearms from the citizens.
In addition to police and military forces having firearms, Maduro has recently indicated that he plans to arm the nation’s large civil militia which was founded by former President Hugo Chavez in 2008.
