Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) was recorded lashing out at both her constituents and the National Rifle Association (NRA) on Tuesday evening during a town hall aimed at curbing gun violence.
“This is why the NRA has got to go,” Stevens shouted as pro-second Amendment advocates made their voices heard. “The NRA has got to go!” she screamed a second time.
An estimated 200 people attended the hour-long event, which was held at the Multi-Lakes Conservation Association in suburban Detroit. Interestingly, the venue is home to pistol, shotgun, and rifle ranges and many attendees showed up open-carrying their own firearms.
📢@RepHaleyStevens shouts: The NRA has got to go📢 pic.twitter.com/Vpnun5vwN5
— Michigan Rising Action (@MIRisingAction) October 2, 2019
The town hall was organized as a question-and-answer style format and was intended to cover a variety of gun-related topics spanning from protecting victims of domestic abuse to firearm storage, reported The Detroit News. In addition to Stevens, Michigan’s House Democratic Leader Christine Greig and Democratic State Rep. Robert Wittenberg were also in attendance.
During the contentious town hall, many of the attendees booed and shouted “NRA,” showing their support for the gun rights organization, and some held signs that said “Vote out Haley Stevens — a liar.”
The event was hosted by the left-wing activist group Fems for Dems, a grassroots organization focused on electing progressive lawmakers in the state of Michigan.
“Representative Haley Stevens revealed her true intentions during her unhinged outburst directed at her own constituents,” Tori Sachs, the executive director of Michigan Rising Action told The Daily Wire. “[She] may have run as a moderate who would support ‘common sense’ gun reform, but it’s now clear she’s joined the gun-grabbing radical left trying to completely dismantle the NRA and take away 2nd Amendment rights from law-abiding citizens.”
“It makes sense that Haley Stevens would be widely out of touch with her constituents after living in liberal cities like Chicago and Washington D.C., only moving home to Michigan recently so she could run for office,” Sachs added.
Stevens was elected to the 11th Congressional District in 2018, when Michigan experienced a swing to the left following President Donald Trump’s surprise victory in the Great Lakes State in 2016. The seat was previously held by former Rep. Dave Trott (R-MI), who opted not to seek re-election after serving for two terms. While Trump won the congressional district in 2016, Stevens was able to flip the consistently red district blue.
Some of Stevens’ Democratic colleagues in the state have been distancing themselves from the anti-NRA outburst as the video continues to circulate online.
“We’ve got to find a way to restore some sense of community, that we can disagree,” Rep. Debbie Dingell said on a local Detroit news show while discussing Stevens’ outburst. “We all have different life experiences, we have different perspectives, we’ve had different experiences. Instead of screaming at each other all the time, how do we listen to each other?”
“I made some stupid comments about the NRA when I was young, too, because I was afraid of them, and didn’t understand everything,” she continued. “But if we could find a way to listen to each other more and to take some of the drama out.”