MSNBC reporter Kerry Sanders accidentally made a strong case for the Second Amendment on Tuesday during a segment on the far-left network about the chaos in Venezuela.
The segment came after opposition leader Juan Guaido called on Venezuelan citizens and members of the armed forces to join a movement to overthrow brutal socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro.
Sanders noted that Maduro still maintained control of the military through the whole ordeal, adding: “You have to understand, in Venezuela gun ownership is not something that’s open to everybody. So if the military have the guns, they have the power and as long as Nicolás Maduro controls the military, he controls the country.”
Sanders comments came after an armored Venezuelan military vehicle plowed into a crowd of protesters earlier in the day in a video clip that went viral and was seen around the world.
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“Under the direction of then-President Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan National Assembly in 2012 enacted the “Control of Arms, Munitions and Disarmament Law,” with the explicit aim to ‘disarm all citizens,'” Fox News reported. “The law took effect in 2013, with only minimal pushback from some pro-democracy opposition figures, banned the legal commercial sale of guns and munitions to all – except government entities.”
“Guns would have served as a vital pillar to remaining a free people, or at least able to put up a fight,” Venezuelan teacher Javier Vanegas told Fox News. “The government security forces, at the beginning of this debacle, knew they had no real opposition to their force. Once things were this bad, it was a clear declaration of war against an unarmed population.”
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 its citizens.
In addition to police and military forces having firearms, Maduro has also indicated that he plans on arming the nation’s large civil militia which was founded by former President Hugo Chavez in 2008.
Maduro said in December that “the country’s civil militia had grown to 1.6 million members – more than tripling in size from the beginning of the year – and that its mission was to defend the country against external aggression,” Reuters reported.
“We will arm the Bolivarian militia to the teeth,” Maduro said. “An invading imperialist force may enter a part of our fatherland, but the imperialists should know that they will not leave here alive.”
Gunshots could be heard as the chaos commenced on Tuesday morning after Guaido called on Venezuelans to help him remove Maduro from power.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) weighed in on the developments, tweeting: “Firing on civilians has been a redline for military leaders in #Venezuela. Are they going to allow #MaduroRegime armed gangs to kill civilians to protect regime that’s going to come after many of them next? It’s time to step forward & restore safety & constitutional order”
Rubio added: “The entire world just watched a National Guard armored vehicle ram into a crowd of civilian protestors in #Caracas. How far will leaders of military allow this assault on their own people to go in #Venezuela?”