Tonight on Twitter, if you can believe it, Twitchy favorite Brad Thor and Twitchy regular Michael Ian Black had a nice, polite discussion on guns and the second amendment. No personal insults were issued. No trash talk. No attacks of any sort. Just two guys arguing their respective positions, passionately at times:
For those of you who missed my polite discussion with @michaelianblack tonight – it's what America needs more of.
— Brad Thor (@BradThor) April 7, 2018
Agreed. Tough convo but no personal insults. Good debate. https://t.co/tTRcv9cJuy
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) April 7, 2018
But right in the middle of the “good debate,” Twitter sent Brad Thor a warning that his account was at risk, saying “those who intimidate or threaten others may lose their accounts”:
Dear @Twitter @TwitterSupport @Jack – I couldn't have been having a nicer, more polite discussion with @michaelianblack and you all drop this into my TL? What's up with that? pic.twitter.com/wiqc5e2Jq1
— Brad Thor (@BradThor) April 7, 2018
WTF Twitter?
Black kindly copied Twitter on his reply, calling the social media’s company’s warning “bulls*it“:
Here’s the entire discussion (or most of it … there were a lot of tweets back and forth):
Here's another reason why the NRA, a terrorist organization *roots for* mass shootings. Their membership goes up. pic.twitter.com/UT0RVSmDuU
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) April 6, 2018
Actually, Michael – membership goes up when your side pushes to limit, or to repeal altogether, the rights of law-abiding gun owners. The @NRA exists to protect the #2A https://t.co/s0QLmTOfpa
— Brad Thor (@BradThor) April 6, 2018
The NRA, a terrorist organization, exists to sell guns and nothing else. I don't have a "side," except the side that wishes to reduce gun violence. Which side are you on? https://t.co/p1DiaSafox
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) April 6, 2018
Why are you focused only on reducing "gun" violence? Don't you care about all deaths? Isn't every life worth saving? https://t.co/BZyZ9usyy5
— Brad Thor (@BradThor) April 6, 2018
Actually, I'm a fan of @michaelianblack. He has blessed me with many laughs. He's also very intelligent and I think can debate fairly.
— Brad Thor (@BradThor) April 6, 2018
Thank you, Brad. I like your books – one of my great escapes is reading thrillers. I love them, and you're particularly great at writing them. https://t.co/rYFqduL1lv
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) April 7, 2018
P.S. @michaelianblack I'm on the side of the most important minority in the world, the minority that most needs the protection of firearms – the individual. https://t.co/wijDvPuZFF
— Brad Thor (@BradThor) April 7, 2018
That's like asking like an oncologist why he only treats cancer? Doesn't he care about heart attacks? What about aneurisms? I focus on gun violence because it is a preventable epidemic. We can cure it. https://t.co/YDIDM4h9FC
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) April 7, 2018
We are all, hopefully, on the side of the individual. Individuals are killed with guns every single day. 33k+ of them every year. Most of those deaths are preventable. The NRA prevents the preventable. They profit off children's blood. They are a terrorist organization. https://t.co/p2DqSsmO59
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) April 7, 2018
You're being fair, which is why I appreciate debating with you. What law would have prevented Parkland? https://t.co/fcggezgAuj
— Brad Thor (@BradThor) April 7, 2018
It's impossible to say. I don't focus on any individual shooting. I focus on the epidemic: 33k+ gun death a year, another 60k injured, 100ks of families destroyed. 1.4M dead in the last 50 years. The single greatest obstacle to getting those numbers down is the NRA. https://t.co/GWLchYGIld
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) April 7, 2018
Micheal – as I support the @NRA with my money + writing articles for them, you must then brand me a terrorist. https://t.co/uZTs2DYUNK
— Brad Thor (@BradThor) April 7, 2018
I brand the NRA a terrorist organization and you will have to decide for yourself whether or not you support that organization. Employing the tactics of terrorism makes them a terrorist organization; supporting them makes you a supporter. Does it make you a terrorist? Not to me. https://t.co/UqgXgfjXsg
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) April 7, 2018
Have you subtracted suicides and gang on gang deaths by firearms? https://t.co/giWFC9CjWv
— Brad Thor (@BradThor) April 7, 2018
Right. The old "if you want to reduce the gun violence statistics, simply remove the gun violence" tactic. https://t.co/tRON7hAOz0
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) April 7, 2018
Should we also blame automobile manufacturers and the @UAW for the thousands of automobile deaths every year? https://t.co/uZTs2DYUNK
— Brad Thor (@BradThor) April 7, 2018
If automobile manufacturers expresly designed vehicles to kill, served no purpose besides killing, and then they resisted all efforts to make them less likely to kill, yes. But that's not the case. https://t.co/Oa4lP1N9YC
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) April 7, 2018
I obviously support the @NRA. So I challenge you to brand me a terrorist for doing so. https://t.co/eg8lbY5GJ2
— Brad Thor (@BradThor) April 7, 2018
Brad, I think you are supporting a terrorist organization. I think being a terrorist connotes something different. I do not think the NRA directly commits acts of violence. They use indirect methods to incite it, and exploit violence for profits when it occurs. https://t.co/gwQ5IHpCeX
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) April 7, 2018
Thank you, Michael for honestly and politely debating. Do you believe the $$ pouring into the @NRA are because they have solicited them, or because the calls to curtail the #2A on your side have spurred gun rights advocates to donate? https://t.co/Gepu90lSiA
— Brad Thor (@BradThor) April 7, 2018
Donations in 2016 were down, but only account for less than 1/2 of their funding. The other $ comes from unknown "donations," including from Russia. The NRA is now being investigated for illegally funneling money to the Trump campaign. https://t.co/V6fSSQSMQT
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) April 7, 2018
As an @NRA member, I am absolutely against foreign donations. https://t.co/Aw3XJEfK7v
— Brad Thor (@BradThor) April 7, 2018
Great. Then ask for your money back. They won't care because Alexander Torshin and his Russian oligarch pals have a lot more cash than you. https://t.co/PZ6wkF8T8W
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) April 7, 2018
The joke in gun stores across the country was that while in office, Obama was @NRA salesman of the year, every year. When you spook gun owners, sales go up, WAY up. Perhaps you and I can be a model for how to discuss… https://t.co/Aw3XJEfK7v
— Brad Thor (@BradThor) April 7, 2018
The *reason* gun store owners believed that is because the NRA *told* them that. "He's coming for your guns!!!" He never did. He should have. https://t.co/KtBGqdxMpE
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) April 7, 2018
@michaelianblack has already made a fair distinction between members and the organization, so perhaps my respectful approach has been healthy… It takes all of us, tho, to talk this out. https://t.co/TSEGos3mR1
— Brad Thor (@BradThor) April 7, 2018
Thank you, Brad. I am open to any discussion on this topic. I know my position is extreme, but I believe it to be correct. I take no pleasure in it. I would love for the NRA to be on the side of reducing gun violence. They are not.
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) April 7, 2018
Thank you, Michael. I think when terrible things happen, we look to fix blame so we can have closure. The @NRA (a national org) is an easy target, despite the fact that so many shooters are deranged and so many clues are sadly missed (locally).
— Brad Thor (@BradThor) April 7, 2018
I'm sorry, I don't agree with the premise that "terrible things happen." These massacres (and the routine day-to-day violence) aren't acts of God. They are preventable. As I have said, the people doing the most to prevent them from happening, on every front: the NRA.
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) April 7, 2018
Dude – have you met me? I have been hammering Trump + complimenting him when I think he has made good moves. If @NRA washed Russian $$ (which I absolutely don't believe they've done), I'll hammer them both. #promise https://t.co/58ndZGOrur
— Brad Thor (@BradThor) April 7, 2018
I'm not aware of your position on Trump. That's ignorance on my part, not a slight to you.
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) April 7, 2018
Update: We’ve corrected an editing error: It’s “Michael Ian Black,” not “Ian Michael Black.”
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