South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem raised eyebrows Friday when she said that her granddaughter, who is just a yeaą²r old, already has a shotgun and a rifle.
Speaking at the annual National Rifle Assoš½ciation convention išn Indianapolis, the conservative firebrand told the crowd that her granddaughter, āLittle Miss Addieā is already āset upā for her future with the weapons ā and a pony.
āLittle Miss Addie, who is almost two, and Branch who’s just a few months old, they have brought us so much joy. They’ve brought us purpose,ā Noem told the crowd, video of her remarks .
ā’Now Addie, who you know ā soon will need them [guns]. I wanna reassure you, she already has a shotgun and she already has a rifle and she’s got a little pony named Sparkles too. So the girl is set up,ā the conservative added.
Noem, a staunch supporter of gun rights, took time during her 24-minute speech to sign an executive order for her state to āfurther proteš¼ct the 2nd Amendment rights of South Dakotans.ā
The would prohibit government agencies from contracting wź§ith businesses that discriminate against āa firearm-related entity,ā .
Noemās comments about Addie ā the daughter of Noem’s daughter Kassidy and her husband, Kyle Peters ā sparked some outrage online.
šāAbsolutely sickening. How the heš¦ll is this real life in America?ā Tennessee Democrat Chris D. Jackson in response to the clip of Noemās speech, which has been viewed on the platform more than two million times.
āDid they give the 2-year-old training? If so, is thš½ere video? I want to see what a responsible 2-year-oldš° with a shotgun looks like,ā .
āThese gun fetishizers are out of their minds,ā user Lnonblonde. āThey act like guns aren’t even dangerous to just give a 2 year old yet they need an AK-47 to go to the drug store. No 2 year old needs or should have a rifle.ā
Another user, Tom Mallory, that āA š2-year-old who pulled the trigger on a shšotgun he or she was holding to their shoulder would be knocked down and likely injured.ā
Former President Donald Trump spoke at the convention after Noem and told those gathered that it was āa great honorā to have been endorsšed by the NRA during his 2016 election campaign.
He warned the organization š„that they ābetter endorse me again ā or theyāre going to have some explaining to do.ā
Trumpās former vice president, Mike Pence, however, was loudly booed when he took the stage at the event ešarlier.
āI heard it was very rough. Itās a bigš» news story. Youāve made news today. I donāt know what you did, but you made news today with the introduction you gaveā Trump said.