Democratic Candidate Pepper Sprays Himself To Prove A Point About Gun Control

News | Trending

Democratic Candidate Pepper Sprays Himself To Prove A Point About Gun Control

YouTube

Levi Tillemann, a democratic congressional candidate in Colorado, has an interesting idea on how to keep our schools safe.

After the Parkland school shooting, which claimed the lives of 17 students, gun control once again became a hot topic in America.

Many ideas were proposed after this fatal shooting, but only one seemed to stick: Combating guns with more guns.

Tillemann criticized President Trump's idea that teachers and other school officials should be armed with guns.  

To be honest, I couldn't jump on that bandwagon either.

In March, a Northern California teacher accidentally fired a gun and injured a 17-year-old student while teaching a public safety lesson. So much for safety.

Tillemann argues that we should ditch guns and arm schools with pepper spray to prevent school shootings from happening, and he was willing to prove it that it works.

The Controversial Video

He released an ad campaign featuring a video of himself getting pepper sprayed.

"I'm calling on Congress to stop talking past each other and try something new. Empower schools and teachers with non-lethal self-defense tools, like this can of pepper spray. Pepper spray doesn't cost much and it can be safely stored in a break glass in case of emergency cabinet. But it's powerful and won't accidentally kill a kid. Trust me, this will stop anybody in their tracks."
YouTube

It's hard not to believe him after he sprayed the defensive agent right in his own eyes.

"It's incredibly painful, now I can't see anything," he said. "Wow, that's intense."

But not everyone is on board with his idea.

Mixed Reactions

Some people are all for it

"This is a much better idea than arming teachers with more guns," someone commented.

Student used pepper spray to take down the Seattle campus shooter in 2014.K5 News

"In 2014, someone took down a school shooter with pepper spray. If it worked once, what's to say it won't work again?" another wrote.

"This looks like a cheap, easily deployable idea that would be one more tool to give a scared teacher with cowering students when the unthinkable happens," a YouTube user commented.

Others are not so sure

"How close do you expect a teacher to get to a shooter to subdue them? ... Pepper spray is not going to solve anything. You fight bullets with bullets. You don't put teachers and students in danger by arming them with less," another added.

"The longest reaching pepper spray only reaches 18 feet. If someone is shooting up a school you would be dead before you got close enough to spray them," someone tweeted.

Some people proposed other changes

"Just replace teachers with [the] internet," someone suggested.

"Pepper spray affects people in a wide variety of ways. It incapacitates some, others it enrages and they 'hulk out' during the experience. There's a reason police carry both non-lethal and lethal defensive tools. Pepper spray may be a good idea, but it should not be the only option to the school's authorities."

Watch Tillemann's ad campaign below:

Do you think pepper spray will prevent a school shooting?

Jimmy Fallon surprises Parkland students with an emotional graduation speech. Watch it here!

Moojan has been a writer at Shared for a year. When she's not on the lookout for viral content, she's looking at cute animal photos. Reach her at moojan@shared.com.