SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — During a speech at the 2022 NRA Annual Meeting in Houston, TX, just 280 miles and three days removed from a devastating school shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas where 19 students and 2 teachers were killed, Governor Kristi Noem took the stage, lauding the need for guns as a protection from the government, and condemning the French Revolution.
Noem first talked about growing up in a gun-owning household, calling the 2nd amendment sacred, and remarking that in South Dakota, even the grandmas are armed, after telling a story about bird hunting with her grandmother.
After this, Noem read from the 2nd amendment, eliciting cheers and applause from the gathered crowd. She then went on to speak of the utility of privately owned firearms in the American Revolutionary War, remarking that the war would not have been won without them. Following this, she transitioned into her criticism of the French Revolution.
“The first 10 amendments — the bill of rights — were ratified effective December 15, 1791. But what else was happening in the world at that time,” Noem asked. “The French Revolution.”
“In Paris, which was the center of European learning and culture for a thousand years, mobs tore down statues and crosses… does that sound familiar,” she asked, drawing a comparison between the French effort to overthrow of the monarchy of King Louis XVI and recent calls for the removal of statues of historic figures, including those dedicated to confederate officers and slave owners in the United States.
After drawing this unique comparison, Noem moved on to talk about gun violence in U.S. cities, criticizing the media. “When gang members kill innocent children in Baltimore or Cleveland, they might give it a passing mention on the local news, but when a deranged mentally unstable murderer who fits the left’s political narrative kills innocent children and people, the media seized the opportunity to paint millions of law-abiding gun owners, and you and me,” she said “as barbarians. Monsters.”
After praising increased rates of gun ownership in America, Noem again turned to France in the 1790s.
“We have seen the same type of radical mob mentality taking place on the streets of American cities that swept Paris in the 1790s,” she said. “Woke mobs are tearing down statues, and it doesn’t matter who they are of. Our founding fathers, Catholic missionaries. They even wanted to come after Mt. Rushmore. Well not on my watch.”
In her speech, Noem also spoke highly of herself, discussing the first bill she signed as Governor in 2018, a bill legalizing ‘constitutional carry’, meaning a permit is not required to open or conceal carry a firearm.
Noem also discussed another bill she signed which repealed all conceal carry permit fees, and requires the state to pay for citizens’ federal background checks, and applauded the changes made to South Dakota’s ‘stand your ground law‘, as well as rules allowing you to keep your guns loaded while in storage.
Noem also praised her own handling of the pandemic, while arguing that the government used COVID-19 to restrict freedom.
