The first alarming part of this video is when Dale Peterson, who is running for Alabama’s Agriculture Commissioner (which controls $5 billion according to the ad), is when he whips out a rifle. Typically, the last thing you expect to see in a political ad is a gun because it makes the candidate look like he could kill you. But as AConservativeLesbian explains, “Oh, and for the city slickers: Peterson has the rifle because a lot of farming consists of shooting varmints that are eating your crops.”
But in the ad Peterson explains that he’s also been a Marine and a cop — so it stands to reason that carrying a gun could be perceived as, um, having to do with keeping the peace beyond the context of farming. Come on though, did anyone think this guy doesn’t own a gun or two? Either way, this will go down in obscure internet meme history, filed under “uncomfortable political ads meant to intimidate varmints of human and non-human varities.”