Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City) says the National Rifle Association and its spokeswoman are "quickly becoming national security threats" after the organization posted a video attacking the New York Times and other media outlets.
The NRA says it has the Times and other so-called "fake news media" in its crosshairs. Rep. Rice returned fire with a tweet on Thursday, calling out the organization and its spokeswoman Dana Loesch.
Rice also panned the organization on her Facebook page, calling the NRA "lunatics actively encouraging violence against the free press."
On Friday, Loesch hit back at Rice during an appearance on Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" and called on the congresswoman to resign.
"This is a congresswoman who, in her area, MS-13 is killing black and Hispanic men, and yet she has harsher words for me and the NRA than MS-13, and that says something," Loesch says.
A spokesperson for Rep Rice counters that the NRA is "...actively encouraging violence against political activists and the free press. That's extremely troubling to Rep. Rice, as it should be to all law-abiding gun-owners and NRA members."
Rice's rebuke of the NRA is garnering national headlines, and her constituents are taking notice. Some who spoke with News 12 said her comments were "unwarranted," while others said the NRA "has gone too far."