Jacksonville billboard: 'The NRA is a terrorist organization'

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – An anti-GOP political action committee with a reputation for controversial tactics is going after the National Rifle Association with a Jacksonville billboard calling the group terrorists.

For those driving along Interstate 295 near Commonwealth Avenue and Interstate 10 on the city's Westside, the signage is hard to miss -- "The NRA is a terrorist organization," the message reads.

It's not clear exactly when the billboard went up. But according to the sign, it was paid for by Mad Dog PAC, a political action committee led by Claude Taylor, a political operative and former White House staffer in the Clinton administration.

"It got you to call me, which you probably wouldn't have done otherwise, right? It has people talking. We put up these billboards and it begins a conversation," Taylor told News4Jax by phone Friday. "People are discussing the issue and not just because of us, but because the issue is so important."

The Mad Dog PAC is no stranger to controversy. It made waves in South Florida with an "Impeachment Now" billboard positioned near President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, according to the Bradenton Herald. The group also has a billboard in Lake City attacking U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, for a 2008 DUI arrest.

The group's Jacksonville sign is the latest in a string of anti-NRA advertisements.

"It's a little strong just saying it's a 'terrorist organization.' But in reality, it is," said Larry Haftel, whose friend told him about the Jacksonville sign. "We in America like to deny things."

While some expressed support for the message, attorney and state Rep. Cord Byrd, R-Neptune Beach, said the NRA represents the millions of every day Americans, so it's offensive to use the term "terrorist."

"Wow. So the person that's behind the group that put it up, I mean, he labeled himself as a veteran political prankster, but if it's a prank, it's not a very funny one," said Byrd, who's a member of the NRA and an expert in state and federal firearms law. 

Taylor argued that the NRA represents the gun makers, not the membership.

"They are profiteering off the public misperception that they are a gun-rights organization and that they represent the interests of gun owners," Taylor said. "They do not. And they represent the interests of gun makers. That's a crucial distinction."

Taylor wrote in a Feb. 19 tweet that the PAC has been targeting the gun-rights group since Jan. 1, prior to the Parkland shooting. As the Pensacola News-Journal reports, a similar message was splashed across a billboard in the Panhandle.

"The massacre at Parkland high school ... I think makes it very clear to a lot of people that the National Rifle Association, the NRA, plays a critical role in making available to the general public what are essentially weapons of war," Taylor said.

But Byrd said the serious issue of responding to the Parkland shooting is behind the billboard.

"The NRA, in any of these mass shootings, had nothing to do with them. And, in fact, in the Texas shooting, it was an NRA member and former instructor who stopped the bad guy," Byrd said. "So that's what I would like the other side, the person to put up. So why are you demonizing an organization that has never had anything to do with any of these mass shootings?"

According to the PAC's website, Mad Dog "solicits contributions from concerned citizens to fund billboards on (sic) against Treasonweasel House GOP candidates across the country. We are also the initiators of Anti-Trump Billboards with Impeachment Now, in addition to Attacking the NRA."

In a Feb. 19 tweet, Taylor said the group relies on direct donations and the sales of merchandise, such as T-shirts and bumper stickers, to fund its campaigns. At that point, he said, the group had already racked up 4,000 contributions to its efforts.