In a now deleted gif, state House Jonathan Mason used a photo of children taken at a YMCA event to tout his pro-gun stance.
A candidate running for the state House has deleted a controversial GIF he posted on Facebook. The image included the phrase "pro-gun" paired with a picture of middle-schoolers at an event sponsored by the YMCA of Middle Tennessee. The candidate, Jonathan Mason, had said he is "unapologetic" about his stance, despite the recent spate of high-profile school shootings.
Mason, a client specialist at insurance company Unum, is one of two Republicans running to replace retiring Rep. Marc Gravitt (R-East Ridge) in House District 30, which encompasses the eastern suburbs of Chattanooga. Last week Mason posted a GIF featuring a picture taken in February of him standing in front of a large group of kids. The phrases "Conservative," "Christian," "Family Values," "Pro-Business," "Pro-Gun" and "Pro-Life" scrolled at the bottom of the screen.
The picture that served as the GIF background was one of several — almost all of which featured the YMCA logo — that Mason had posted on his campaign's Facebook page, apparently all taken at a regional YMCA Youth in Government conference held in Chattanooga in February. Mason, an alumnus of the program, gave the keynote address at the event about the importance of civic engagement.
Though the event took place in Chattanooga, the event was organized by YMCA of Middle Tennessee's Center for Civic Engagement. Mason is a former member of the center's advisory board. The Youth in Government Program is similar to Model UN — also sponsored by the YMCA of Middle Tennessee — except attendees run a mock legislature and state government, with mock lobbyists and a mock press corps. (Take it from us, kids, the latter is way more fun than being a mock senator.) The nonprofit, which cannot endorse candidates per IRS regulations, said it was surprised by Mason's GIF and Facebook photos, as was the YMCA of Chattanooga, which was not involved in the event.
"We weren’t aware the photo had been used in a campaign post and have asked that it be taken down, which Jonathan was more than willing to do," says YMCA of Middle Tennessee spokesperson Jessica Fain.
Mason did delete the GIF, along with photos of the February event, from his Facebook page on Friday. The GIF does, however, remain up on Giphy, meaning others supporting his campaign can continue to use it if they please. (UPDATE: As of Wednesday morning, Stan Settles, who is running for a seat on the Tennessee Republican Party State Executive Committee, had deleted the gif from Giphy.) Mason would not answer questions as to why in the wake of so many recent school shootings he thought it was appropriate to post "pro-gun" over a picture of a group of children who weren't aware of the usage, but he did text a statement.
"It's disappointing but not surprising that my democratic opponent Esther Helton, who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, would be offended by my pro-life, pro 2nd amendment, pro-family, pro-business agenda," Mason writes. "I'll never apologize for my conservative values, values I intend to push in Nashville. As the father of two elementary age children, school safety is my number one priority. As the next State Representative, I will do all I can to increase the funding for Student Resource Officers in our public schools."
Helton, a nurse and East Ridge City Council member, is Mason's opponent in the Republican primary. He has repeatedly attacked her for not being a "true" conservative. The Scene was not alerted to the GIF by anyone associated with Helton's campaign or that of the unopposed Democrat in the race, Joda Thongnopnua. We conveyed that to Mason, but he declined to respond to further questions.
Helton says she had not seen the GIF before being asked about it by the Scene.
"I've been out knocking on doors in 90-degree weather, not looking at Facebook," Helton says. "I really don't pay attention to what he says, because his platform is running me down."
Thongnopnua said he had seen the post but declined to comment on it.
"I don’t really have anything to say about all that," Thongnopnua says. "There’s obviously a Republican primary going on, and I am focused on my race and making sure we are prepared to win in November."
Beth Joslin Roth, the policy director for the pro-gun-control Safe Tennessee Project, says Mason's use of the picture of students as "unwitting props for his pro-gun agenda" seemed "highly unethical."
"Since Parkland, students across the nation, and across the state of Tennessee, have been calling for gun law reform," Roth says. "Thousands of Tennessee kids, sick of school shootings, gun violence in their communities, and legislative inaction, have planned walkouts, marches and town halls with representatives and candidates. It's worth noting that voter registration is a key component at most of these marches and walkouts. There will be many new voters casting their first votes this year, and as members of the lockdown generation, they are single issue voters."
According to recent data from the Safe Tennessee Project in May 2018 alone, there were 125 shooting incidents across the state resulting in 84 injuries and 47 deaths. Three children 10 or under were injured in accidental shootings.
In 2016, the last year for which complete data is available, Tennessee was 14th in the nation for firearm deaths and ninth in the nation for firearm homicides, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
