i pledge to work for free to secure the children

@CarlosCruz2016/Twitter

Armed man’s pledge to ‘secure the children’ becomes an over-the-top meme

Thanks for volunteering to become a meme, buddy.

 

Jay Hathaway

Internet Culture

Posted on Feb 27, 2018   Updated on May 21, 2021, 11:23 pm CDT

President Donald Trump has been heavily criticized for suggesting that trained teachers with firearms could stop classroom shootings, but some of his pro-ammo supporters love the idea. One man has even offered to put his military experience to work and bring his guns to classrooms in defense of our children. For free!

The main service he ended up providing, though, is giving the internet an easy target for mockery. Thanks for volunteering to become a meme, buddy.

carloscruz2016 pledge to secure the children
norareed/Twitter

@CarlosCruz2016 deleted the original tweet, but it has already been widely parodied, with people attaching his “PLEDGE” to a slew of ridiculous images.

https://twitter.com/socketquest/status/968215000623050763

https://twitter.com/AlmightyBoob/status/968252185837371392

https://twitter.com/hypedresonance/status/968300117307609088

https://twitter.com/banebutwoke/status/968210026056814592

People have also just gone the old-school route of mocking his appearance in writing.

https://twitter.com/HyruleWilds/status/968209702101311489

https://twitter.com/jimpjorps/status/968287556373766144

The @CarlosCruz2016 saga is highly reminiscent of the Navy Seal copypasta, a long, exaggerated boast about being a Navy Seal that’s often pasted as an ironic response to people who make physical threats on the internet. Both feature tough-talking military personalities who don’t realize they’re making themselves appear ludicrous. The difference is that the Navy Seal rant was meant as a joke.

Just days after a crowd cheered when Sen. Marco Rubio mentioned “banning assault weapons completely,” offering to solve the problem of guns in schools by bringing your guns to school is a pretty bad look.

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*First Published: Feb 27, 2018, 6:03 pm CST