How To Sell A Massacre: Mar 28

Al Jazeera documentary How To Sell A Massacre concludes tonight on ABC with more revelations on the National Rifle Association of America and One Nation.

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party workshopped plans with the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) to target women and “vulnerable people” in its pitch to undermine Australia’s gun control laws.

The second instalment of Al Jazeera documentary How To Sell A Massacre, to be broadcast on ABC TV at 8pm tonight, shows One Nation Chief of Staff James Ashby discussing how to sell a pro-gun message to Australians.

“It’s like Vegemite. You don’t put a f***ing bundle of the s*** on your toast. A light smear at first, get them used to the flavour,” he said. “Part of it will be let’s start looking at women’s shooting range programs, self-defence programs, whatever those things might be. Start re-empowering women or vulnerable people.”

It follows revelations in part one of the undercover investigation that One Nation planned to lobby the NRA and other pro-gun groups for millions of dollars to help it win the balance of power in parliament, promising to roll back Australia’s gun control laws. There is no evidence to suggest it received any such donations.

Tonight’s footage also reveals that One Nation’s Queensland leader Steve Dickson likened winning the balance of power in parliament to holding a gun to the government’s head.

“The thing you need to understand about the balance of power is the headlock and the 9mm [handgun] to the back of the head, that’s where it sits,” Mr Dickson said. “Once you say ‘We want something’, we will get it. Without it, they don’t get any legislation through.”

Tonight’s program shows NRA officials advising One Nation how to undermine Australia’s National Firearms Agreement, including co-opting journalists to write pro-gun stories and targeting sections of the population with messages “that will get people outraged” about gun controls.

Responding to part one of How To Sell A Massacre, One Nation said its members “have always complied with the law” and it had referred the matter to ASIO and Australian Federal Police.

8pm tonight on ABC.