A progressive House candidate in Colorado has released a campaign ad in which he gets pepper sprayed in the face as part of his call to combat violence in schools.
In the ad, posted last week, Levi Tillemann criticizes President Trump’s plan to arm teachers and school officials with firearms as a way to combat potential school shooters.
“I’m calling on Congress to stop talking past each other and try something new,” Tilleman says in the ad. “Empower schools and teachers with non-lethal self-defense tools, like this can of pepper spray.”
Tillemann touts pepper spray as an effective method to protect classrooms from school shooters, saying that it is cost-effective and can be stored safely.
“It’s powerful, but it won’t accidentally kill a kid,” he says in the ad.
{mosads}The video then shows Tilleman being sprayed in the face with pepper spray, then dunking his head into a bucket of water and spraying himself with a hose.
“It’s incredibly painful, and now I just can’t see anything,” he says. “Wow, that’s intense.”
Following a string of school shootings in recent months, Trump has called for teachers to be armed in schools, a suggestion that has been met with harsh criticism from the education community.
Tillemann, a former Obama administration official, is running for the Democratic nomination to take on Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) in November. The progressive candidate made headlines last year when he secretly taped House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) urging him to drop out of the race.
The leading candidate in the June 26 primary is Jason Crow, an attorney and Army veteran.