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Outrage after Vegas concealed carry event instructor uses ‘hateful’ slides to promote gun safety

April 16, 2022 | | Print Article

Concealed Carry Weapons (CCW) instructor Nephi Khaliki is learning that what happens in Vegas can get you torched on Twitter, after video of his recent conservative CCW event — in which Khaliki presented slides riddled with racial stereotypes — has sparked outrage from social media users, the NAACP, and just about everyone in between.

The event, which was hosted Saturday at the Las Vegas Clark County Library, featured several Republican political candidates in attendance, including the mayor of North Las Vegas, John Lee, and Assemblyman Tom Roberts, according to The Hill.

Why Khaliki thought that taking a stand-up approach to gun safety in an era that has seen professional comedians canceled for off-color comments made years ago is anyone’s guess, but Khaliki showed slides for both “Gun Safety for White People” and “Gun Safety for Black People.”

The latter slide offered such “safety” tips as, “Always keep the gun right side up”; “Always lick the chicken grease off your fingers before shooting”; “Always make sure there is a white person around so you have someone to blame for everything that goes wrong in your life”; and “Always aim for small children to ensure you actually hit another gang member.”

A previous slide depicted white gun owners with reminders to “Always put your beer down before handling a firearm”; “Always keep your finger out of your nose while shooting”; “Always wear a wife beater on the range”; and “Always make sure there are no minorities in your backdrop.”

In addition to Roberts (who is running for Clark County sheriff) and Lee (who has his eyes set on the governor’s mansion,) U.S. senatorial candidate Sharelle Mendenhall, gubernatorial candidate Joey Gilbert, U.S. congressional candidate Noah Malgeri, and Las Vegas City Councilwoman Michele Fiore, who is running for Nevada State Treasurer, were scheduled to attend the event. While Lee and Roberts can be seen in videos taken at the event, Gilbert, Malgeri, and Fiore reportedly did not attend.

In a prepared statement released Wednesday, Roberts condemned the “hateful” language.

“I do not condone the graphics that were used during the presentation,” Roberts said, according to The Hill. “Throughout my career, I have always strived to build a community that is both welcoming and inclusive for our residents. I was not aware, nor was I present during the presentation, and believe that the insensitive and hateful language has no place in Nevada.”

Though Malgeri didn’t attend the class, he did prepare a statement of his own, and the candidate for Congress was a little more forgiving than Roberts.

“I am a strong supporter of firearms education and the Second Amendment. I have never attended one of Nephi’s classes before and have no role in the curriculum, but I don’t believe Nephi is in any way racist,” Malgeri said. “I understand that his presentation included content directed at several different groups represented in the audience but that he mostly directed his humor at himself.”

“The constant ‘moral outrage’ attacks on free speech and comedy in particular have become tedious and are resoundingly rejected by most regular people, including me,” he added.

Khaliki took to Twitter and defended his style of teaching, reminding users that he, himself, is a minority.

“People got equally roasted in my class at the library last Sunday,” he stated. “I am a minority FYI.”

The following day, Khaliki posted again about the event, saying, “Those of you missing the true context of my humor. I am going somewhere meaningful and you seeing it out of full context is unfortunate.”

For NAACP President Roxann McCoy, any support of Khaliki is “sad and disappointing.”

“It’s sad and disappointing to see candidates condoning this type of rhetoric!” McCoy stated. “They are all making cursory statements now when this happened last Saturday and they said nothing until they were called on it! How can you say you will fairly represent all people and allow racist rhetoric against others? How are you all really? The lack of acknowledgement to denounce tells the entire story.”

Melissa Fine
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