Alyssa Milano faces backlash after claiming ‘masks will protect you MORE than an AR-15’ in bizarre dig at ‘anti-maskers’

Actress and progressive crusader Alyssa Milano was torched online after offering questionable advice to “anti-maskers,” explaining that face coverings will “protect you more” than an AR-15 rifle.

In a public service announcement-style tweet on Tuesday, Milano apparently hoped to educate those skeptical of the effectiveness of face masks and related government mandates amid the Covid-19 pandemic, observing that “anti-maskers are the same people who think they need an AR-15 for ‘protection.’”

“LOUDER FOR PEOPLE IN THE BACK: A MASK WILL PROTECT YOU *MORE* THAN AN AR-15 WILL,” she concluded in all-caps.

While the post found some support, with one backer revealing that bullets are indeed “useless against a virus,” netizens soon rushed in with more critical commentary, some arguing that the items are “different tools for different jobs” – or in the words of conservative actor Nick Searcy: “AR-15s DO A LOT OF S**T.”

While it may be the case that firearms have little effect on viral transmission, users came up with a few other ways an AR-15 could come in handy – contending with an “armed intruder,” for example. Another commenter argued that such weapons are needed not for personal defense, but rather to resist a tyrannical government, echoing sentiments expressed by early American statesmen such as Thomas Jefferson.

As the disapproving comments poured in, Milano eventually locked down the tweet, allowing only a select few to reply, though that did little to quell the critics.

A series of replies also pointed to hypocrisy in Milano’s message to the maskless, noting that she herself has admitted to owning guns. And despite vocally supporting the movement to defund the police, Milano has not hesitated to call in heavily armed protectors – whether they be police or private bodyguards – when she has felt threatened in the past

“Can you remind us who it was you called about the kid with the pellet gun[?] Was it the [mask] manufacturers or the police?” one commenter asked, referring to an incident in September in which the actress triggered a massive police response over a teenager shooting squirrels with an air rifle in woods near her sprawling LA mansion.

And Milano’s latest mask-themed post is not the first to bring ridicule on the ‘Charmed’ star. She penned another PSA-style tweet in May encouraging followers to wear masks while sporting a knitted, visibly ineffective face covering herself. In a later rebuttal, the actress claimed her PPE contained a carbon filter, “so, yes, it might be crochet but totally safe.”

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