- Donald Trump Jr. uploaded a video over the weekend using a backdrop of a wall of guns.
- Trump criticized teachers and teachers' unions in the video, saying they were trying to avoid a return to school.
- The reason for Trump Jr.'s decision to film the video in front of multiple guns was unclear.
Donald Trump Jr. posted a video on social media channels over the weekend in which he attacked teachers' unions while using a backdrop of what appeared to be a large collection of guns on a wall.
The video, titled "These Teachers [sic] Unions are OUT OF CONTROL," was originally posted to Rumble, a Canadian video site favored by Trump supporters, and later shared by Trump Jr. on his Twitter page.
In the footage, Trump Jr. — a prominent gun rights advocate — attacks President Joe Biden as well as teachers' unions for what he said was their failure to advocate for a timely reopening of schools, many of which remain shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
—Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) February 20, 2021
Trump echoed his father's repeated calls during his presidency for schools to be reopened, claiming that teachers and their unions were doing "whatever they can to avoid going back."
"You've seen the way in the last couple of months the way they've basically held up progress [and] prevented schools from opening," Trump said in the video. "The teachers' union and those representing them have definitely failed our children in terms of education and everything else."
The largest US teaching unions have largely advocated remote learning during the pandemic on safety grounds, and last week endorsed a roadmap by the Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention for the gradual reopening of schools, NBC reported.
The video appears to be filmed in front of multiple hunting rifles which are hanging on a wall. The reason for Trump's decision to film the video in front of that backdrop was unclear.
Insider contacted the Trump organization for clarification on why Trump filmed the video in front of several rifles, and whether they belonged to him personally.
Trump Jr. became well-known for his love of guns during President Trump's tenure in the White House. When he contracted coronavirus in November, he said he spent the time quarantining in his cabin and cleaning his gun collection.
The former president called his eldest son "my gun expert" and said "he knows more about guns than anyone I know," the Wall Street Journal reported.
Trump Jr. was also reported to have lobbied his father against expanded background checks on gun owners, a measure several members of Congress pushed for during Trump's presidency after two fatal mass shootings.
The gun-themed backdrop used by Trump Jr. is also similar to that used by GOP congresswoman Lauren Boebert during a House Committee meeting last week.
Boebert, a vocal Trump supporter and gun rights advocate who pledged to carry a handgun around the Capitol building, appeared via video-conference during a House Natural Resources meeting in front of two military-style assault rifles which were displayed on shelves behind her.