#Louisiana lawmaker equates coronavirus mask mandates with Nazi Germany

A Louisiana state lawmaker said people who refuse to wear a facemask during the coronavirus pandemic are being persecuted like Jews in Nazi Germany as he filmed himself destroying a facemask with a chainsaw and blowtorch.

Republican State Rep. Danny McCormick made the comments in a video he posted to Facebook criticizing an executive order from Shreveport’s mayor requiring the wearing of face coverings while inside most public buildings or outside when social distancing is not possible.

“Masks aren’t bad. Mask mandates are,” McCormick stated as he is filmed crushing what appears to be a printed copy of the order with a wooden staff.

“As many of you know, the city of Shreveport has announced an emergency order making masks mandatory,” he went on. “The constitution is being shredded before our very eyes.”

Between scenes of McCormick damaging masks, the lawman stated “the government needed a villain.”

“People who don’t wear a mask will be soon painted as the enemy — just as they did the Jews in Nazi Germany. Now is the time to push back before it’s too late,” he said.

The mask order, which took effect Wednesday evening, came after Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins outlined a disturbing spike in hospitalizations as the number of coronavirus cases rose since Memorial Day.

“We’ve seen an alarming rise in hospitalizations in our area. On June 12, we achieved a two-month low at 129 COVID positive hospitalizations but today, just 25 days later, we’re at 221,” Perkins said during a news conference Monday announcing the order, the Shreveport Times reported.

“These increases are obviously related to community spread, and this is cause for us to act,” Perkins added.

Public health experts have strongly recommended face coverings to stop the spread of the virus. States with more longstanding mask mandates, like New York and New Jersey, have managed to successfully reduce infections as other states grapple with massive surges in new cases.

But McCormick believes mandating masks is infringing on individual liberty.

“This is about liberty. Your body is your private property,” he said in the video. “If the government has the power to force you to wear a mask, they can force you to stick a needle in your arm against your will. They could put a microchip in you, they could even make you take the mark. After all, it’s for the ‘greater good.’”

Parkins on Wednesday said the order “isn’t about politics” and stressed that city in northwest Louisianna couldn’t afford more deaths or another business lockdown, the local CBS affiliate reported.

“More than 240 people have died from COVID-19 in Caddo Parish since late March, which is more than two people per day,” the mayor said. “This pandemic is the biggest threat to public safety in our lifetimes.”