In flashback video, Holder urges women's groups to 'brainwash' DC kids against guns

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Local ad agencies in Washington, D.C., should be encouraged to create ads to "really brainwash people" to give up their interest in guns, Eric Holder once told a Democratic women's group, according to a newly dug-up video showing a younger version of the current attorney general.

In the 1995 video, Holder, who at the time was U.S. attorney for the crime-ridden District of Columbia under President Bill Clinton, said persuading kids to reject guns was not going to be easy to do since they were so prevalent in movies, TV and music.

But, he told the group, really innovative strategies from the "creative community" in Washington, including ad agencies that "make me buy things I don't really need," could change the perception.

"What we need to do is change the way in which people think about guns, especially young people, and make it something that's not cool, that it's not acceptable, it's not hip to carry a gun anymore, in the way in which we've changed our attitudes about cigarettes," Holder said, adding that the ad agencies could devote their talent in "a more constructive way."

Holder said he had also approached local newspapers and television stations, asking them to devote prime-time space -- like during "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" and "Martin" -- to air public service announcements.

He said he also asked "people with credibility with young people" like Jesse Jackson and Marion Barry, among other celebrities, to do their best to sway the youth.

The Jan. 30, 1995, address, which aired on CSPAN2, was directed to the Women's National Democratic Club in Washington, D.C. Video of the speech was published Monday by Breitbart.com.

Holder said changing "the hearts and minds,"  in particular, of young men "fascinated with violence" will require a consistency that includes pushing the agenda through public schools as well.

"We need to do this every day of the week and just really brainwash people into thinking about guns in a vastly different way."

At the time of his speech, guns were illegal in the District of Columbia. In his current post, Holder is responsible for overseeing the the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and its Fast and Furious operation, which allowed thousands of guns to slip into the hands of Mexican drug cartels

As a result, scores of Mexicans have died in gun-related violence as well as U.S. Border Agent Brian Terry.