On Thursday, Brian Williams predictably raised the gun control issue as he anchored MSNBC's breaking news coverage of a mass shooting in Oregon. Williams asked Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, "Can I ask you about your gun laws – concealed carry, that kind of thing?" [video below]
Rosenblum, a Democrat, actually gave some pushback to the journalist's gun control question. After outlining that "it would not have been legal for a concealed carry to occur on a community college campus," the politician underlined that "it's a complicated area. But that's my understanding – not that it's particularly relevant right at the moment." Williams continued with a different subject – the question of whether the shooter had been "immobilized."
The transcript of the relevant portion of Brian Williams's interview of Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum on Thursday's MSNBC Live:
BRIAN WILLIAMS (off-camera): And can I ask you about your gun laws – concealed carry, that kind of thing?
ELLEN ROSENBLUM, OREGON ATTORNEY GENERAL (by phone): I'm only in a position to tell you that it's my understanding that it would not have been legal for a concealed carry to occur on a community college campus. There are – there's case law and there's statutory law and there's college laws. So, it's a complicated area. But that's my understanding – not that it's particularly relevant right at the moment.
WILLIAMS: Right.
