The Wednesday couch discussion on CNN Tonight tried to tackle the question why America experiences more mass shootings than other countries and naturally settled on gun ownership as the answers. The natural solution was drastic, Australian-style gun control, but host Alisyn Camerota would lament that people keep citing the Constitution to oppose such measures, “that’s what we here all the time.”
Camerota opened up the discussion to anyone on the couch, “it is not a secret that other countries when they come here to visit, say, why do you have mass shootings here? Their people find it inconceivable in other countries because they don't have this phenomenon. It’s truly American.”
Senior crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz blamed politics for the impasse:
having spent so much time as I have in Texas, I’ve learned so much about this country and certainly about gun rights and about folks' passion for carrying guns. And you really feel that in Texas. This is just -- it's politics, it's their belief, it's sort of -- this is why we are not seeing the governor there do anything. It's very easy. If he wanted this legislation, to raise the age, he would do it, but he’s made all kinds of excuses.
That somebody would do something if they wanted to is not really a profound insight. The reason Texas Republicans don’t do what CNN wants is because they do not agree with it.
Before the panel could tackle why they do not agree, political reporter Alayna Treene jumped in to add, “I will say, too, on just the foreign countries part, I mean, you look at the U.K. or Australia where -- I remember in the U.K., in the 90s, they had a horrible mass shooting and after that, they acted. A Conservative government was in power and they acted to tighten gun laws there and you’ve seen in the years since, gun deaths go down as a result and similar things happening in Australia.”
Treene added, “I know from friends that I have abroad, like you said, they come in and are like, I don't understand, there are shootings that are happening every day here, and they change the laws. You’re not seeing the shootings there. And people say it's a mental health issue. But then, are you saying they don't have the same amount of mental health issues in other countries?”
Camerota added, “I mean they also say it is our Constitution. Our Constitution and that’s what we here all the time.”
Democrats will sometimes argue that they’re not coming for your guns, saying they only want background checks and red flag laws, but then someone like Treene inevitably comes along and cities gun confiscation laws from other countries as proposed solutions, so of course people are going to cite the Constitution to defend their rights.
In other CNN Tonight madness, Rolling Stone’s Jay Michaelson said that Republicans demanding Daniel Penny be pardoned “is what authoritarianism” and “I don't want to drop the F-bomb here, you know the fascist word thing, I don't want to say that maybe, but this is contrary to the rule of law.”
This segment was sponsored by Liberty Mutual.
Here is a transcript for the May 17 show:
CNN Tonight
5/17/2023
11:34 PM ET
JAY MICHAELSON: Can we like zoom back maybe a little bit so this is extremely helpful right, but also the bigger picture here is that politicians are asking to completely subvert the rule of law in addition to in a technical sense go against what the New York, you know, what the New York law says but also to say we're not even going to have an we shouldn't have an investigation we shouldn't have a trial, I've decided, I've made up my mind, this is what authoritarianism looks like. This is-- this is a close legal case.
And I tried to imagine what it would be like if I were on the other ideological side. So suppose there were an LGBT activist who was defending themselves against somebody who was attacking them physically and accidentally killed them or negligently killed them or recklessly applied a fatal chokehold when they shouldn't have done that.
I would absolutely support the criminal process unfolding in the way that it should and if there's some extenuating circumstances that are so unusual as to merit a pardon that comes at the end of the process.
The idea that we should short circuit the rule of law, I don't want to drop the F-bomb here—
ALISYN CAMEROTA: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: You know the fascist word thing, I don't want to say that maybe, but this is contrary to the rule of law, this is what America stands for that we have a justice system—
CAMEROTA: We have due process and a trial by jury.
MICHAELSON: We have a judicial system, and there is due process of law, that everybody should be applied equally to everybody and it is astonishing to me that there's a near consensus that we should just do away with the rule of law because we have a particular view about what happened.
…
CAMEROTA: Look, everybody -- it is not a secret that other countries when they come here to visit, say, why do you have mass shootings here? Their people find it inconceivable in other countries because
SHIMON PROKUPECZ: You know.
CAMEROTA: -- they don't have this phenomenon. It’s truly American.
PROKUPECZ: I-- having spent so much time as I have in Texas, I’ve learned so much about this country and certainly about gun rights and about folks' passion for carrying guns. And you really feel that in Texas. This is just -- it's politics, it's their belief, it's sort of -- this is why we are not seeing the governor there do anything. It's very easy. If he wanted this legislation, to raise the age, he would do it, but he’s made all kinds of excuses.
ALAYNA TREENE: I will say, too, on just the foreign countries part, I mean, you look at the U.K. or Australia where -- I remember in the U.K., in the 90s, they had a horrible mass shooting and after that, they acted. A Conservative government was in power and they acted to tighten gun laws there and you’ve seen in the years since, gun deaths go down as a result and similar things happening in Australia.
And I think -- I know from friends that I have abroad, like you said, they come in and are like, I don't understand, there are shootings that are happening every day here, and they change the laws. You’re not seeing the shootings there. And people say it's a mental health issue. But then, are you saying they don't have the same amount of mental health issues in other countries?
CAMEROTA: I mean they also say it is our Constitution.
HARRY ENTEN: There it is.
CAMEROTA: Our Constitution and that’s what we here all the time.
