On Friday's New Day CNN, it was demonstrated that, even when Republicans and the NRA seem to be finding agreement with liberals on a possible new gun restriction, it's a case of no good deed goes unpunished as CNN's Chris Cuomo responded by accusing the NRA of "hypocrisy," and by seeing "craven political BS" from some Republicans.
And, in a graphic visible in the background during parts of the discussion, CNN even provocatively displayed an image of NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre alongside an image of Las Vegas mass murderer Stephen Paddock with the words "BANNING BUMP STOCKS" in between them.
At 6:50 a.m. ET, co-host Cuomo introduced the discussion by informing viewers that the NRA had signaled support for barring the sale of bump stocks that can make semi-automatic guns act as fully automatic weapons: "Even the NRA sees the ridiculousness in having something like a bump stock be legal. Even Wayne LaPierre is saying you should look at this device and it doesn't make any sense."
After introducing his guests, Cuomo added:
Now, of course this smacks of hypocrisy. Of course the NRA knows what a bump stock is. They could have said plenty of stuff about it if they wanted to -- they never have. But it is a very safe position for them given what we just lived through.
Liberal CNN political commentator and Daily Beast editor-in-chief John Avlon agreed with Cuomo's analysis, and took a further shot at the NRA and Repubicans as he added that "the volume of violent death created by this mechanism -- the bump stock -- that is something that even Republicans and even the NRA is having to recognize."
Substitute co-host Poppy Harlow then introduced clips from LaPierre appearing on Fox News:
WAYNE LAPIERRE CLIP #1 [on FNC]: The Obama administration, couple of years ago, approves this device called a bump stock. If you take a look at it, any look at it, it takes a semi-automatic firearm and it makes it perform like a fully automatic firearm.
LAPIERRE CLIP #2: And what the NRA has said is we ought to take a look at that, see if it's in compliance with federal law, and it's worthy of additional regulation.
Harlow then suggested that the NRA was partially to blame for the Obama administration ATF's actions in allowing bump stocks to be sold as she responded:
Okay, a point of fact here, A.B., he is correct that the ATF was asked to look at this thing and should it be regulated as a gun, and they said, "It's a gun part, so no." The NRA, though, didn't say at the time, "Wait, stop, you have to regulate it" then. They didn't do that. But, question here is, there's legislation -- bipartisan legislation -- but there's also the NRA saying, "Look, the ATF, look at the ATF to regulate it." That's very different that is safer for them.
A bit later, after Cuomo and Avlon spent time complaining about Republicans resisting talk of gun control in the immediate aftermath of a mass shooting, Avlon took a further swipe as he added:
The second thing is, how in the world could Republicans support legislation or have any kind of unity if they can't blame it on Obama? I mean, that is so transparently hilarious that the NRA is trying to blame this on the Obama administration. But right now, that's the only glue holding together the Republican coalition.
About half an hour later, as he introduced a segment featuring one Republican and one Democratic member of Congress who favor banning bump stocks, Cuomo again took a crack at Republicans who had resisted talking about gun politics in the immediate aftermath of the violence, calling it "craven political BS":
Fifty-eight lives stolen -- hundreds and hundreds forever changed by one evil man with a plan and a ton of weapons, including a legal device that made them fire almost like machine guns. So what do we do? Many are saying it's insensitive to discuss what to do, but that's craven political BS.
Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Friday, October 6, New Day on CNN:
6:50 a.m. ET
CHRIS CUOMO: Even the NRA sees the ridiculousness in having something like a bump stock be legal. Even Wayne LaPierre is saying you should look at this device and it doesn't make any sense.
(...)
CUOMO: Now, of course this smacks of hypocrisy. Of course the NRA knows what a bump stock is. They could have said plenty of stuff about it if they wanted to -- they never have. But it is a very safe position for them given what we just lived through.
JOHN AVLON: That's right. And, look, it's fascinating to see not just the NRA seemed to say we're open to reviewing it, but Senators like John Cornyn -- we've got a bill put up by Carlos Curbelo -- a rising young Republican out of Miami -- a bipartisan bill with Seth Moulton-- so there's momentum -- bipartisan momentum potentially around this gun legislation unlike anything we've seen since that really devastating loss of gun legislation in the wake of Newtown. People have just seen this as off limits politically, but the volume of violent death created by this mechanism -- the bump stock -- that is something that even Republicans and even the NRA is having to recognize.
POPPY HARLOW: Let's listen to Wayne LaPierre -- who heads the NRA -- here are his words on it.
WAYNE LAPIERRE CLIP #1 [ON FNC]: The Obama administration, couple of years ago, approves this device called a bump stock. If you take a look at it, any look at it, it takes a semi-automatic firearm and it makes it perform like a fully automatic firearm.
LAPIERRE CLIP #2: And what the NRA has said is we ought to take a look at that, see if it's in compliance with federal law, and it's worthy of additional regulation.
HARLOW: Okay, a point of fact here, A.B., he is correct that the ATF was asked to look at this thing and should it be regulated as a gun, and they said, "It's a gun part, so no." The NRA, though, didn't say at the time, "Wait, stop, you have to regulate it" then. They didn't do that. But, question here is, there's legislation -- bipartisan legislation -- but there's also the NRA saying, "Look, the ATF, look at the ATF to regulate it." That's very different that is safer for them.
(...)
CUOMO: Even though the rationale -- if you seize on the timing -- the rationale which is primarily two things -- what we're hearing here is, "Well, Obama did it," so it gives them a little political cover. And then the larger rationale -- which again just doesn't seem that strong to me, although it has been proven effective time and again, which is the sensitivity argument. "Oh, it just happened, and we care about these people, so we don't want to politicize it." The victims, their families, those are the faces that say, "Come out and do something about this so no one else deals with what we're dealing with."
AVLON: Let's just cut through all the spin. That is a tactic of delay for people who don't want to deal with the ramifications of the widespread availability of semi-automatic weapons and things like bump stocks in this nation. It only happens here when people say, "Now is not the right time" -- they don't mean, "Fine, let's talk in 72 hours." They don't mean, "Let's listen to the victims and the families."
They mean, "This is politically difficult for me right now -- let's stall until people forget." The second thing is, how in the world could Republicans support legislation or have any kind of unity if they can't blame it on Obama? I mean, that is so transparently hilarious that the NRA is trying to blame this on the Obama administration. But right now, that's the only glue holding together the Republican coalition.
(...)
7:21 a.m. ET
CUOMO: Fifty-eight lives stolen -- hundreds and hundreds forever changed by one evil man with a plan and a ton of weapons, including a legal device that made them fire almost like machine guns. So what do we do? Many are saying it's insensitive to discuss what to do, but that's craven political BS.
