On Thursday's Cuomo Prime Time, CNN host Chris Cuomo ended his show with a commentary in which he complained about voters not makng gun control a higher priority when they voted a few days ago. He also declared that politicians who express "thoughts and prayers" after a mass shooting are mocking the victims.
After the CNN host referred to survivors who wish to prevent future attacks, Cuomo added: "And we all say, 'Yes, we join you.' Eighty to 90 percent plus in poll after poll agree that who gets a gun should be handled better."
On screen was displayed the frequently cited poll alleging that 97 percent of Americans want "universal background checks" for gun purchases even though, as previously documented by NewsBusters, such polling results have proven to be very misleading.
Then, even though California's gun laws are some of the strictest in the country, Cuomo then griped about voters who did not make gun control a major issue of interest: "And then you go vote this Tuesday in the midterms, and the issue is nowhere. No one really even ran on it, and if you won't vote on it, if it's not your priority, if you can't own that part of it, how can you convince anyone in power to care about it? You can't."
On screen was shown a CNN poll finding that only 10 percent of voters stated guns as a high priority for them.
He then took aim at the NRA: "And when we say the obvious, 'Stop the damn shootings,' as soon as you say that, it's like hiking the ball in a football game. The NRA scrambles to reinforce the status quo: 'No law would have changed this. Good guys with the guns -- that's the answer.'"
He soon added: "Anyone being honest must answer the central question the same way. And here's the question: Can we do better than this. You know the answer is yes. You know the damn answer is yes."
Cuomo continued:
So why don't we? We can't we even have a conversation? The only consensus there is, is in a canard, and here it is: 'First, I would like to offer thoughts and prayers,' because that's what you do when you offer thoughts and prayers. You mock those who lost loved ones because if you gave it any thought at all, you would never walk away from any of these without figuring out a better way to deal with them.
He added: "And prayer -- you think leaving it to God is the answer? We pray for strength. We pray for wisdom, for resolve, but we clearly don't want to act on any of those here, so what are you praying for?"
He then oddly wondered if the children of "influential" people were all standing in a stadium and were shot while holding puppies, would there be any difference in the reaction.
