On Monday's New Day, the three-hour CNN show treated viewers to a parade of one guest after another who pushed for more gun laws in reaction to the weekend's mass shootings. Even Republican-leaning guests like CNN senior political commentator John Kasich and former Donald Trump advisor Anthony Scaramucci came down on the liberal side of the issue.
No one noted the argument that the killers in both El Paso and in Dayton chose targets that were gun-free zones, or pointed out that nearly all new gun laws proposed would have had nothing to do with the circumstances of either attack.
At 6:21 a.m. Eastern, co-host John Berman hinted at Fox News's culpability in the El Paso attack by a man who espoused anti-immigrant sentiments as the CNN host suggested the right-leaning news network should ban the word "invasion" when discussing illegal immigration: "The Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post is calling for a ban on assault weapons this morning. The Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox News, they can call a ban for language like 'invasion' and 'invaders' -- that has not happened yet."
He added: "So perhaps trying to have it a little bit of both ways."
After senior political analyst John Avlon misleadingly complained that President Trump "overturned an Obama-era ban on the mentally ill getting weapons, a background check that was in place," Berman began complaining about Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's history of resisting new gun control: "The Senate on its plate has two bipartisan gun control measures that were passed in the House."
After noting proposals to require background checks for nearly all private gun transfers, and an extension of the time a background check is allowed to take, he noted that such measures have passed the House, and then added: "I don't know if it will pass the Senate. I do know that it hasn't had a vote because Mitch McConnell has chosen not to allow the Senate to vote on these measures which by no means are the most restrictive gun control measures."
As the show progressed, a number of guests pushed for more gun control. CNN contributor and former Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum talked up more background checks and a ban on "assault-style weapons," and derided the view that allowing more gun rights might have impacted the shootings:
And I don't want to hear anybody say anything about good people being able to have a gun and respond to these incidents. It took 30 seconds for nine people to be killed and over 20 other folks to be injured last night -- 30 seconds before law enforcement to respond. That's the quickest response that any of us could have asked for.
In the same segment, CNN contributor and former Governor Terry McAuliffe (D-VA) called for President Trump to talk McConnell into supporting more gun laws.
As Republican guest Scaramucci appeared during the 7:00 a.m. hour, he also argued for more gun control. After deriding the NRA as "an emperor without clothing," he asserted that Trump should press congressional Republicans for more gun restrictions: "Just tell these guys we're going for universal background checks and end the political nonsense -- 75 percent of the American people are in support of that -- that's your coalition."
Shortly after 8:00 a.m., Kasich called for a nationwide "red flag law" and more background checks. He soon fretted that the media will not put pressure on politicians long enough to get new gun control passed: "You have a narrow window because, as you know, John, over time, the media will change its emphasis, we'll get past this one, and then we'll say, 'What did we do?' This is the time to act all across America."
He soon added: "If the media will remain focused on this and not drift away from this over the period of the next seven to 10 days, I think we're going to see things happen."
A bit later, as Ohio Congressman and Democratic presidential candidate Tim Ryan appeared as a guest, he received no pushback from fill-in host Erica Hill when he angrily demanded that McConnell "get off his ass" and push more gun control in the Senate.
