On Tuesday's CNN Newsroom, host Brooke Baldwin seized on a group of gun control activists who delivered a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as a stunt to push for more gun laws as she gave two members of the group a forum to promote their views as guests.
As the two women -- part of the Every Town gun control lobbying group -- recalled the tragic stories of how they each had a son injured or killed from a gun shot wound, the CNN host did not delve into the issue of whether there was any reason to believe that any of the proposed gun control would have had an impact on their cases.
Baldwin introduced the segment by lamenting that Congress will not look at gun control for another couple of weeks because of the summer recess: "It has been 23 days since the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton and, of course, Gilroy before that, and members of Congress won't start debating gun safety solutions for another two weeks."
She soon added: "But a team of moms says this cannot wait any longer. Anita Franklin and Haley Rinehart just shows up on the doorstep of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's Kentucky office to deliver a letter signed by 1,217 gun violence survivors."
After recounting for the audience how their children were harmed by gunshot wounds, Baldwin brought them aboard as guests and began by posing:
So, I read your letter, and it was the last line that really grabbed me before all the signatures where you wrote, "We demand more than your thoughts and prayers for our broken bodies, our broken communities, and our broken country. Now is the time to act." … What do you hope your presence at his office today and all these signatures will achieve?
The CNN host soon followed up by asking how staff at McConnell's office reacted, and her two guests hoped Congress would do, Rinehart argued in favor of red flag laws and for all gun purchases and transfers require background checks.
Franklin then argued in favor of registering guns:
And I explained to him that I am a responsible gun owner, and I think it was a little shock behind that. And a lot of people don't understand that, yes, law-abiding citizens do register their guns. And we need to continue to keep that background check in place. When people don't follow the law, then they can be held accountable for the crimes they commit.
Baldwin agreed: "Correct." The CNN host then brought up the spike in tips to police that have resulted in several arrests of potential future mass shooters as she suggested that red flag laws would increase such preemptive actions by law enforcement.
None of the arguments against red flag laws were mentioned, or the argument that current laws are not always enforced sufficiently.
