On Wednesday afternoon, MSNBC host Katy Tur used her show to to misinform viewers about gun violence while wrongly accusing gun rights advocates of spreading "lies."
After alluding to some of the gun control laws that have been passed in Colorado in the past decade, Tur allowed Colorado Democratic State Senator Rhonda Fields to complain that her state's residents could still get guns from Wyoming or Utah without offering any evidence that this has happened in any recent shooting.
It was also not mentioned that, not only are the violent crime rates substantially lower in Utah and Wyoming than in Colorado, but, during the wave of increased crime of the 2010's decade, Colorado's violent crime rate increased substantially more than Utah or Wyoming.
Tur responded to State Senator Fields by turning to her other guest, Kris Brown of the Brady Campaign, and blaming NRA money for the lack of more gun control:
I think the holdup is the amount of money that gets poured into Congress. Kris -- and I know I asked you this before, but let me rephrase it -- do you need more money to be able to combat the influence of an organization like the NRA? Do you just need more money? Because you have the people's support -- the majority of Americans support it. Do you just need more financial help?
After complaining about NRA money and bashing the pro-gun group as morally "bankrupt," Brown then accused opponents of gun control of lying as she suggested that criminals have been stopped from buying guns millions of times since the passage of background checks in the 1990's:
Look, the same lies and misinformation that were used to try and counter the passage of the Brady Law 27 years ago when that law went into effect -- we're seeing them all recycled again around HR8 and HR1444 -- things like "background checks don't work." You know what -- 3.5 million sales of guns have been stopped by our system, but we could do even better, and that's the point.
But right-leaning crime researcher John Lott has argued that most background check rejections have been false positives that delayed law-abiding citizens from buying guns.
Tur followed up by citing a New York Times study to complain about the number of guns in the U.S.:
You know, there was a study done by the New York Times in 2017 which was comparing the United States to other developed countries around the world of a large size, and the only difference between us and them is not mental health. It's nothing about our society. The only difference between the us and them, in terms of mass shootings, is the amount of guns that we have in this country.
This episode if MSNBC Live With Katy Tur was sponsored in part by Knix. Click on the link if you want to let them know what you think of sponsoring such anti-gun propaganda.
Transcript follows. Click "expand" to read more.
MSNBC Live with Katy Tur
March 24, 2021
2:26 p.m.. Eastern
KATY TUR: Colorado is a place where it's happened quite frequently. So are local rules -- are local laws enough to get a handle on this?
STATE SENATOR RHONDA FIELDS (D-CO): It's not enough. We really do need Congress to act. You know, this is not the time for prayers and thoughts -- this is a time for federal leadership. And we need Congress to do their jobs because I can only govern within the borders of the state of Colorado. And, right now, we have this patchwork approach as it relates to gun safety reform measures. You can go to Wyoming -- go to Utah, wherever, and the laws may be different. :We need to have some standards that comes from the federal government as it relates to background checks. I mean, most people support that, and so I'm not so sure what's the holdup. It's not too early to be talking about these things, and it's not too late. We need Congress to act now.
TUR: I think the holdup is the amount of money that gets poured into Congress. Kris -- and I know I asked you this before, but let me rephrase it -- do you need more money to be able to combat the influence of an organization like the NRA? Do you just need more money? Because you have the people's support -- the majority of Americans support it. Do you just need more financial help?
KRIS BROWN, BRADY CAMPAIGN: We can use all the financial help that we can get, obviously, and you're right, Katy, it is very hard when you look at the history of the NRA and the amount that they have contributed to political candidates over the years, of course. It's no accident, given their gross malfeasance, that they are morally bankrupt, but now they have filed for bankruptcy. Nevertheless, they're still giving millions and millions of dollars away. They were the largest single contributor to Donald Trump. And organizations like Brady and our c3 and c4 work, absolutely funding is critical for us to be able to combat what are lies and misinformation.
Look, the same lies and misinformation that were used to try and counter the passage of the Brady Law 27 years ago when that law went into effect -- we're seeing them all recycled again around HR8 and HR1444 -- things like "background checks don't work." You know what -- 3.5 million sales of guns have been stopped by our system, but we could do even better, and that's the point.
TUR: You know, there was a study done by the New York Times in 2017 which was comparing the United States to other developed countries around the world of a large size, and the only difference between us and them is not mental health. It's nothing about our society. The only difference between the us and them, in terms of mass shootings, is the amount of guns that we have in this country.
