MSNBC’s Joy Reid came to work Wednesday ready for another ReidOut full of hate, starting with more vile rhetoric against the Second Amendment that attacked Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) as a “conservative southern Democrat and self-styled Senate underboss,” insisted AR-15s needed to be wiped out, and blamed Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (R-CO) for the Boulder grocery store shooting because of her gun “pornography.”
Reid began firing off hot takes about three minutes in, implying Manchin was a racist as she used the “southern Democrat” lie, mocked his failure to pass gun control after Sandy Hook, and decried his “underboss” efforts to oppose Biden White House-supported gun control measures.
“And there’s also the never-ending intransigence of Republicans, who took time out from usual thoughts and prayers for more absurd, bad faith arguments during yesterday’s hearing on the gun violence,” she added.
After she brought on Congressman Jason Crow (D-CO), the pair argued that no one (outside the military) should be allowed to have an AR-15 because, in their minds, it’s unnecessary to protect one’s home other than to commit murder (click “expand”):
REID: Let's start with what Kamala Harris said, Vice President Harris talked about the weapons, the AR-15 which you just heard a senator claim that if these weapons are restricted, people wouldn't be able to protect themselves. These are not — the armalite — the armalite rifle — the AR-15 is not what you use in your house to protect your house. Let’s just be clear. If anybody knows anything about guns, that's not what they're really for. But, you know, Vice President Harris called them weapons of war. We understand they’re not M-16s, but what other purpose is there for an AR-15 other than killing people?
CROW: Yeah, there isn't, Joy.
REID: You're a military.
CROW: That's the bottom line. They're just isn't. I come at this from a — a perspective of somebody that was raised a hunter. I started hunting when I was 12. I've been a gun owner most of my life. I became an army ranger. I went to war three times for this country. I’ve used deer hunting rifles, duck hunting rifles, and I’ve used military assault rifles at war and had them used against me. There is a reason I didn't take my deer hunting rifle to Baghdad and Afghanistan and there’s a reason why I didn't take my military assault rifle into the woods to deer hunt. They are vastly different weapons to do vastly different things. These assault weapons were designed to one thing backup, kill lots of people as quickly as possible. And they are horrifically efficient at doing that. They don't belong in our streets, in our schools, in our movie theaters, in our mosques, in our synagogues.
Reid replied with an implicit and false attack on Senator Tom Cotton's (R-AR) military service, praising Crow as someone who was “a former Army Ranger, something that some have pretended to be but are not and you’ve actually served.”
She also brought up how she was raised in Colorado and that while, “lots of people had guns...no one ever felt they had to take an AR-15 and walk down the street with it.”
The MSNBC host used that as a segue to Boebert and her display of firearms that Reid compared to pornography as it, in Reid’s opinion, did more to increase crime and mass shootings than the “defund the police” crowd:
She’s taken down her little Zoom background in which she just ostentatiously displayed — I would say pornographically displayed these — these kinds of weapons behind her just for show. Let's be clear. She displayed that just to make a point. She is now unmade that point by taking that background off. That kind of formative, fake, pretending like they do what you did, sir, you served your country and had to use a weapon to protect yourself and to protect other members of your — of your company, she is somebody who is doing it — pornographically. Do you think that that — I mean, that — people saying defund the police ain't causing more violence. Don't you think that that kind of sort of pornography around weapons increases violence more than people saying defund the police.
Crow agreed, saying “the words and actions of leaders matter” and “it’s not funny when people are now getting killed it and it hasn’t been for a very long time.”
He added: “[W]hen you say things when you use guns for political stunts for political theater, it results in people getting hurt and killed. So, that's why it's got to stop.”
Reid said nothing to pushback, so she let sit the conspiracy theory that Boebert thinks mass shootings are “funny.”
To support her claim that AR-15s should be outlawed, Reid cited the left-wing Brennan Center to argue that “violent crime in the United States dropped during the time that the assault weapons ban was in place,” and that our crime rate is higher than countries like Canada and the United Kingdom and thus the filibuster should be blown to smithereens.
Of course, Crow agreed because it’s “long outlived any original purpose it might have and, you know, we are obviously well aware of the terrible history of filibuster in preventing civil rights and being used post-Reconstruction in the Jim Crow era.”
No word on whether Crow and Reid thought Senate Democrats were racists and supporters of Jim Crow when they used the filibuster to stop Republican policy proposals or penned a letter in 2017 demanding it stay in place.
Reid’s gun screed and fact-free claim that Boebert was responsible for the Boulder shooting was made possible thanks to the endorsement of advertisers such as Cadillac and ClearChoice. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant transcript from MSNBC’s The ReidOut on March 24, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s The ReidOut
March 24, 2021
7:03 p.m. EasternJOY REID: Harris said President Biden is ready to sign the two gun measures that passed the House earlier this month. One puts in place new background checkers requirements for firearms transferred between individuals. The second increases the amount of time for an initial background check from three to ten days before a weapon can be transferred to a purchaser., closing the so-called Charleston loophole. Those bills face an uncertain path forward in the evenly split Senate. And surprise, surprise West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, the conservative southern Democrat and self-styled Senate underboss who, at one point, championed a minor gun safety bill effort during the Obama administration, that failed, by the way, as Rachel Maddow pointed out last night — well, he says he opposes the House bills, even in the wake of two mass shootings in less than a week because of course he does. And there’s also the never ending intransigence of Republicans, who took time out from usual thoughts and prayers for more absurd, bad faith arguments during yesterday’s hearing on the gun violence.
SENATOR CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-IA): Like many Americans I cherish my right to bear arms in a time when law enforcement response might be uncertain, the need for vulnerable populations to feel safe and be able to protect themselves is more important than ever.
SENATOR TOM COTTON (R-AR): Our friends on the left always want to go straight to gun control as the solution. [SCREEN WIPE] Why don't we look at why this violence has increased to begin with. Notably, there has been extended, systemic attacks on our police and law enforcement professionals.
SENATOR TED CRUZ (R-TX): There are steps we can take to stop these crimes. And you know what the steps aren't? The steps aren't disarming law-abiding citizens.
REID: Joining me now is Jason Crow of Colorado, vice chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force and thank you for being here. Let's start with you, Congressman for a couple of the things I would love to debunk. Let's start with what Kamala Harris said, Vice President Harris talked about the weapons, the AR-15 which you just heard a senator claim that if these weapons are restricted, people wouldn't be able to protect themselves. These are not — the armalite — the armalite rifle — the AR-15 is not what you use in your house to protect your house. Let’s just be clear. If anybody knows anything about guns, that's not what they're really for. But, you know, Vice President Harris called them weapons of war. We understand they’re not M-16s, but what other purpose is there for an AR-15 other than killing people?
CONGRESSMAN JASON CROW (D-CO): Yeah, there isn't, Joy.
REID: You're a military.
CROW: That's the bottom line. They're just isn't. I come at this from a — a perspective of somebody that was raised a hunter. I started hunting when I was 12. I've been a gun owner most of my life. I became an army ranger. I went to war three times for this country. I’ve used deer hunting rifles, duck hunting rifles, and I’ve used military assault rifles at war and had them used against me. There is a reason I didn't take my deer hunting rifle to Baghdad and Afghanistan and there’s a reason why I didn't take my military assault rifle into the woods to deer hunt. They are vastly different weapons to do vastly different things. These assault weapons were designed to one thing backup, kill lots of people as quickly as possible. And they are horrifically efficient at doing that. They don't belong in our streets, in our schools, in our movie theaters, in our mosques, in our synagogues. I represent a community that has seen more than its share of there horrific mass shootings and it's got to stop.
REID: Well, and thank you and I'm glad that, you know, we have you in particular. Because you are a former Army Ranger, something that some have pretended to be but are not and you’ve actually served. And so, you know, I think it's important because no one is saying — look I grew up in Colorado where you serve. Lots of people had guns. Lots of people hunted. This was a common thing. No one ever felt they had to take an AR-15 and walk down the street with it or have it around them to just show themselves. Here’s somebody who thought that she needed to do that. Lauren Boebert, who serves in the same state as you state. She’s taken down her little Zoom background in which she just ostentatiously displayed — I would say pornographically displayed these — these kinds of weapons behind her just for show. Let's be clear. She displayed that just to make a point. She is now unmade that point by taking that background off. That kind of formative, fake, pretending like they do what you did, sir, you served your country and had to use a weapon to protect yourself and to protect other members of your — of your company, she is somebody who is doing it — pornographically. Do you think that that — I mean, that — people saying defund the police ain't causing more violence. Don't you think that that kind of sort of pornography around weapons increases violence more than people saying defund the police.
CROW: Well, you know, if there is any lesson of the last four years it’s that the words and actions of leaders matter. You know, it's not funny when people are now getting killed and hurt and it hasn’t been for a very long time — it's never been funny and you know when you — when you hold a position of influence and power, when people listen to you, when you say things when you use guns for political stunts for political theater, it results in people getting hurt and killed. So, that's why it's got to stop. You know, my relationship with firearms is a very different one than some of my colleagues that use it for political stunts. You know, I have a very somber, serious relationship with firearms. I used to carry them for work. When I did so, I was serious. I was focused. I was disciplined and it's very different from how it's used by some of these folks. So, you know, that's the bottom line. But it traces back to what it's about. This is about raising money and making money for these folks, right? The gun lobby, gun manufacturers have decided to, you know, concoct this argument about personal freedom, about protecting your home, and you know, defending against tyranny, which it never was about, by the way, this is a new thing, right? So, they concocted this. Some politicians decided to try to raise money to jump on the bandwagon. And here we are. We have a crisis and can't resolve it.
REID: Yeah. And people like Ted Cruz who didn't have the courage to stay in Texas when it was freezing are trying to stand up like they're some sort of, you know, a national hero trying to protect people is absurd. Let me let you listen to Ken Buck. He is also a Colorado representative on the Republican side talking about gun control legislation. Here he is.
SANDRA SMITH [on FNC’s America Reports, 03/24/21]: What are your thoughts on the President now pushing for gun control in the wake of these shootings?
CONGRESSMAN KEN BUCK (R-CO) [on FNC’s America Reports, 03/24/21]: Well, it's a political stunt. When he was a senator and they had an assault weapons ban, the violent crime in the United States went up. [SCREEN WIPE] People who were unhinged are going to do things that are terrible and it's horrible and I feel terrible for the family of the police officers and other families of the victims, but this gun control language is political.
REID: I mean, let's just, first of all, fact check this before I go back to you, congressman. The Brennan Center put out information and here’s the chart. The violent crime in the united States dropped during the time that the assault weapons ban was in place. You can just see it on the chart. Down, down, down it goes. The United States has the highest death rate from guns in the entire — the 32nd highest death rate from gun in the entire world. It's eight times the death rate to a very similar country Canada. It is a hundred times the death rate in the United Kingdom. The Washington Post reports that mass shooting death — “the body of research increasingly suggests the 1994 law was effective in reducing mass shootings deaths.” And now let's go to the polls quickly. The majority of Americans want gun laws to be more strict, not less strict. Republicans think that less so but that always happens when there’s a Democratic president. At this point since this is a popular idea to make sure that people who shouldn't be having these weapons who aren't stable enough and may plan various things can't get them most people want them. In your view, should the filibuster be removed in order to make that happen?
CROW: Yes, it should. You know, the filibuster has outlived — long outlived any original purpose it might have. And, you know, we are obviously well aware of the terrible history of filibuster in preventing civil rights and being used post-Reconstruction in the Jim Crow era. And, you know, that has prevented progress in that regard. But it is now preventing all progress, whether we’re talking about the climate crisis, campaign finance reform, democracy reform, protecting voting rights or addressing the gun crisis. It's got to stop and, you know, here we are, we have a Democratic President in the White House, we have Democratic control of the Senate and Democratic control of the House. If we can't get these things done, then we have a big problem. The filibuster has got to go. It's not used for bipartisanship. It's used to undermine our democracy and prohibit progress that would make our country more safe.
REID: Sir, I wish that you could just call Joe Manchin, please, and talk to him because I think, given your background and your service to this country, maybe he would listen to you. Because he sure ain't listening to anybody else. Congressman Jason Crow, thank you so much. Really appreciate you being here. You were just the person we wanted to talk to you tonight. Thank you.
