On Wednesday, the co-hosts of ABC’s The View repeatedly ganged up on Republican presidential candidate John Kasich over the issue of gun control. Throughout the heated interview, Kasich stressed that mental illness was the root cause of many mass shootings that occur across the nation but the show’s cast repeatedly called for greater restrictions on gun ownership.
After Kasich highlighted efforts to expand mental health services for those in his home state of Ohio, co-host Joy Behar demanded the Republican explain “[w]hat are you going to do about guns? Let’s cut to the chase, come on.”
The Ohio governor explained that we need to “enforce the laws” currently on the books but directed his focus at the need to overhaul our nation’s mental health system:
Secondly the whole mental health data system has to be up. States need to be held accountable for it. But here's the thing that we notice with all of these folks. Because I’ve spent a lot of time trying to help people who have mental illness. You know what we find with all of them? The families are broken down. The communities are broken down. The neighbors are not there.
While Behar acknowledged the importance of providing adequate mental health services she continued to push the liberal line that guns were the true source of the problem: “But that's true of a lot of people in this country. They don't all have guns.” Michelle Collins joined in to criticize gun supporters and asserted that when an 11-year old accidentally shot his neighbor “if there wasn't a gun in the home, it wouldn't have happened it’s just plain and simple.”
For his part, Kasich defended himself against the barrage of liberal questions and explained that banning guns won’t work because “people who are law-abiding don't want to give up their guns and they have a right to protect themselves.” Not content with the Ohio governor’s answer, Collins turned her sights on the left’s favorite enemy, the NRA:
Why does the NRA have so much control over Congress?...I’m asking because to me, it seems that everyone is catering to them. And no one is taking a stand on this. Why does the NRA have so much control? Is it money?
Behar proclaimed that the NRA “own[s] the Congress” and even suggested “[m]aybe the Congress should never take money from the NRA, how would that work out?” Kasich pushed back articulated how “we can spend all of our time saying, if we take this gun away, the question is, why are these people all pretty much the same? They experience some form of mental illness. They come from families that are broken.”
As the back-and-forth continued, Whoopi Goldberg went on a long rant over Ben Carson’s reaction to the Oregon shooting before she pleaded with Kasich to agree to promote gun control if elected president:
So why is it so difficult for us to say, here's the bottom line. We're not going sell AK-47s because you can't hunt with them. You can't hunt a dear. There's nothing left. Can you do that as president?
Kasich once again had to explain that while he “voted for an assault weapons ban" "all that happened was they just changed the structure of the gun” but Goldberg wouldn’t let up and demanded “if you're president what would you do to take a hand in this” and pass more gun control?
See relevant transcript below.
ABC’s The View
October 7, 2015
JOY BEHAR: What are you going to do about guns? Let's cut to the chase, come on.
JOHN KASICH: Well, I think first of all you have to enforce the laws. You know, when people go to gun shows and they’re going to sell a gun we need to know who’s buying it, which is in the law. Secondly the whole mental health data system has to be up. States need to be held accountable for it. But here's the thing that we notice with all of these folks. Because I’ve spent a lot of time trying to help people who have mental illness. You know what we find with all of them? The families are broken down. The communities are broken down. The neighbors are not there. I was in a place in Iowa called-
BEHAR: But that's true of a lot of people in this country. They don't all have guns.
KASICH: Joy, we have to rebuild it so people don't find themselves isolated, alienated, frustrated, uncared for. I mean, when you break down everything in your community, people --
RAVEN SIMONE: What about guns in kids' hands?
KASICH: Well, like little kids --
MICHELLE COLLINS: Like the 11-year-old who just shot his neighbor.
KASICH: The laws in this country need to be enforced. I mean, the 11-year-old, where’s mom and dad, where’s the neighbor, where’s the community?
COLLINS: But if there wasn't a gun in the home, it wouldn't have happened it’s just plain and simple.
KASICH: Yeah, but you're not going to get all of the guns out of a home. That’s just not going to happen.
SIMONE: It’s possible.
KASICH: I want you to understand, if we focus on guns, that’s fine. That's not the underlying problem.
BEHAR: But let's start there at least.
KASICH: But people don't want -- people who are law-abiding don't want to give up their guns and they have a right to protect themselves.
COLLINS: Why does the NRA have so much control over Congress?
BEHAR: They own the Congress.COLLINS: I’m asking because to me, it seems that everyone is catering to them. And no one is taking a stand on this. Why does the NRA have so much control? Is it money?
KASICH: You know what I think it is? Because people feel they have a right to protect themselves, their families --BEHAR: With an AR-15? Why do they need all these–
KASICH: Some of these things are not permitted anymore. But, look, we can spend all of our time saying, if we take this gun away, the question is, why are these people all pretty much the same? They experience some form of mental illness. They come from families that are broken.
--
GOLDBERG:We have to stop agrandizing this idea, put more guns. We had Ben Carson on, who said if he had been in that classroom, he would have said, hey, everybody, listen. I made a movie years ago called Long Walk Home, and I always used to say man if the Ku Klux Klan came to my house, I would have said bla bla, I have friends who said if I lived in Germany in the 30s, I would have said, you wouldn't have said bla bla bra. You wouldn’t have.
BEHAR: Yeah, they were oppressive too much.
GOLDBERG: So why is it so difficult for us to say, here's the bottom line. We're not going sell AK-47s because you can't hunt with them. You can't hunt a dear. There's nothing left. Can you do that as president?
KASICH: Well, you know Whoopi I voted for an assault weapons ban and all that happened was they just changed the structure of the gun.
GOLDBERG: But if you're president what would you do to take a hand in this?
KASICH: I tell you what I've done in Ohio. I greatly strengthened the treatment for the mentally ill. I’ve created mentoring programs for children in school and getting parents involved in the same way. The same why we're fighting drugs. See, I think you're missing what I'm saying. We can talk all day about drugs. But don't you see these folks who are mass shooters in the theater, out in Denver, what’s happened here. This guy, his mother was all alone, didn't know where to go. There were no emergency beds. We've now created emergency beds in Ohio. To get to the root of this, look, I'm starting to --
COLLINS: But this is like Minority Report. It’s like finding the crime before it happened.
KASICH: But what I'm saying to you is, you can deal with the symptom or you can deal with the root cause.
BEHAR: How about this?
KASICH: We are not treating mental illness in this country the way we ought to. I was just in Iowa at a place called the house of hope. This is where women go because they have nowhere else to turn. I said why is this here? They said because we don't have neighbors anymore. Our families are broken up. Don’t you see this is all about frustration, alienation.
BEHAR: We agree with that. But given all of that alienation, on top of that. There are too many people with weapons. That's the problem.
KASICH: Joy, here's the --
BEHAR: Maybe the Congress should never take money from the NRA, how would that work out?
