For today's "Gut Check" segment on MSNBC's 2 p.m. Eastern NewsNation program, substitute host Craig Melvin interviewed a South Carolina sheriff who is urging women in his county to carry a concealed handgun for protection against would-be rapists.
During his Skype interview with Chuck Wright, Melvin worried about the poor dead would-be rapists being checked into the Spartanburg County morgue without the benefit of a trial (emphasis mine, video follows page break):
CRAIG MELVIN, NewsNation guest host: If women are shooting potential attackers, aren't they presuming guilt before innocence? What if a woman kills an attacker? Isn't that opening another whole legal can of worms?
Sheriff CHUCK WRIGHT, Spartanburg, S.C.: Well, it's easy to fix that. Just don't attack a woman.... I know that this is controversial, but I do believe that people who believe in the Second Amendment and believe that they should arm themselves have a right to do so, as long as they're trained properly.
Earlier in the interview, Melvin wondered why the sheriff wasn't more confident in his deputies being "sufficient" to protect women in his county:
MELVIN: Sheriff, if law enforcement is charged with protecting the public, then, then, then why should that not be sufficient? Why should folks have to go out and get guns and arm themselves if we've got cops?
WRIGHT: We can't be everywhere, and we are a fool if we tell everybody that we can take care of all of our problems.
To be fair to Melvin, it is possible he was just playing the devil's advocate with his line of questioning, at least one hopes so.
Melvin closed the segment by asking viewers, "what does your gut tell you? Should the Spartanburg County sheriff be urging women to carry a concealed weapon for protection? Go to newsnation.msnbc.com to vote."
The results of the unscientific viewer poll will be revealed tomorrow just before 3 p.m. on NewsNation.
