On Monday night’s edition of CBS Evening News, anchor Norah O’Donnell spent the vast majority of the opening segment on the tragic mass shooting in Monterey Park, California which killed eleven people and injured ten more on Saturday night. While many in the leftist media and their allies in the Democrat Party have sought to carry out the same tired and thoroughly debunked playbook of blaming the Second Amendment, O’Donnell stood apart and challenged Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom when he tried smearing law-abiding gun owners in a power-hungry and self-serving attempt to confiscate firearms from innocent Americans.
Reporting live from the crime scene, O’Donnell announced that Newsom visited the community to “offer his condolences to victims and their families.” She then cut to a prerecorded back-and-forth she presumably had earlier with the California Governor:
NEWSOM: It's a disgrace.
O’DONNELL: We found the governor here in Monterey Park not far from the dance studio where at least 11 were killed.
NEWSOM: Nothing about this is surprising. Everything about this is infuriating.
O’DONNELL: California has the strictest gun laws in the U.S.
NEWSOM: I mean the Second Amendment’s becoming a suicide pact.
O’DONNELL: But there are many in this country that support the Second Amendment and are lawful gun owners.
NEWSOM: Yeah, I have great respect, I have no ideological opposition to people reasonably responsibly owning firearms and getting background checks and getting trained.
O’DONNELL: Authorities say the shooter used a modified pistol with a high-capacity magazine. But how did he get a gun that’s illegal in the state of California?
NEWSOM: Exactly we’ll figure it out. That’s gonna happen. We gotta enforce laws, this falled through the cracks but that doesn't mean you give up.
It's rare to see a prominent network news anchor stand up to a Democrat Governor on behalf of the Second Amendment rights of Americans. Especially given how disdainful the radical left is toward that constitutional right.
O’Donnell then shifted to what many conservatives argue was the real cause of many mass shootings in America: mental illness.
“The Governor also emphasized the role of mental health in incidents like these,” O’Donnell said before again cutting to Newsom.
“I'm really proud of the work we've done in this space but we've got decades of neglect in this space,” Newsom boasted before snapping.
“[B]ut respectfully I will submit that regardless, of the challenges as it relates to behavioral health, there is not a country in the world that doesn't experience behavioral health issues,” Newsom huffed.
This random act of journalism from O’Donnell was a far cry from last May when O’Donnell was hyping faulty mass shooting statistics from discredited leftist outlets to push the Democrat Party’s gun control agenda.
The relevant transcript from the CBS Evening News segment is below. Click “expand” to read:
CBS Evening News
1/23/2023
6:38:32 p.m. EasternNORAH O’DONNELL: Well one person who visited this community today was California Governor Gavin Newsom to offer his condolences to victims and their families.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM: It's a disgrace.
O’DONNELL: We found the governor here in Monterey Park not far from the dance studio where at least 11 were killed.
NEWSOM: Nothing about this is surprising. Everything about this is infuriating.
O’DONNELL: California has the strictest gun laws in the U.S.
NEWSOM: I mean the Second Amendment’s becoming a suicide pact.
O’DONNELL: But there are many in this country that support the Second Amendment and are lawful gun owners.
NEWSOM: Yeah, I have great respect, I have no ideological opposition to people reasonably responsibly owning firearms and getting background checks and getting trained.
O’DONNELL: Authorities say the shooter used a modified pistol with a high-capacity magazine. But how did he get a gun that’s illegal in the state of California?
NEWSOM: Exactly we’ll figure it out. That’s gonna happen. We gotta enforce laws, this falled through the cracks but that doesn't mean you give up.
O’DONNELL: The Governor also emphasized the role of mental health in incidents like these.
NEWSOM: I'm really proud of the work we've done in this space but we've got decades of neglect in this space but respectfully I will submit that regardless, of the challenges as it relates to behavioral health, there is not a country in the world that doesn't experience behavioral health issues.
