After a gunman entered a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado Monday, tragically killing 10 people, the media has predictably pounced on the Democrat agenda today by demanding more aggressive gun bans.
On ABC’s The View, co-host Joy Behar argued the solution was as easy as a federal assault weapons ban like the one Bill Clinton signed into law in 1994. She lamented how the world thinks Americans are “crazy” and “laughing at us” so Democrats should seize the moment now that they’re “in control” and can “do something about it:”
JOY BEHAR: Well, in my opinion, the main thing that they should do is ban assault, assault rifles. The AR-15 type of rifles that are responsible for Sandy Hook, Aurora, Colorado, San Bernardino, Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Las Vegas, I could go on and on. Parkland, Waffle house, Tree of Life Synagogue, et cetera. All of those massacres were conducted with one of those AR-15 type of rifles. In 2004, George W. Bush lifted the ban on those rifles, and since then, the number of massacres has increased 183%. During the ban, there were 12 incidents. Since he lifted the ban, there were 34 incidents. Anybody, a right-minded person can see that that gun has to go. Of course, we have to have background checks. You don't want any idiot just getting a gun or some mental case. You want people who are -- have a background check, and it doesn't make anybody feel safe to have those guns out there.
I appreciate if you live, like, Meghan says in an area where you need to protect yourself with a handgun. There is absolutely no use for this weapon of war to be out there. I mean, people in the country --in the world-- are laughing at us. They think we're crazy in this country, which we are, and now that we have Democrats in control, they need to do something about it, and of course, Biden has many proposals on the table which are very, very rational and sane, and they need to be pushed through, and I'm sure [Joe] Manchin and [Kristen] Sinema will go along with the ban on assault rifles because they know better. That is my answer to the question, what can be done. It's about those guns.
Her co-host Sunny Hostin was even more irate at "selfish" Americans who defended the 2nd Amendment, saying she felt like they were holding her “hostage:”
That is not freedom because I feel like a hostage right now. I feel like a hostage to the selfish people who insist on owning these type of weapons...You are not a patriot because you think you have the right to own these type of weapons. You are not a patriot. You should be taking care of your fellow Americans….
TEN KILLED IN COLORADO SHOOTING: After a gunman opened fire at a grocery store where residents gathered to shop and receive COVID-19 vaccines in Boulder, Colorado Monday, the co-hosts react and question if Americas will push for stricter gun laws. https://t.co/g3yOiicJiX pic.twitter.com/YbXXWMsbbV
— The View (@TheView) March 23, 2021
Like Behar, she also called for more gun bans:
“[I] don’t think we can any longer equate freedom with the unfettered right to own assault rifles,” she stated adding later, “It is time to start talking right now about gun control.”
But what The View hosts and the media don't want to acknowledge, is that the last federal assault weapons ban didn’t stop one of the most infamous massacres in recent memory--- Columbine. That horrific school shooting happened just a few cities over from this grocery store mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado.
The reality is, the left uses these tragedies to push forward their political agenda. In a November of 2019 show, Behar even admitted Democrats should hide their gun-grabbing plans from voters so they could get elected and ram through unpopular gun control laws: “They should not tell everything they're going to do! If you are going to take people's guns away, wait until you get elected and then take them away. Don't tell them ahead of time!” she insisted at the time.
As more information comes out about the shooter, one has to wonder why the media jumps on the gun control message immediately with certain shootings but characterizes other equally violent shootings as hate crimes, such as the massage parlor shootings last week. The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway tweet reveals why the media may have pounced on gun control this time:
Alleged shooter was a Washington Post reader who shared the paper's hatred of Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/qbw22TZd2h
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) March 23, 2021
Read the transcript below:
The View
3/23/2021
SUNNY HOSTIN: [I] don’t think we can any longer equate freedom with the unfettered right to own assault rifles. That is not freedom because I feel like a hostage right now. I feel like a hostage to the selfish people who insist on owning these type of weapons. That is not freedom in this country. You are not a patriot because you think you have the right to own these type of weapons. You are not a patriot. You should be taking care of your fellow Americans.
…
So where do we go from here Whoopi? It is time to start talking right now about gun control because I know Rep. Lauren Boebert two hours, after this shooting started fundraising, started sending tweets about the 2nd Amendment. And she represents Colorado. That is disgusting. That is despicable. And it's time for that kind of behavior to end. That is not about the Constitution. That is not about the 2nd Amendment. That is not about freedom. That is not what freedom is.
[...]
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Joy, what can we say or do about this that would be meaningful in your opinion?
JOY BEHAR: Well, in my opinion, the main thing that they should do is ban assault, assault rifles. The AR-15 type of rifles that are responsible for Sandy Hook, Aurora, Colorado, San Bernardino, Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Las Vegas, I could go on and on. Parkland, Waffle house, Tree of Life Synagogue, et cetera. All of those massacres were conducted with one of those AR-15 type of rifles. In 2004, George W. Bush lifted the ban on those rifles, and since then, the number of massacres has increased 183%. During the ban, there were 12 incidents. Since he lifted the ban, there were 34 incidents. Anybody, a right-minded person can see that that gun has to go.
Of course, we have to have background checks. You don't want any idiot just getting a gun or some mental case. You want people who are -- have a background check, and it doesn't make anybody feel safe to have those guns out there.
I appreciate if you live, like, Meghan says in an area where you need to protect yourself with a handgun. There is absolutely no use for this weapon of war to be out there.
I mean, people in the country --in the world-- are laughing at us. They think we're crazy in this country, which we are, and now that we have Democrats in control, they need to do something about it, and of course, Biden has many proposals on the table which are very, very rational and sane, and they need to be pushed through, and I'm sure [Joe] Manchin and [Kristen] Sinema will go along with the ban on assault rifles because they know better. That is my answer to the question, what can be done. It's about those guns.
GOLDBERG: Yeah. Well, it would be nice if we could get people to understand that nobody's trying to curtail them. It's just -- we're just trying to figure out how to curtail things like this, and maybe it doesn't mean anything until it directly affects you...
