Throughout the day on Tuesday, while covering the New York City subway shooting live at the scene, MSNBC anchor Katy Tur repeatedly pushed the Biden administration’s gun control agenda. However, she warned against “reactionary measures” like increasing police presence across the nation’s largest city amid a crime wave.
“Frankly, and there are so many guns on the street right now....In fact, we saw yesterday, President Biden hold a news conference on ghost guns because gun violence is on the rise and there’s concerns about trying to control it, get out ahead of even worse violence with these unregistered guns that you can build at home,” Tur proclaimed in the 11:00 a.m. ET hour, trying to connect the attack in New York to Biden’s left-wing agenda.
In the 12:00 p.m. ET hour, fellow anchor Andrea Mitchell was eager to delve into the politics of the shooting right away: “Talk to me about...the politics of this, frankly. Because just yesterday you had the President of the United States doing, you know, an event about ghost guns, an executive order, under pressure to do something about guns.”
Tur happily obliged, launching into an anti-gun rant that could have been written by the White House communications team:
The President held this news conference in the hour of my show yesterday, around 2:30 yesterday, and he was trying – is trying to appoint a new leader of the ATF. The Alcohol Tobacco and Firearm agency hasn’t had a permanent leader in many years. And he was addressing ghost guns, which are guns that you can buy kits for, you can order them online with a couple clicks, you can go into a gun show and get a box and walk out. They don’t ask you for your ID, they don’t ask you what you want to do with it. Anybody can get it. If you are somebody that wouldn’t pass a background check, doesn’t matter, you can get a ghost gun. So there’s concern about the rise in violence with those loopholes being exploited.
After speaking with leftist New York City public advocate Jumaane Williams in the 2:00 p.m. ET hour, Tur turned to former New York City mayor Bill de Blasio and shared a fear from Williams: “And he was worried that the reaction to this event was going to make a renewed focus on law enforcement. And if fact, Mayor Adams has already said that he’s going to be adding law enforcement officers to the subway system.”
Tur continued to make the case against increased police funding to get more officers in New York’s sprawling subway system to protect riders:
His [Williams] argument was that this was more fundamental, that more funding needs to go to preventing gun violence. Obviously, we don’t know about the motive here and so we’re talking in theoreticals at the moment. But that Albany is not taking the root problem as seriously as it should and not allocating the funding toward getting guns off the street in the first place, rather than the reactionary measures that happen after an event like this.
During the 3:00 p.m. ET hour, after retired ATF agent Jim Cavanaugh speculated without evidence that the gun used in the attack “could even be a replica of a Glock, a ghost gun,” Tur seized on the fact-free notion: “You talk about a ghost gun. Again, we don’t know if it is, but you know, that’s one of the things that President Biden was trying to address yesterday by mandating that these ghost guns have serial numbers attached to them so that they can be traced.”
According to Tur, efforts to restrict the Second Amendment rights of lawful gun owners are actually preferable to “reactionary measures” like putting more police on the streets to protect citizens.
Tur’s attempt to use the subway shooting to advance the Biden agenda was brought to viewers by Pfizer and TD Ameritrade. You can fight back by letting these advertisers know what you think of them sponsoring such content.
Here is a transcript of excerpts from the April 12 coverage:
MSNBC Reports
11:16 AM ET(...)
KATY TUR: Frankly, and there are so many guns on the street right now. And this has been one of the major issues for the incoming mayor, the new mayor, Eric Adams. He said he’s going to try to tackle it, there’s been a spate of gun violence in the city. In fact, we saw yesterday, President Biden hold a news conference on ghost guns because gun violence is on the rise and there’s concerns about trying to control it, get out ahead of even worse violence with these unregistered guns that you can build at home.
(...)
Andrea Mitchell Reports
12:27 PM ET(...)
ANDREA MITCHELL: And Katy, I just want to make another point with you because the governor was so passionate about, “This must end.” You know, just had the terrible shooting of the 13-year-old girl. You know, just the crime wave in New York City. Talk to me about that and about the politics of this, frankly. Because just yesterday you had the President of the United States doing, you know, an event about ghost guns, an executive order, under pressure to do something about guns.
And now you’ve got this and the mayor – the governor, rather, who is running for re-election of course, having taken office under those circumstances with Andrew Cuomo stepping down and she now is going to run for office for the first time as governor herself to hold that position. And she is clearly trying to make the point that people are going to come together and that this is all of the agencies and all the people of New York are going to come together and fight this crime wave.
TUR: Yeah, and the lieutenant governor was just arrested today, she was asked about that briefly. The President held this news conference in the hour of my show yesterday, around 2:30 yesterday, and he was trying – is trying to appoint a new leader of the ATF. The Alcohol Tobacco and Firearm agency hasn’t had a permanent leader in many years. And he was addressing ghost guns, which are guns that you can buy kits for, you can order them online with a couple clicks, you can go into a gun show and get a box and walk out. They don’t ask you for your ID, they don’t ask you what you want to do with it. Anybody can get it. If you are somebody that wouldn’t pass a background check, doesn’t matter, you can get a ghost gun. So there’s concern about the rise in violence with those loopholes being exploited.
Here in New York City there’s been a concerning rise in gun violence over the past couple years during the pandemic. And when Mayor Adams was running to be mayor of this city, part of his platform was to get crime under control, to get gun violence under control.
(...)
Katy Tur Reports
2:52 PM ET(...)
JUMAANE WILLIAMS [NYC PUBLIC ADVOCATE]: This is a national crisis and the nation follows New York. And so we have an opportunity to get this right and so far we’re not.
TUR: That was a part of an interview I did a short time ago with New York City public advocate Jumaane Williams. Joining me now is the former mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio. Mr. Mayor, thank you very much for joining us.
And another part of the conversation I had with Jumaane Williams was about funding and the reaction to this event. And he was worried that the reaction to this event was going to make a renewed focus on law enforcement. And if fact, Mayor Adams has already said that he’s going to be adding law enforcement officers to the subway system.
His [Williams] argument was that this was more fundamental, that more funding needs to go to preventing gun violence. Obviously, we don’t know about the motive here and so we’re talking in theoreticals at the moment. But that Albany is not taking the root problem as seriously as it should and not allocating the funding toward getting guns off the street in the first place, rather than the reactionary measures that happen after an event like this. I wonder what your take is.
(...)
Hallie Jackson Reports
3:45 PM ET(...)
JIM CAVANAUGH [RETIRED ATF SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE]: And then, of course, he leaves a forensics New Year’s Eve party in the bag – hair, finger prints, DNA and a Glock pistol that ATF has probably already traced. And sometimes even in a big event, the gun traces right back to the killer, like in the Son of Sam case. We traced the gun right to the Son of Sam. So there’s no where a gun – you know, it may not be traced. It could be a stolen guns, it could be a trafficked gun, it be an obliterated serial number gun. It could even be a replica of a Glock, a ghost gun. So there’s many scenarios. But if it’s had a serial number, ATF’s already placed an urgent trace and they have an identity and agents are around the country looking at that. I think before the dawn hits, we’re gonna know who this guy is and the police may already have him, trust me.
TUR: You talk about a ghost gun. Again, we don’t know if it is, but you know, that’s one of the things that President Biden was trying to address yesterday by mandating that these ghost guns have serial numbers attached to them so that they can be traced.
(...)
