Ooops!
It's a safe bet that it wasn't the intent, but a Tuesday afternoon MSNBC report on the latest unrest in Venezuela made a very good case for why the Second Amendment, giving citizens the right to bear arms, is very important. It happened during a report by Kerry Sanders from Miami updating Andrea Mitchell on the latest news about the troubles in Venezuela.
Here was Mitchell's lead-in:
MSNBC's Kerry Sanders joins me now with more on this story. I know Kerry you spent a lot of time down there. I think it has been surprising to a lot of people in Washington and the administration at least. This is taking longer than they thought despite the sanctions, despite the pressure with the help of Russia and other outside forces, Maduro is hanging on.
And now here's the reply from Sanders that had to have made Mitchell cringe:
And not only hanging on but he appears to still control the military. You have to understand that in Venezuela gun ownership is not something that is open to everybody. So if the military have the guns, they have the power. And as long as Nicolas Maduro controls the military, he controls the country...
Here is some background on the Venezuelan government banning private gun ownership in 2012:
Venezuela has brought a new gun law into effect which bans the commercial sale of firearms and ammunition.
Until now, anyone with a gun permit could buy arms from a private company.
Under the new law, only the army, police and certain groups like security companies will be able to buy arms from the state-owned weapons manufacturer and importer.
The ban is the latest attempt by the government to improve security and cut crime ahead of elections in October
Government control (security) was improved but violent crime skyrocketed in Venezuela since the gun ban went into effect thus undermining the rationale for gun control by the activists on this topic in this country.
Ironically, Kerry Sanders has a record of hyping gun control efforts in the past such as in this report about the Parkland students.
Exit question: Will Kerry Sanders follow up on this report by claiming that it was taken out of context or that we didn't understand the "nuance?"
