CNN host S.E. Cupp used to be a conservative voice of reason on a network filled with gun control leftists who could barely tell the difference between a handgun and a water gun. But the corrupting influence of CNN was potent and during her Saturday edition of Unfiltered, Cupp demanded that America (or, the “United States of Hate” as she dubbed it) throw out reason and the Constitution in favor of emotion and hysterics.
At the top of the program, she praised how “Democrats have offered a wide array” of radical and invasive gun control laws “from universal background checks and raising the minimum age requirements, to suing gun manufacturers and banning assault-style weapons.” As for the GOP, she chided them as not being as overtly “sincere and serious” as the left.
What followed was a sort of repentance for her previous support for gun rights, saying she “believed it was true” at the time:
Now, for years, as you might know, I've gone on television and made the case for the second amendment, the right to bear arms. I've pointed out that criminals don't follow gun laws and I've defended the NRA and its members, law-abiding gun owners, like me, who have nothing to do with mass shootings or violent gun crimes. I've done that because I am a gun owner and a gun rights' advocate, and I believed it was true.
“But I am no longer an NRA member. Being right no longer feels righteous…” she declared as she started to make the emotional argument for striping gun rights. “We must do something about guns! We have a problem in this country and that problem is hate.”
Cupp would go on to demand actions that would not have stopped most, if any, mass shootings; including so-called “universal background checks,” “raising the age of gun purchases to 21” (which serves to create a second class of citizen that can vote but has limited rights), and “banning 100 round drums”.
The things she pushed for that could have helped were “fixing our NICS system” and “investing in mental health inside our schools”.
Moving on, she proclaimed she was “so sick and tired of participating in this predictable cycle of politics” where “the left calls for new gun laws” and “the right yells slippery slope and hides behind the Constitution!”
Defending the rights of the people was apparently “hiding behind the Constitution” now. CNN boss Jeffrey Zucker must be proud.
Cupp claimed she loved the Constitution, “but it's still a document.” The hysterics began to overwhelm her as she tried to use the Constitution and the deaths of the victims in Ohio and Texas as her soapbox:
It's meant to protect human beings, real people, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. What happiness are we protecting if our kids are afraid to go to school? What liberty are we protecting if we don't feel safe at the mall or walking down the street? What lives are we protecting when we arm a 21-year-old white supremacist with 100 rounds of ammo only so he can shoot up dozens of people at a Walmart, including a two- month-old child?
“I know I will be accused of letting my emotions get in the way of facts here. I've made that accusation before. But this is an emotional issue. How could it not be,” she bemoaned. “In fact, it should be more emotional. And to my friends in the Republican Party, at the NRA on the side of gun rights, if you're not emotional about this, join me, won't you? Let's start with emotion.”
But that’s not how our system of government works. The Constitution set up a system of government that protected people from the wild throws of passion and the tyranny of the majority. We do need to address gun violence but overzealous emotion was not it.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s S.E. Cupp Unfiltered
August 10, 2019
6:00:20 p.m. EasternS.E. CUPP: Welcome to Unfiltered, where tonight we address the United States of Hate. It's been one week since 31 people were killed in mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton.
It's worth pointing out those two shootings followed another one week earlier in Gilroy, California, where three people including a six- year-old and 13-year-old were killed by an angry guy with a gun.
Amidst all this, many Americans are calling for more gun laws. Democrats have offered a wide array, from universal background checks and raising the minimum age requirements, to suing gun manufacturers and banning assault-style weapons.
Some Republicans lawmakers have expressed an openness. But how sincere and serious they are remains to be seen.
Now, for years, as you might know, I've gone on television and made the case for the second amendment, the right to bear arms. I've pointed out that criminals don't follow gun laws and I've defended the NRA and its members, law-abiding gun owners, like me, who have nothing to do with mass shootings or violent gun crimes. I've done that because I am a gun owner and a gun rights' advocate, and I believed it was true.
But I am no longer an NRA member. Being right no longer feels righteous because in the wake of more mass shootings, acts of senseless violence that send innocent people running for their lives, leaving children orphaned, loved ones dead on the ground. We must do something about guns. We have a problem in this country and that problem is hate.
Tonight, I'm going to spend most of the hour talking about hate and what we can do about it. But one of the things we must do to begin to solve our hate problem is to put down our metaphorical weapons, our defense, our special interests, and finally be honest about the role that guns play in this culture of hate in America. And the honest, simple answer is it is too easy for too many sick people to get their hands on guns.
People with the kind of hate in their hearts as the El Paso and Dayton shooters, the Sutherland Springs and Charleston church shooters, Las Vegas, San Bernardino shooters, I can go on and on. They're not going to be cured of their hate by taking away their guns, but we also don't need to just hand them a killing device and 100 rounds of ammo and say, “please don't do anything bad with these”.
A kid who shows videos of mass shootings on a first date, who was suspended from school for having a hit list and a rape list should never have had access to a gun of any kind, period. Domestic abusers should never have access to a gun of any kind, period. People who make violent threats against individuals or groups of people should be taken dead seriously, investigated thoroughly, and ultimately maybe never have access to a gun of any kind, period.
Our gun laws should make it harder, if not, impossible for people who hate to carry out their violent fantasies. And right now, our gun laws make it too damn easy. Universal background checks, gun violence restraining orders, raising the age of gun purchases to 21, banning 100 round drums, fixing our NICS system, investing in mental health inside our schools, these things cannot wait.
I am so sick and tired of participating in this predictable cycle of politics where a mass shooting happens, the left calls for new gun laws, some meaningful, some unproductive. The right yells slippery slope and hides behind the Constitution. Nothing happens. Nothing changes. And with the next mass shooting, we do it all over again.
Look, I love the Constitution but it's still a document. It's meant to protect human beings, real people, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. What happiness are we protecting if our kids are afraid to go to school? What liberty are we protecting if we don't feel safe at the mall or walking down the street? What lives are we protecting when we arm a 21-year-old white supremacist with 100 rounds of ammo only so he can shoot up dozens of people at a Walmart, including a two- month-old child?
I know I will be accused of letting my emotions get in the way of facts here. I've made that accusation before. But this is an emotional issue. How could it not be? In fact, it should be more emotional. And to my friends in the Republican Party, at the NRA on the side of gun rights, if you're not emotional about this, join me, won't you? Let's start with emotion.
There's a lot we can accomplish if we start as humans, not NRA lobbyists or gun control lobbyists, not special interest groups or politicians, but as humans, moms, dads, brothers, sisters, friends, colleagues, because we have everything to lose if we don't.
