In an appearance on Sunday’s This Week, Senator Ted Cruz (R) schooled Clinton lackey and ABC chief anchor George Stephanopoulos on the ineffectiveness of Democratic gun control legislation. In the process, Senator Cruz called out Democrats for working on plans to confiscate the firearms of law-abiding Americans. Meanwhile, Stephanopoulos was trying to get Cruz to sign onto Democratic proposals.
After rehashing the dubious smears of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Stephanopoulos tried to use the recent mass shootings in Texas to box Cruz into a corner and get him to support pervasive gun control measures:
Of course, your state has been rocked by those two recent shootings and the latest poll coming out from Quinnipiac in Texas shows that about 90 percent, almost 90 percent of Texans support extending background checks to private sales. So does your Republican lieutenant governor Dan Patrick, says it makes no sense to allow strangers to sell guns to others in private sales. Does he have a point?
Cruz reminded Stephanopoulos that he had visited and spent time at many of the mass shooting crime scenes in his state and said he really did want to work on curbing the violence.
“Now, the question is what do we need to do that actually work,” Cruz argued. “And this is where I get frustrated with Democratic politicians in Washington. Because the proposals they're putting forward would not have stopped a single one of these mass murders.”
The Senator then promoted his 2013 Grassley/Cruz crime proposal and called for it to be looked at again:
Here's what we need to do. I introduced in 2013, my first few months in the Senate, legislation with Chuck Grassley called Grassley/Cruz that targets felons, it targets fugitives, it targets those with dangerous mental illness. It improves and strengthens the background checks. It stops criminals and those with dangerous mental illness from getting firearms. And those who commit felonies, it puts them in prison to actually stop these crimes.
According to a summary of the Grassley/Cruz legislation, the bill also “reauthorizes Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act. This provides $40 million per year for five years for mental health courts, crisis intervention teams, veteran treatment courts, police academy curricula, and transitional services in prison.”
“What about expanding the background checks to private sales? If the President gets behind that, will you,” Stephanopoulos continued to press.
Cruz pointed out that his host had “teed on the one that the Democrats focus on obsessively”, and accurately pointed out that “it would not have stopped even a single one of these mass shootings.” He followed that up by calling out the Democratic presidential candidates demanding gun confiscations:
As soon as you have every person, private-to-private transaction, if you have a grandfather giving his grandson a shotgun to go bird hunting, if you have a federal government background check for that, what you will see the next step to be is the only way to enforce that is a federal gun registry. And a gun registry is the step you need for gun confiscation. And by the way, George, as you know, we now have three of the ten Democratic presidential candidates actively advocating for gun confiscation. They are saying the federal government is going to come, forcibly take your guns.
After Cruz had said he talked with President Trump and Majority Leader McConnell about supporting his bill, Stephanopoulos moved on to talking about Trump’s “underwater” polling in Texas.
The transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s This Week
September 15, 2019
9:35:32 a.m. EasternGEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's talk about the democratic process in relation to guns right now. Of course, your state has been rocked by those two recent shootings and the latest poll coming out from Quinnipiac in Texas shows that about 90 percent, almost 90 percent of Texans support extending background checks to private sales. So does your Republican lieutenant governor Dan Patrick, says it makes no sense to allow strangers to sell guns to others in private sales. Does he have a point?
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Well, listen, we absolutely need to do more. We need to strengthen background checks and I'll tell you, George, I'm a Texan. I was in Odessa in the days following that horrific shooting. I was in El Paso in the days after that shooting. Before that I was in Sutherland Springs the day after that shooting standing in that beautiful sanctuary covered with blood. I was in Santa Fe high school. It's less than an hour from my house. I was there that morning of the shooting. I had been with these victims. I have been with first responders. I've been with families who are crying. And let me tell you, George, we've seen too damn many of these in the state of Texas so we need to end them, absolutely yes.
Now, the question is what do we need to do that actually work? And this is where I get frustrated with Democratic politicians in Washington. Because the proposals they're putting forward would not have stopped a single one of these mass murders.
Here's what we need to do. I introduced in 2013, my first few months in the Senate, legislation with Chuck Grassley called Grassley/Cruz that targets felons, it targets fugitives, it targets those with dangerous mental illness. It improves and strengthens the background checks. It stops criminals and those with dangerous mental illness from getting firearms. And those who commit felonies, it puts them in prison to actually stop these crimes.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But what about extending --
CRUZ: We got, in 2013, a majority of the Senate voted for Grassley/Cruz. 52 senator, 9 Democrats, it got enormous bipartisan support. But sadly, Harry Reid and the Democrats filibustered it. Which was a cynical decision. What we need to do right now, we need to take up Grassley/Cruz and pass it so we can stop these felons and fugitives and people with dangerous mental illness from getting guns and committing these horrific crimes.
STEPHANOPOULOS: What about expanding the background checks to private sales? If the President gets behind that, will you?
CRUZ: You know, George, the problem with that proposal-- and that is the proposal, you've teed on the one that the Democrats focus on obsessively. It would not have stopped even a single one of these mass shootings. It's not a proposal designed -- if you say, we want to stop these shootings, their proposal doesn't do it. But you know what it does?
As soon as you have every person, private-to-private transaction, if you have a grandfather giving his grandson a shotgun to go bird hunting, if you have a federal government background check for that, what you will see the next step to be is the only way to enforce that is a federal gun registry. And a gun registry is the step you need for gun confiscation. And by the way, George, as you know, we now have three of the ten Democratic presidential candidates actively advocating for gun confiscation. They are saying the federal government is going to come, forcibly take your guns.
So, look, I think that is a bad idea. The federal government should not be confiscating guns from law-abiding citizens. But here's what we should be doing. We should be doing what will stop murders like this which is taking guns away from felons and fugitives, which is prosecuting felons and fugitives who try to illegally buy guns; which is making strawman purchases illegal.
I’ve introduced legislation to do that. I’ve pressed for it. I spoke, this week, to both Mitch McConnell and President Trump, urged both of them, take up Grassley/Cruz, let's stop the criminals and let’s protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.
(…)
