On Wednesday, in the wake of Parkland mass shooter Nikolas Cruz pleading guilty in court, MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell brought on Parkland gun-control activist David Hogg and praised him for increasing public support for more gun control. Like the older leftists, Hogg railed against the filibuster that has hindered Democrats from passing their agenda on gun control and other issues.
After crediting his "March for Our Lives" group with boosting turnout of young voters who are more likely to be supporters of gun control, Hogg then complained: "And despite all of that, we now see two Senators getting in the way of a lot of this work. You see the reconciliation bill -- that universal background checks, you know, are in there."
He soon added "we need to abolish the filibuster. There's no way that two Senators should be able to get in the way of what well over 85 to 90 percent of Americans support with something like universal background checks."
Mitchell lauded him: "You certainly changed the public climate about that. Those numbers are a direct result of the work that you and your fellow students did.in terms of political action and protest -- really effective protests. So that has to be at least somewhat empowering to you." As if the liberal media weren't promoting these kids every step of the way.
But the endless surveys that claim 90 percent of Americans want "universal background checks" was discredited years ago. Not only have voters never given anything close to that level of support in states when they've had a chance to, but alternative polling that asks more clear questions has gotten very different results when people are informed that most gun sales already require background checks.
Hogg soon made a comparison between gun-related deaths and COVID deaths: "I was born basically the year after Columbine happened. And in the time since I have been alive, just about the same number of people have died from COVID have died from gun deaths in this country that are entirely preventable."
An impressed Mitchell responded: "I'm glad you brought that up because I was going to compare this as a public health issue to the pandemic, the number of preventable deaths, you point out, since Columbine."
The Centers for Disease Control has reported about 570,000 gun deahs from 2000-2019....and 340,000 of them were suicides. .
This episode of Andrea Mitchell Reports was sponsored in part by Dell Technologies. Their contact information is linked.
Transcript follows:
MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports
October 20, 2021
12:10 p.m. Eastern
ANDREA MITCHELL: Despite the outpouring, what you and your fellow students organized, the incredible pressure, you know, as there had been after, you know, Sandy Springs with the kindergarten children, no federal legislation. How frustrating is it that we have such a political stalemate in this country?
DAVID HOGG, GUN CONTROL ACTIVIST: It's deeply frustrating, but I'll tell you what. It's deeply concerning for the future of our republic and the current state of our republic. You know, if we have such a level of division in this country that we can't protect our most valuable asset that is our future -- that is our children -- it speaks to the severe danger that we are in as a country -- young people, the March for Our Lives and the work that we've done around the country with other groups as well have turned out in record numbers. In 2018 and 2020, we had one of the highest voter turnouts in American history. And despite all of that, we now see two Senators getting in the way of a lot of this work. You see the reconciliation bill -- that universal background checks, you know, are in there.
(...)
People are going to start to lose faith in the system. And because of that, we need to abolish the filibuster. There's no way that two Senators should be able to get in the way of what well over 85 to 90 percent of Americans support with something like universal background checks.
MITCHELL: You certainly changed the public climate about that. Those numbers are a direct result of the work that you and your fellow students did.in terms of political action and protest -- really effective protests. So that has to be at least somewhat empowering to you.
(...)
HOGG: I was born basically the year after Columbine happened. And in the time since I have been alive, just about the same number of people have died from COVID have died from gun deaths in this country that are entirely preventable. We're one of the few countries in the world that deals with this level of gun violence in our schools and outside of our schools on a daily basis. And we can elect people -- we need to realize as Americans that this is a choice. As a country, we need to come together not as Democrats or Republicans, but as human beings, for our right not to be shot so that no kid or adult or anyone has to fear gun violence, no matter their zip code, no matter if they're inside of their schools or outside of it. And that's what the March for Our Lives has been doing for the last several years.
We worked in Florida with a very Republican legislature. We got extreme risk protection orders passed which might have stopped the shooting at my high school. We've gotten funding for the CDC and NIH pushed through Congress at a level that was never before seen prior to what had happened at our school. So change has started to happen, but it is incredibly frustrating how slow it is because right now we don't have a representative form of government -- we have an obstructionist form of government because of the filibuster. And when that is active, because of that one rule, it's causing so many people to die every year.
MITCHELL: I'm glad you brought that up because I was going to compare this as a public health issue to the pandemic, the number of preventable deaths, you point out, since Columbine.
