While covering the breaking news of the Brooklyn subway shooting on Tuesday’s CNN Newsroom, host Jim Sciutto tied the shooting and violent crime generally to gun laws in southern states.
During a conversation with law enforcement analyst Anthony Barksdale, Sciutto declared:
I've heard it consistently from New York police officers and we’ve heard this from public comments from the commissioner, from the mayor about the problem with guns and gun violence in New York, where those guns come from, how easy to get them in the city from other states. They speak — they speak of them coming from southern states, often with more lax gun laws.
He then asked Barksdale, “As you watch what's been happening in New York with a shooting like this, but also a broader statistical rise in violent crime — crime, what's the role of guns in that?”
Barksdale claimed guns to “play a significant role” in raising crime levels. For Barksdale, there is hope in this and President Biden has the right idea, “Yesterday, the president, in — in my opinion, gave a wonderful speech about focusing on guns and the damage that guns in the wrong hands do in the United States…So, it is a huge concern. We’ve talked about ghost guns, he talked about the — the supply route, that you just mentioned.”
If there was any silver lining in the shooting, it is that lawmakers might finally move on gun control legislation, “So, we’ve got a lot of hope, but we still have to make the things happen. This isn’t just going to go away overnight, but an incident like this hopefully increases the urgency on both sides of the aisle to get something done about the amount of violence in our country.”
Passing gun control laws to restrict the freedom of people in the South because someone shot up a subway station in New York. This is CNN.
This segment was sponsored by Bath Fitter.
Here is a transcript for the April 12 show:
CNN Newsroom
4/12/2022
10:07 AM ET
JIM SCIUTTO: Some new information in, we're learning that the ATF, that’s the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms investigates gun crimes in this country, is now on the scene of the Brooklyn shooting. Anthony Barksdale, I've heard it consistently from New York police officers and we’ve heard this from public comments from the commissioner, from the mayor about the problem with guns and gun violence in New York, where those guns come from, how easy to get them in the city from other states. They speak — they speak of them coming from southern states, often with more lax gun laws. As you watch what's been happening in New York with a shooting like this, but also a broader statistical rise in violent crime — crime, what's the role of guns in that?
ANTHONY BARKSDALE: Guns play a significant role in what the United States is seeing in many cities, including New York. Yesterday, the president, in — in my opinion, gave a wonderful speech about focusing on guns and the damage that guns in the wrong hands do in the United States. We also, you mentioned the ATF, looking to get, the president is looking to appoint a new head of the ATF which would be a significant event for such a vital agency in reducing violence in the United States. So, it is a huge concern. We’ve talked about ghost guns, he talked about the — the supply route, that you just mentioned. So, we’ve got a lot of hope, but we still have to make the things happen. This isn’t just going to go away overnight, but an incident like this hopefully increases the urgency on both sides of the aisle to get something done about the amount of violence in our country.
