Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart joined MSNBC’s The 11th Hour on Friday night to discuss gun control and why such efforts appear to be going nowhere. For Capehart, the answer is that not enough Republicans are willing to buck the NRA, which is allegedly fearmongering on thigs such as gun confiscation.
Host Stephanie Ruhle led Capehart by asking, “why are we still having this debate over what to do?”
Like every other member of the media, Capehart’s favorite boogeyman is the NRA, “We're still having this conversation because there aren't enough people who are members of the NRA, who agree with common sense gun safety legislation, but don't rise up and say we need to do this for the safety of our country.”
Capehart then claimed that “Nobody is talking about grabbing guns. Nobody is talking about confiscating guns, if you want to buy 15, 20 guns at a--at a-- Walmart, why shouldn't you submit to a background check? Why, if you're 18, why should you be allowed to get an AR-15? Why shouldn't you have to be 21, and then go through a background check, and then, you know, follow safe storage laws and things like that?”
Not only do you have to submit to a background check at Walmart, but MSNBC has had on Michael Moore to advocate for the Second Amendment’s repeal and Democratic Texas gubernatorial nominee Beto O’Rourke recently said of AR-15s, “But I don’t think that the people who have them right now in civilian use should be able to keep them.”
Not deterred by the fact that he had just uttered two falsehoods, Capehart continued, “Until the few people on Capitol Hill, and I'm talking specifically about Republicans in the Senate, pay attention and listen to the majority of the American people, and NRA members who say they agree with common sense gun safety legislation, and then there will be no change.”
Capehart his answer by declaring that because some people do not agree with him, the country doesn’t care about children, “I remember being on the set on MSNBC, when the news came in, ten years ago this December, about what happened in Sandy Hook. And I thought, this is the time. This is the time, if babies, little kids, first graders, could be killed in their classrooms, and we don't do anything about it, then we don't care about children. And then, Parkland happened. And now, Uvalde has happened. And so, the folks on Capitol Hill who are yammering on about ‘well, we’re having talks.’ Unless they do something, we're going to see more of this carnage. And the country should not have to live this way.”
One reason that people oppose gun control is not because of NRA money, but because they correctly believe that pro-gun control people like Capehart continue to opine on things they know very little about.
This segment was sponsored by Applebee’s
Here is a transcript for the June 3 show:
MSNBC The 11th Hour
6/3/2022
11:05 PM
STEPHANIE RUHLE: We've heard these same things since Sandy Hook, and it's not just kids, it was the teachers, it was school administrators, it was police, anyone who was anywhere near Sandy Hook, they're still suffering. So why are we still having this debate over what to do?
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Because it seems like that there's a small group of people on Capitol Hill who refused to listen to the majority of the American people who support common sense, gun safety legislation that won't stop every and all mass shootings, but we'll do something to perhaps prevent—prevent-- some. We're still having this conversation because there aren't enough people who are members of the NRA, who agree with common sense gun safety legislation, but don't rise up and say we need to do this for the safety of our country.
Nobody is talking about grabbing guns. Nobody is talking about confiscating guns. If you want to buy 15, 20 guns at a--at a-- Walmart, why shouldn't you submit to a background check? Why, if you're 18, why should you be allowed to get an AR-15? Why shouldn't you have to be 21, and then go through a background check, and then, you know, follow safe storage laws and things like that?
Until—Until-- the few people on Capitol Hill, and I'm talking specifically about Republicans in the Senate, pay attention and listen to the majority of the American people, and NRA members who say they agree with common sense gun safety legislation, and then there will be no change.
And you know what, Stephanie. I remember being on the set on MSNBC, when the news came in, ten years ago this December, about what happened in Sandy Hook. And I thought, this is the time. This is the time, if babies, little kids, first graders, could be killed in their classrooms, and we don't do anything about it, then we don't care about children. And then, Parkland happened. And now, Uvalde has happened. And so, the folks on Capitol Hill who are yammering on about “well, we’re having talks.” Unless they do something, we're going to see more of this carnage. And the country should not have to live this way.
