On Wednesday’s CBS Mornings, co-host, Democratic donor, and Obama family friend Gayle King used the normally light-hearted “Talk of the Table” segment to lambaste Americans (and especially gun rights supporters) for “valu[ing] guns over children” and “the lives of fellow human beings” in light of the Nashville school shooting, adding in another veiled shot at conservatives and Republicans that they should stop “banning books” and work to ban “assault rifles”.
King’s rant also came just days after The Wall Street Journal reported King is in the final stages of agreeing to terms on a weekly primetime show on CNN with Charles Barkley. In other words, meet the new CNN, same as the old.
King said she “always like[s] to keep it light” for “Talk of the Table,” but “[t]hat’s not how I’m feeling today” and instead cued up a TikTok video of actress Niecy Nash who commented on the shooting as she “lost her only brother to gun violence more than 30 years ago” n a shooting at his California high school.
After the clip, King correctly acknowledged that while “[w]e report these stories and go onto the next thing, and people are still suffering all these years later” like Nash and her family have.
But King shifted gears to the kind of ugly rhetoric that would do little to nothing to change the minds of gun rights supporters: “I’ve come to the point, and it’s difficult to think that, that we live in a country where, apparently, we value guns over children. We value guns over the lives of fellow human beings.”
She added that, “if we didn’t feel that way, we would do something about it.”
Co-host Tony Dokoupil concurred, insisting that he goes “to the playground in New York” with his kids and the parks “put padding on the playground just in case [kids] fall off the jungle gym” and thus they avoid “get[ting] a bruise”.
“Think of the steps we take to ensure that our kids are safe,” he exclaimed, “except around this one issue where we seem to have a block.”
With co-host Nate Burleson interjecting in agreement, King went off the rails with a non sequitur that’s popped up throughout the liberal media, including on NBC’s Today with Hoda & Jenna from co-host and former First Daughter Jenna Bush Hager.
“Guys, they’re banning books in schools,” King bemoaned, ruling “books can’t kill your children,” but “they” are nonetheless “banning some books in schools, but yet, the rules are very different when it comes to guns.”
And there it is. Conservatives are fine with children being slaughtered, but are over their skis in wanting graphic sexual material kept out of schools for young children.
King wasn’t done. She insisted “we never want to take guns away from responsible owners,” but proceeded to call for doing just that: “Assault rifles have no business in this society.”
How would you propose implementing that, Gayle?
Burleson then had his turn and lamented the rise in active shooter drills when, in the past, the only drills children had to worry about were for earthquakes and fires.
Burleson then blasted those uncomfortable with or opposed to their view and said King was right as Americans “are protecting these guns and not our kids”:
And I know, at home, you might be thinking that’s a little heavy. But we should feel the weight of the world crashing down on us collectively as a country because right now we are failing our kids. We are protecting these guns and not our kids[.]
He too levied the same contradictory line as King by stating “we’re not talking about responsible gun ownership” but rather “taking away some of these deadly guns that are ripping through our kids.”
No word on whether they realized they had contradicted themselves and nearly went full Beto O’Rourke.
CBS’s open calls to take certain guns away from the American people and non sequitur about protecting children from explicit sexual content was made possible thanks to advertisers such as Nissan and Planet Fitness. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant transcript from March 29, click “expand.”
CBS Mornings
March 29, 2023
7:12 a.m. EasternTONY DOKOUPIL: [A] lot of people thinking about Nashville now. We do so much to protect our children in this country, put padding on the playground, padding on the corner of the table. But when it comes to guns, it just seems our urge to protect, it falls short, it breaks down and I’m not sure why. I guess it’s above our pay grade, as well, guys.
(....)
8:30 a.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Niecy Nash Gets Emotional]
GAYLE KING: Normally for Talk of the Table, I always like to keep it light. Something that brings me joy, something I think is fun and makes you smile.
NATE BURLESON: Uh-huh.
KING: That’s not how I’m feeling today. My Talk of the Table is actor Niecy Nash. She’s reacting to Monday’s deadly shooting — school shooting in Nashville. Why? Because Niecy lost her only brother to gun violence more than 30 years ago. He was shot and killed at his California high school, he was only 17 at the time. And here’s part of what Niecy posted on TikTok.
NIECY NASH: In 1993, my only brother was killed on his high school campus because somebody brought a gun to school. It’s 2023. I miss babies who will never make it home to see their parents. And those parents will forever be in the space and a place where they are like what was the last thing I said, what was the last lunch I made, what — what was — what was their last thought, experience, did they call out for me?
KING: Yep. Niecy — she goes on to say we are losing our way. She is a spokesperson for Mothers Against Violence in Schools. Her mother founded the organization after her brother’s death back in 1993. And that’s what struck me about Niecy’s thing. It was so personal. We report these stories and go onto the next thing, and people are still suffering all these years later. I keep thinking about those families. We were talking about — your kids’ rooms are still there with all of their places in it. And I’ve come to the point, and it’s difficult to think that, that we live in a country where, apparently, we value guns over children.
BURLESON: Mmm.
KING: We value guns over the lives of fellow human beings. It’s very hard for me to wrap my brain around that —
DOKOUPIL: No, I —
KING: — because if we didn’t, if we didn’t feel that way, we would do something about it.
DOKOUPIL: — I just think — I take my kids to the playground in New York, and they put padding on the playground —
KING: Yes.
DOKOUPIL: —just in case they fall off the jungle gym.
KING: Exactly right.
BURLESON: Right.
DOKOUPIL: They don’t want to get a bruise on your elbow. Think of the steps we take to ensure that our kids are safe except around this one issue where we seem to have a block.
BURLESON: Yeah.
KING: Guys, they’re banning books in schools.
BURLESON: Yeah.
KING: Books can’t kill your children. They’re banning some books in schools. But yet, the rules are very different when it comes to guns. And it’s just — we never want to take guns away from responsible owners.
BURLESON: Right, right.
KING: That’s not what we’re trying to do here.
BURLESON: Right.
DOKOUPIL: No. I —
KING: Assault rifles have no business in this society.
BURELSON: You think about the generations before this —
KING: Yep.
BURLESON: — we would practice fire drills —
KING: Yes.
BURLESON: — and earthquake drills.
KING: Yep.
BURLESON: And rarely if ever experienced one. Now kids today are practicing active shooter drills.
KING: Yep.
BURLESON: And they are going through active shooting experiences.
DOKOUPIL: Yep.
BURLESON: There is as real as it gets. And I love Niecy for doing that —
KING: I do, too.
BURLESON: — and giving us that raw emotion.
KING: I do, too.
BURLESON: And I know, at home, you might be thinking that’s a little heavy. But we should feel the weight —
KING: Yep.
BURLESON: — of the world crashing down on us collectively as a country because right now we are failing our kids. We are protecting these guns and not our kids, and like we said, we’re not talking about responsible gun ownership.
KING: Right, right, right.
BURLESON: We are talking about taking away some of these deadly guns that are ripping through our kids, and it’s happening every so often.
KING: I just pray, Nate, we don’t become desensitized to it and that’s why it’s important to point out stories like this. As hard and painful as it is to see, I don’t want us to become desensitized to what is happening in our world every single day. We are.
DOKOUPIL: — no, I feel shredded by it, as well.
KING: Yeah.
DOKOUPIL: And to your point about the trainings, Katy and I, our big conversation yesterday was, okay, so we’ve got three-year-old Teddy —
KING: Yeah.
DOKOUPIL: — with his first school shooting experience, right? There were three-year-olds —
KING: Yes.
DOKOUPIL: — where the shooting happened, so now we have a conversation with the school about — about the drills, what they’re doing to prepare. But we actually don’t want to confront the idea that he’s going to go through this drill. He’s a sensitive kid. I don’t want it in his head thinking about what might happen when he’s at the school. I want him focusing on the fun and the joy of learning —
BURELSON: But it’s a harsh reality.
DOKOUPIL: — and now that’s the reality that we’re living in.
BURLESON: As I was home, watching CBS and immediately, I thought to myself, oh, another shooting has happened. This is what we’ll be talking about in the morning. I usually would turn the channel because my 12-year-old daughter is right there, let’s turn to something lighter. I don’t want her thinking about this. But I thought to myself —
KING: Let her see it.
BURLESON: — she has to. She has to see it.
KING: Let her see it.
BURLESON: — because it’s what she’s going through. Niecy Nash, thank you.
KING: Yes, thank you —
DOKOUPIL: Yeah, that was well —
KING: — Niecy.
