Not only did MSNBC substitute host Richard Lui drop any pretense of objectivity in an interview segment with gun control advocate Pia Carusone on the October 22 Jansing & Co., but his ghoulish exploitation of yesterday's fatal school shooting in Sparks, Nevada, appeared to cuase his guest to reel back a little bit. [LISTEN to MP3 audio here; WATCH video below the page break]
Noting that "some might say" the need for new federal gun control laws is "completely at this moment being ignored" by those in Congress "who have responsibility to watch over it," Lui asked, "So then what's your strategy to up the political ante?" Taken aback by such coldly political treatment of a tragedy, Carusone insisted "We don't-- I don't think about it that way," adding:
It's another, a life was taken yesterday.... For us it's about continuing to educate the country but even more than that talking to Congress about things that they can do...
Unhappy with her answer, Lui prodded, "So, Pia, what's the opening here for you to do that?"
Carusone replied that her group, Americans for Responsible Solutions would push for universal background checks on gun sales, but that also important in her group's estimation was:
...getting more mental health resources in schools, so that teachers and counselors might have identified this young person [the shooter] as someone that needed help, or dealing with bullying. I mean, this is a topic that this country has been dealing with for a couple of years now, and more needs to be done.
