In reaction to Georgia’s new gun law that expands legal carry to some schools, churches, government buildings, and bars, MSNBC waxed hysterical about the potential consequences of expanding the freedoms of gun-owners.
On the July 1 edition of The Reid Report, host Joy-Ann Reid and her two guests were skeptical that the law would be effective and were confident that it would increase violent crime. Goldie Taylor, an MSNBC contributor, took things a step further, asserting her ‘right’ to not be around any law abiding citizen who might happen to own a gun [MP3 audio here; video below]:
I frankly don't want to shop a place, I don't want to attend church and praise God in a place, I don't want to go to a bar, nightclub, I don't want to go into a school, I don't even want to go into a public library where guns are permitted. What about my liberty not to be around someone else's gun?
That was by no means the end of the fear-mongering from the panel regarding the law, however. Earlier in the segment, Jason Johnson of The Source magazine criticized a portion of the law that would allow citizens to carry legally in bars and nightclubs:
Look, I'm going to a World Cup game later. There's going to be a bar there. If Belgium wins, who knows, there could be some sort of shootout because now you can walk into a bar with a gun if you want to.
Johnson evidently hasn’t considered the certainly large number of people who carry guns illegally in these establishments where law abiding citizens are left defenseless. Ultimately, this law could serve as protection for those who feel unsafe in all sorts of public arenas.
Joy-Ann Reid jumped into the ‘blame the NRA’ game, quoting a Georgia paper’s argument that legislators were essentially intimidated into voting for the law [bolded text from the editorial]:
Georgia's new gun law is an expensive and breathtakingly irresponsible act of political backlash theater that enables those who supported it for the worst reason there is, because they were knee-knocking scared not to. Meaning that basically people voted for the law because they were afraid of the NRA but they don't even necessarily know what its purpose is.
The Reid Report pulled out every liberal trick in the book to scare people about what amounts to a rather modest expansion of gun rights in the Peach State.
The relevant portion of the transcript is below:
MSNBC
The Reid Report
July 1, 2014
2:32 p.m. Eastern
JOY-ANN REID, host: And Goldie, I will start with you, my friend. How is this new law, which has been signed today, what's the advanced word from Georgians that you're talking to on whether they're excited about this law or worried about the law?
GOLDIE TAYLOR, MSNBC contributor: Well, the advanced word is that everybody is confused about its implementation. You know, who is the onus on? Is it on the church to say that you can’t allow guns allowed in my sanctuary? Uh, there is no legal penalty for someone carrying a gun into a church. When that church decides that they don’t wanna have guns in their sanctuary, there's about a $100 fine. Is the onus on the bar owner, or a nightclub owner if you bring a gun into their establishment when they have clearly said, we don't want guns on our private property, on our premises? So there's a bit of confusion. If you call restaurants if you call bars, and even if you call churches, they're very unclear about its implementation. They're very unclear about how they would be protected. And so right now the early word is that people are skittish, but very, very confused about the implementation.REID: And Jason, just in terms of building on that, there's a piece in the Georgia Ledger-Inquirer by the opinion board, that actually makes the case that even the lawmakers who voted for the law don't really necessarily believe it serves any legitimate constitutional purpose or even a practical, purpose. Part of that editorial reads, Georgia's new gun law is an expensive and breathtakingly irresponsible act of political backlash theater that enables those who supported it for the worst reason there is, because they were knee-knocking scared not to. Meaning that basically people voted for the law because they were afraid of the NRA but they don't even necessarily know what its purpose is.
JASON JOHNSON, politics editor at The Source magazine: Yeah, it's already costing local governments money as they have to put in screeners. Most people don't necessarily know what the larger implications are. Look, I'm going to a World Cup game later. There's going to be a bar there. If Belgium wins, who knows, there could be some sort of shootout because now you can walk into a bar with a gun if you want to. These are the kinds of practical things that most of the citizens in Georgia, including law enforcement, said would be problems if this law ended up being implemented. But again, you have people afraid because there's outside money that can come in. And everyone's just crossing their fingers that this doesn't end up causing some sort of tragedy a couple weeks or couple months down the road.
REID: And I think that's the thing that is the most sort of curious. That they did decide to allow bars to be on the menu of places where you could carry because what could go wrong? People are just drinking. That's the part that seems nonsensical. Is there any buyer's remorse that you're hearing, even among lawmakers, that they voted this thing through and let the bars be in it?
TAYLOR: You know, I think the most unfortunate part about this is the notion you're going to mix liquor with guns. The truth of the matter is, my father was murdered outside of a nightclub where he worked, back in 1973. Under this law, that shooter would not have had to go to the car to get their gun. They could have shot him behind the bar. And so, I think that to say we're going to make this kind of mixture on this platform is simply outrageous. But Target stores, they allow guns into their restaurants. Waffle houses, they allow guns into their restaurants. I frankly don't want to shop a place, I don't want to attend church and praise God in a place, I don't want to go to a bar, nightclub, I don't want to go into a school, I don't even want to go into a public library where guns are permitted. What about my liberty not to be around someone else's gun? So I think this law is extremism at its worst, and it wasn't necessarily NRA that pushed this. It was Georgia carry. It was the gun runners of Georgia who really pushed this legislation. But Republicans didn't do it by themselves. Did you look across the aisle, you'll find that there was some Democrats who came from swing areas of the state and some of them from not-so-swing areas of the state who also voted in favor of this legislation. Jason Carter, who is running for governor against this current Governor Deal, also voted in favor of expanding the right to carry in all of these public places.
