On The View, the topic of gun legislation reform came up due to the recent event when “the gunman (36) who killed seven people and wounded 23 others in a rolling rampage across West Texas obtained an assault-style rifle despite failing a background check.”
What We Know:
- The shooting in Texas occurred on August 31, 2019 soon after the man was fired from his trucking job.
- The View creates a safe space for a debate and a place where the hosts can open up about their beliefs.
- Whoopi Goldberg, another co-host, emphasized the fact that even though he failed a background check, he was still able to obtain his assault-style rifle through a “loophole.” She explained the dangers of having policies that are easy to find ways around them could potentially be dangerous.
- Meghan McCain is notable for being a conservative on their show. She describes that guns are “a ground-level issue for me. If you’re going to be a gun-grabber, you don’t get my vote, period. We got to have a different conversation.”
- Jumping into the conversation, Joy Behar brought up the federal assault weapons ban from 1994 when Bill Clinton was president.
- McCain responded with, “The AR-15 is by far the most popular gun in America, by far. I was just in the middle of nowhere Wyoming, if you’re talking about taking people’s guns from them, there’s going to be a lot of violence.”
- Behar countered by stating that “they lived without them for many years during the ban”.
- Although counteracted by a good logical point brought up by Behar, McCain quickly responded with “I’m not living without guns. It’s just that simple!”
- Abby Huntsman opened up and imagined an America where one can, “walk in a mall and not look around, and not be nervous that someone is going to pull out a shotgun.”
- “None of you feel safe? I feel safe that I can protect myself,” McCain said. Although we are glad that she feels safe, we hope to hear a follow-up where we can hear more logical points to what she was thinking.
Meghan McCain, after saying there will be "violence" in America if the AR-15 is banned because it's "the most popular gun" in the country, then declares that she's "not living without guns." pic.twitter.com/YlDtQwkFr0
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) September 3, 2019
The issue of close-mindedness that our society has could potentially be adding to the already tense times. Hopefully one day, we can move toward a direction of true compromise on important issues.
