NBC’s Chuck Todd debunked every excuse Republicans use to avoid talking about guns after the Parkland school shooting.
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Video:
Chuck Todd debunks the Republican arguments not blaming the gun after the Parkland massacre. #parkland #guncontrolnow pic.twitter.com/aQomz0gUmI
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) February 16, 2018
Todd said:
After a mass shooting like we saw yesterday, Second Amendment advocates and the lawmakers who represent them are finding a way to make the debate about anything but gun laws. And the president did his part, did not mention the word gun” in an address on the mass shooting. The gun lobby’s talking points are designed to avoid the gun debate. For instance, the Las Vegas strip massacre, they’d argue it is not about how he got the gun, it is about the thing he a — it is about the thing he attached to the gun. And Newtown, it is not how he got the gun, but it is identifying mental illness. What about the Virginia Tech massacre. It is not about how he got the gun, it is about arming schools to thwart an attack. About none of the arguments hold up this in case. Here is many other arguments that don’t hold up. The gup was bought — gun was bought illegally. And someone should warn that the gunman had mental health issues and in this case someone did. The FBI was given a tip involving a YouTube comment with his name on it said, quote, I’m going to be a professional school shooter.
The FBI acknowledges getting the tip but it is not clear what they did with the information. The other arguments to avoid debate might go something like this. Well Cruz shouldn’t have been allowed on school grounds and he wasn’t, he was expelled. The school should have been armed. In this case, it was. A school resource officer was on campus and was armed. The school should have been trained for this. And in this case, it was. By Broward County. The president said there were so many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed. Well if that is the case, why was he allowed to legally by an AR-15. Based on the current background check system it looks like none of those red flags would actually show up on a background check to buy an AR-15. So maybe that is the debate we need to have.
Todd was right. None of the Republican excuses for not blaming the gun or the ease of access to weapons doesn’t hold up after the Parkland shooting. The country is well past the point where NRA backed howls of protecting the Second Amendment are going to stem the tide until the shooting falls out of the news cycle.
When a mainstream voice like Chuck Todd is debunking Republican talking points, the tide has turned and Republican inaction will no longer be accepted.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
