All 31 Pro-Gun Rights Senators Declined to Appear on Meet the Press

Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 02:29 am

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Betsy Fischer Martin of Meet the Press tweeted that they reached out to all 31 pro-gun rights Senators to appear on the show to discuss their views. There were no takers.

David Gregory also addressed the no-show, saying, “A note here this morning. We reached out to all 31 pro-gun rights senators in the new congress to invite them on the program to share their views on the subject this morning. We had no takers.”

If you have a real argument to make for gun rights extending to assault weapons, why wouldn’t you make it now? They make their arguments all year long, but suddenly, in the wake of the results of those arguments, they refuse to appear on TV to discuss.

This should highlight the fact that the pro-gun arguments crafted by the NRA and Republican strategists do not hold up when brought to stand next to the results of the arguments. Yes, this is a sensitive time, but if you’re going to argue for assault weapons to stay legal, you need to be able to do it now.

They need to get on TV and tell the American people what they believe — namely, that they believe that if the teachers were armed, things would have been so much better. Of course, arming the teachers would open the door to suggestions that the same folks Republicans have been demonizing for years (teachers) would now be doing the job of first responders whom the GOP deem worthy of union representation, and thus should be able to collectively bargain. But logic has no place here, clearly.

The reason the NRA has so cleverly made it poisonous to discuss gun control post-tragedy is that they can’t afford to have a discussion on the issue. The majority of Americans do not concur with the NRA on this issue; Sixty-three percent of Americans support a ban on assault weapons, and that’s from a poll taken before this tragedy.

Cowards do what they do best. Hide.

Sarah Jones

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