As the news broke about the terrorist attack in Orlando, the deadliest strike on U.S. soil since 9/11, a lot of people were quick to say some really stupid things on TV about what happened.
On MSNBC, Jim Cavanaugh suggested the attack was probably “domestic terror” from “white hate groups.”
In response to Hugh Hewitt’s assertion on “Meet The Press” that ISIS would kill 100 million Americans if they could, Joy Ann Reid declared, “But so would white nationalists!”
“We’re not getting to the core issue — which is how easy it is to get a gun,” Reid said later. “Florida happens to have the largest gun-owning population in the country and some of the most lax laws as to how you can get your hands on even an assault rifle.”
Federal law requires all gun dealers in the state of Florida, and everywhere else, to conduct background checks before selling firearms. The terrorist in Orlando purchased his weapons from a licensed gun dealer and Reid said. “Florida happens to have the largest gun-owning population in the country and some of the most lax laws as to how you can get your hands on even an assault rifle.”
“We don’t have any dialogue in America about all these mass shootings,” said Tom Brokaw, conflating an obvious terrorist attack by a radical Islamist jihadi with shootings perpetrated by individuals who have been adjudicated as being mentally ill. Brokaw also demanded that the federal government ban the “AR-14,” a gun that does not actually exist.
“In this country we should not be selling automatic weapons,” Bernie Sanders said, despite the fact that an automatic weapon was not used by the Orlando terrorist.
Perhaps Congress should consider banning high capacity hot takes from unlicensed individuals who haven’t passed a simple gun knowledge background check. After all, everyone knows the First Amendment only protects the right to disseminate information via the types of pens and printing presses that were available in 18th century America.
