“The View” devolved into a shouting match on Thursday as the co-hosts debated red flag laws — whether or not they were a good idea and whether or not they were effective.
The conversation came about as a response to a shooting that took place when a six-year-old student brought a gun to school and shot his teacher — despite multiple warnings that the school administrators had reportedly failed to act upon.
Shouting match!
The View cast screams at each other over red flag laws and how effective/ineffective they are/could be. pic.twitter.com/yWaiRby1sK— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) January 26, 2023
Joy Behar began the conversation by attacking legal gun owners and anyone who did not agree with her conclusion that guns were the problem.
“The beauty of this story is that the right wing of this country would have us believe that it has nothing to do with the guns and that the solution to these type of shootings is to arm the teachers,” she said. “So, now, the teacher has a gun — was she supposed to shoot the kid? What would have happened if she had a gun? Who was she supposed to shoot?”
Behar then pivoted, saying that some might argue that shootings could be stopped by “good guys with guns,” noting that there had been police present in Uvalde who had not entered the school during the shooting there.
“This country needs to grow up!” she exclaimed, suggesting that the United States was not “civilized” because stronger gun control laws had not yet been implemented.
Co-host Sunny Hostin jumped in then, claiming that the others at the table had previously “skewered” her for asserting that red flag laws were “not enough” to handle the issue.
“There’s a red flag law in Virginia,” she pointed out.
“I support red flag laws,” Republican co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin remarked.
“But they don’t work!” Hostin’s voice rose. “It didn’t work!”
“They’re not being —” Sara Haines interrupted as everyone began talking at once. “Excuse me. They’re not being implemented properly —”
“And that’s what I said,” Hostin pushed back.
“It doesn’t mean you give up —” Haines tried again, repeating, “It doesn’t mean you give up —”
“But they knew!” Goldberg shouted over the crosstalk, trying to get the segment back under control.