Joy Behar claimed on Wednesday that Americans would only be willing to consider more restrictive gun laws “once black people get guns in this country” — but according to the most recent available data, nearly one-fourth of black Americans already do own firearms.
Behar joined her cohosts on ABC midday talk show “The View” to discuss actor Matthew McConaughey’s visit to Capitol Hill and renewed calls for gun control in the wake of several recent mass shootings.
WATCH:
Joy Behar claims that gun laws will change "when black people get guns."
Nearly one in four already do. pic.twitter.com/dCEsMAvWqr
— Virginia Kruta (@VAKruta) June 8, 2022
Guest cohost Lindsey Granger called attention to the fact that the shooter in Buffalo — who targeted black people intentionally — had been charged with terrorism, and she argued that was the correct move.
“A man going in a grocery store and killing black people is wrong, because they’re black, it’s wrong. And I can say that. And so I can’t do anything more than be myself and be honest,” she said, adding that she hoped Americans would go out and vote for the people who best represented them — whether the issue was guns or terrorism or anything else.
“He spoke to that,” cohost Sara Haines said of McConaughey. “He said, you have to find common ground right now. We have to find a way to rise above this political back and forth and counterpunching because it’s that urgent, what’s going on right now.”
Joy Behar pushed back, complaining that Republicans had already rejected the idea of banning the AR-15. “It’s all about the guns, all right?”
Granger brought up a story about a black man in Connecticut who built his own AR-15 — because while it was illegal for him to buy one, there was a legal workaround that allowed him to build one himself. He did so, she said, because he witnessed the home invasion that killed his neighbor.
“Most AR-15 owners are former military, 35-plus and married,” Granger continued, but Behar interrupted.
“Let me say one more thing. Okay. Here’s the thing. Once black people get guns in this country, the gun laws will change. Trust me,” Behar insisted.
“That’s what happened with the Black Panthers,” cohost Sunny Hostin agreed.
“Trust me on that. We will see some action,” Behar said.
“But black people have been buying guns. The numbers went up in 2020 —” Granger protested.
“The Black Panthers. Know your history, know your history,” Hostin said again.
“We all need to get off our asses and get out and vote,” Whoopi Goldberg said, bringing the segment to a close.
Granger’s claim regarding gun ownership among black Americans was accurate.
According to a Pew research study done in 2017, approximately 30% of Americans said that they owned firearms. When the demographics were broken down further, the data indicated that 36% of white Americans owned at least one gun and 24% of black Americans owned at least one gun. Those numbers climbed rapidly in 2020, when 40% of all firearm sales were to first-time gun owners and black gun ownership jumped up by 56% — more than any other demographic.