MSNBC’s Brian Williams framed opponents of “changes” to federal firearm regulations as unfeeling toward the murdered children of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting of 2012.
Against the backdrop of Sunday night’s mass murder in Las Vegas, NV, Williams primed Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) to castigate Republicans and opponents of unspecified “changes” to federal firearm regulations.
Blumenthal framed Republicans as beholden to the National Rifle Association (NRA) and “special interests.” Partial transcript below.
WILLIAMS: Why don’t we act? What is the problem? What was it about first-graders losing their lives that wasn’t sad enough to result in changes?
BLUMENTHAL:The grip, in fact stranglehold of the NRA and other special interests on the congressional process has undermined our efforts; in fact, blocked them.
But I really believe that we can honor these victims, and we can arrive at a tipping point where we change America, and America will feel the same fury that I felt watching these images.
Blumenthal described the proposed Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act as “a travesty.” The proposed bill reads:
This bill amends the federal criminal code to allow a qualified individual to carry a concealed handgun into or possess a concealed handgun in another state that allows individuals to carry concealed firearms.
A qualified individual must: (1) be eligible to possess, transport, or receive a firearm under federal law; (2) carry a valid photo identification document; and (3) carry a valid concealed carry permit issued by, or be eligible to carry a concealed firearm in, his or her state of residence.
Additionally, the bill specifies that a qualified individual who lawfully carries or possesses a concealed handgun in another state: (1) is not subject to the federal prohibition on possessing a firearm in a school zone, and (2) may carry or possess the concealed handgun in federally owned lands that are open to the public.
Using vague and nonsense terms such as “gun violence” and “assault weapons,” Blumenthal called for “common sense” legislative changes:
We ought to have an agenda of common sense steps to stop gun violence, including a ban on assault weapons and the high-capacity magazines that are used for the mass killings. Assault weapons have no purpose but to maim and kill human beings, they’re weapons of war.
Williams did not ask Blumenthal for definitional criteria of “assault weapons.” U.S. military servicepersons use various weapons, including blades and handguns.
Williams closed the interview by asking Blumenthal how many people must be murdered in mass shootings before Americans broadly support further erosions of Second Amendment protections to keep and bear arms:
When do you believe the American people will have had enough, enough to push back against the edges of the Second Amendment argument? Enough to say, “We can live under the Second Amendment, but there should be limits?”
Watch the segment below.
Williams presents himself as a politically objective and non-partisan news media figure.
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