We’ve seen it all too often where after a mass shooting the media and Democrats immediately begin calling for more restrictions on gun rights, and demonizing the Second Amendment and those who support it.
Like clockwork, that exact scenario played out over the weekend and into Monday in the aftermath of the tragic mass shooting that happened during a Lunar New Year celebration in Monterey Park, California Saturday night which saw the Asian-American gunman kill eleven and injure nine.
But in a pretty surprising and rare display of actual journalism, CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell pushed back on an anti-2A claim made by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who she interviewed on Monday to get his thoughts on the Monterey Park tragedy:
“Nothing about this is surprising. Everything about this is infuriating,” he told “CBS Evening News” anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell on Monday. “The Second Amendment is becoming a suicide pact.”
Newsom clarified that he has “no ideological opposition” against people who “responsibly” own guns and get background checks and training on how to use them.
The reason Newsom “clarified” his comments to O’Donnell was because right after he called the Second Amendment a “suicide pact,” something he’s said before, she informed him that there are “many people in this country that support the Second Amendment and are lawful gun owners.”
After California Governor Newsome called the Second Amendment a "suicide pact", CBS's Norah O'Donnell actually pushes back on him:
"But there's many people in this country that support the second amendment and are lawful gun owners." pic.twitter.com/pqUTmj7zG7
— Kevin Tober (@KevinTober94) January 23, 2023
I was so shocked to see this come from the mouth of someone in the mainstream media that I had to do a double take at first to make sure the clip was real and not something that was being misinterpreted. But sure enough, that’s exactly what she said.
O’Donnell was, of course, exactly right. If we didn’t have such an activist media when it comes to issues like gun rights we’d see a lot more step in like she did and point out for the record that the vast majority of Second Amendment proponents are law-abiding citizens who support having the Constitutional right so they can protect themselves and their families – and others, potentially, depending on the situation – from someone who could try to harm them.
O’Donnell also hit back at Newsom over the report that the gunman “used a modified pistol with a high-capacity magazine illegal in California.” Newsom didn’t have any good answer for it:
When asked how the gunman was able to get the weapon, Newsom responded “we will figure it out,” adding, “That’s going to happen. You got to enforce laws. Things fall through the cracks, but it doesn’t mean you give up.”
Newsom mentioned the role of mental health in mass shootings, but he singled out gun access as a factor exacerbating the problem.
Not surprisingly, what he left out was that a bad guy who wants a gun doesn’t care about gun laws obviously and will go about getting their guns and ammo regardless of how strict a state’s gun laws are. This is exactly why defenders of the Second Amendment say the government shouldn’t make it harder for law-abiding citizens to obtain one, because in the end it’s the people who follow the law who ultimately end up paying the price.
Story cited here.