Bill O'Reilly Has Brief Bout of Sanity: Calls for Assault Weapons Ban
You know the issue of gun control has hit peak outrage when even the denizens of disaster over at Fox News are calling for stricter measures.
Bill O’Reilly joined his colleague Gretchen Carlson in speaking out against the easy availability of assault weapons in the wake of the Orlando massacre.
Carlson addressed the issue yesterday afternoon during the “My Take” segment on her show.
“There’s no doubt Omar Mateen was able to kill so many people because he was firing an AR-15,” said Carlson, explaining how it was easier to purchase a military-style assault weapon in Florida than a handgun due to the ridiculous state mandate that requires “no waiting period for any gun that requires two hands to hold.”
Carlson then urged lawmakers to reinstate a ban on assault weapons signed into law back in 1994, which Congress inexplicably allowed to expire in 2004. And though the broader issues around gun control remain mired in debate, on this point Carlson is not alone. In a recent Quinnipiac poll, 58 percent of Americans are in support of a nationwide ban on the sale of assault weapons.
O’Reilly had some words for his sconservative viewers later in the day.
Quoth O’Reilly:
“There is too much gun crime in the USA, and high powered weaponry is too easy to get. That’s the fact. So let’s deal with it. We all have the right to bear arms, but we don’t have the right to buy and maintain mortars — even if you feel threatened by gangsters or a New World Order. No bazookas, no Sherman tanks, no hand grenades. That’s because the Second Amendment clearly states the government has a right to regulate militias, made up of individuals. They have that right in the name of public safety.”
But, don't worry. The earth is still revolving around the sun. O’Reilly also made his sentiments clear in an interview with Stephen Colbert on Monday.
“New laws are definitely needed in the age of terrorism and mass murder,” O’Reilly said to Colbert. “The FBI and other federal agencies need the power to stop suspected terrorists or other evil doers from buying weapons.”
Chances are that it is the realization that lax gun laws also pertain to Muslims is what has induced the change of heart at Fox, but here is what O'Reilly proposed:
“Gun dealers all across America should be required to report the sale of certain kinds of guns — heavy weapons — directly to the FBI,” said O’Reilly. “Not handguns, not talking about that, but other weapons that would be defined by Congress. That is a sane approach, and would make it a lot tougher for the Omar Mateens of the world to get the weaponry to kill, although as ‘Talking Points’ has stated many, many times, no society will ever stop all gun crimes, especially in a country which has hundreds of millions of guns already in circulation.”
Carlson toed a similar line in her concluding point. She noted, “I’m in favor of people being able to carry, (but) I think some of these mass shootings would have been less deadly if that were the case. I’m also with the majority today, taking a stand. Can’t we hold true the sanctity of the Second Amendment while still having common sense?”
A Fox News host spouting common sense? It seems like hell finally had a cold day.
