When you're in a hole, stop digging. Last night NBC sportscaster Bob Costas made an appearance on the O'Reilly Fact in an effort to clear up any "misunderstanding" about what he said during his anti-gun monologue on Sunday night football in reaction to NFL player Jovan Belcher killing the mother of his child. Yesterday, Costas issued a non-apology for his comments that was full of excuses and one that blamed viewers for misinterpreting what he really meant and said.
"I don't back up on anything I said."
First of all, since Costas has come under heavy criticism for his comments, he's repeatedly tried to shift the focus to, "I was quoting a column," stressing the words weren't really his. The problem? When Costas made the remarks on Sunday he said, "You want some actual perspective on this, well, a bit of it comes from the Kansas City based writer Jason Whitlock with whom I do not always agree but who today said it so well, we might as well just quote or paraphrase from the end of his article."
Next, Costas tried to claim his comments had nothing to do with gun control. Does he think we're stupid? When Costas says we have too many guns, what does he expect law abiding gun owners to assume? That Costas wants less guns of course. Costas also tried to claim Americans can simply go out and buy "automatic weapons," which is false. Special permits and rigorous background checks are required to purchase automatic weopons and typical gun dealerships cannot and do not sell them.
Not surprisingly, Costas attempted to use the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado earlier this year to score even more political points. Costas tried to argue that Colorado is a carry state and therefore if someone in the theater wanted to have their gun, they could have. The problem? The theater is a gun free zone (just like Virginia Tech and Columbine), an important fact both Costas and O'Reilly failed to mention. On top of that, Costas and O'Reilly forgot to mention the Colorado shooter had a history of mental health issues that authorities failed to address before the tragedy occurred. Finally, it is asinine for Costas to suggest people defending themselves from a mad man are simply playing, "Dirty Harry."
Lastly, I addressed Costas convoluted perspective about America's gun culture yesterday.
The fact is, America actually has two gun cultures and it is important to distinguish them from one another.
The first gun culture is deeply seated in American history and her founding. Founding Fathers like George Washington understood that an armed citizenry would prevent government tyranny, which is why we have the Second Amendment.
Historically in America we’ve had a deep respect for firearms. The vast majority of people have used them to celebrate American history, for collection, personal protection, hunting and sport. We see American gun culture celebrated each year when dads take their kids elk hunting for the first time. We see it when women head to the range to safely practice shooting their new pink pistols. We see it when a mother shoots an intruder while she is home alone in order to protect her children. We see it practiced when thousands of people sign up for concealed carry permit and hunters’ safety classes each year. Not to mention, the multi-billion-dollar firearms industry employs millions of people and provides the government with billions in tax revenue every year.
The other gun culture in America can be found in the inner city of Chicago, Washington D.C., New York City, Los Angeles and others. Ironically, violent gun culture is found within gangs in cities with the strictest gun laws. It is the same culture promoted in Hollywood films made by liberals, glorified by rappers whose music is worshiped in violent gang plagued neighborhoods and disrespectfully joked about at NBA parties.
In conclusion, Costas really should educate himself about how real American gun culture, guns and gun laws before digging himself into a deeper hole.
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