NRA TV's Colion Noir made an appearance on "Real Time with Bill Maher." During a panel discussion about gun control, Center for American Progress' President, Neera Tanden, caught herself having a hard time answering Noir's questions about firearms.
Maher: We have the most guns and they're in the hands of fewer people. In other words, the people who like guns have many guns. There was a guy last week with 553 guns. You got that picture of that guy's arsenal?
[shows picture of a felon's arsenal]
Maher: Oh my God. This is what they found in this guy's house. Come on. Is that too many guns?
Tanden to Noir: Like, that doesn't both you? That many guns?
Noir: Okay, so here's the thing about—
Maher: [laughing] That's not too many guns?
Noir: I think the distinction is this — Look, there's something—So, I get it, right? You're not a gun person.
Tanden: No, I'm actually worried about a person like that basically killing a lot—basically having the ability to easily kill lots of people with no regulations.
Noir: He only has two hands. [laughing] He only has two hands.
Tanden: I'm sorry. What does that mean that he only has two hands? People are getting slaughtered by one person. Children are being slaughtered by one children [sic].
Noir: You're inheritently attributing a negative characteristic to firearms. Outright, right?
Tanden: Yes, because people die at firearms. That's why I do that.
[crowd claps and cheers]
Noir: The same thing can be said about cars, right? But you're not advocating banning cars or limiting people's access to vehicles.
Tanden: You can't take— I mean, the number of people who are murdered by guns is much higher than the number of people murdered by cars...intentionally running people over. Yeah, intentional murderism.
[crowd claps and cheers]
Noir: It's still horrible though for someone to die in a car accident verses someone–
Michael Smerconish: No disrespect to either of you, but we're never going to get anywhere on this issue. The best we can hope for is a better integration of data because I'm sick and tired of reading in the news media the following day, "Well there was this warning sign, and this agency new this." The left hand and the right hand are not coordinating.
Noir: And I don't disagree with that at all. The last point I want to make, with respect to— you've seen the number of guns up there and you feel a certain type of way. I look at guns differently than you do. And there was a point in time where I looked at them probably the same way you do. Right? I had about as organic progression of firearm ownership as one can have. I was against guns. I didn't like them. BUT I went to the range one time and shot a gun and that changed things for me. And so now I can see a myriad of reasons why someone would own a firearm, whether it be recreation sports, collecting, so on and so forth. When I see those number of guns up there, my mind doesn't automatically go to, "Oh my God, that's horrible, that's bad."
Tanden: Okay, I totally hear what you're saying, I guess what I'm saying to you is — what you're trying to do is say that Progressives, liberals, whatever want to ban guns. No one is saying ban your gun. We're saying regulate them. So people with mental illness, have background checks, a variety of things, a certain type of gun. No one is saying you can't have a gun. And I know the NRA always wants to say "people are saying ban guns" but they're not.
[crowd claps]
Tanden: They're simply saying, for my safety and the protection of children and other people, you should—we should have regulations, like background checks on every single gun.
Noir: Now how would you enforce that?
Tanden: As we've done in the past.
Noir: If you're going to suggest a solution at least have something that's enforceable, right?
Tanden: It is enforceable. We have background checks. Do them for gun shows. Do them for— We have had discussions of bills and the NRA fights them. The Toomey-Manchin bill, support that bill. Would you support that bill?
Noir: Why don't you answer my question?
Tandin: I would say–
Maher: When did I lose control? Go on NRATV and you can debate him [Noir] for a whole hour.
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Tanden Represents The Uneducated Left
Progressives, like Tanden, are quick to throw out the same talking points about gun laws. Colion tried having a logical conversation with her and when she couldn't have an intellectual response, what did she do? She did what every anti-gunner does: resort to attacking the NRA.
Colion wanted to know how the government would be able to force background checks. Her response: it's the NRA's fault.
Is it the NRA's fault that criminals buy off the black market? No.
Is it the NRA's fault that criminals, like the felon who had the arsenal of weapons that was pictured during the panel, got their hands on guns? No.
Is it the NRA's fault that criminals don't follow laws? No.
For whatever reason, progressives are quick to point their finger at the NRA whenever a gun law doesn't work in their favor.
Here's a news flash for you progressives: criminals do NOT follow the law. It's the very definition of being a criminal (amazing, right?!). Passing more laws isn't going to make a criminal come to a sudden realization that they should follow society's rules. All it does is punish those of us who are law-abiding gun owners.
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