The tragedy in Boulder, CO Monday night has once again spurred new calls for gun control. The suspect, a 21-year-old Syrian refugee, opened fire and killed 10 people at a grocery store with a Ruger AR-556 pistol.
In the aftermath of the carnage, President Biden has called for a renewed ban on "assault weapons" and is reportedly prepping executive orders on gun control.
Matt covered some of CNN's unfortunate takes on the shooting, most of which came from host Don Lemon.
Don Lemon is having a normal one, you guys. pic.twitter.com/rLsbtP8yut
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 24, 2021
But Lemon followed up with another eyebrow raising take. In the middle of another lecture about conservatives like Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) who support the Second Amendment, the following chyron popped up on the bottom of the screen, "Hawley Thinks Guns Aren't the Problem - Criminals Are."
That had social media users wondering what exactly the issue was. Is this really a controversial take?
Are... are criminals not the problem pic.twitter.com/gh9cUtlMTl
— Joe Cunningham (@JoePCunningham) March 25, 2021
The first accurate CNN chyron in history, folks, enjoy ?? https://t.co/xNR7qR7Xnv
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) March 25, 2021
Sen. Josh Hawley himself, who recently told Democrats that they had it backwards on guns, hopped on Twitter to tell Lemon that, yes, that is indeed what he and many folks believe.
Yes. Exactly https://t.co/XgLXUnfRKR
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 25, 2021
The focus of Congress, Hawley said, shouldn't be "taking away Second Amendment rights from law-abiding citizens."
"We have got to get serious about violent crime," Hawley said. "It is a mistake to reduce the sentences of violent criminals. It is mistake to look the other way when criminals commit offenses with firearms."