On Monday, CNN This Morning had an interview with anti-gun rights group “Here 4 the Kids,” featuring internet journalist/Daily Blast Live co-host Samantha Schacher and actress/director Lake Bell attempting to gain support for their dream of banning ALL firearms in America. During the interview, Poppy Harlow questioned the duo on their sit-ins in Colorado, and allowed Schacher to make a morally equating banning guns to slavery and the civil rights movement.
To begin, Schacher bragged about their cause, and made the arguement that banning guns would create a “new social norm” against guns – one that has been difficult to implement due to “ingrained gun culture.” She cited an allegedly sympathetic USA Today poll, while failing to mention Gallup statistics that showed only 18% of Americans supported a ban on handguns. She then continued from here to make a comparision between banning firearms and abolishing slavery.
Schacher stated that, just as slavery was abolished, the rules around guns can changed based on Amendments. This comment was followed by Bell who said that the Constitution was a living document, and that it is our “privilege as humans to evolve.” She also compared their movement to the civil rights movement of the past, with which Harlow silently agreed.
What was not talked about in the interview was the fact that the first gun control laws were implemented to stop freed slaves from being able to exercise their rights to bear arms. This omission omits a large part of the story that could demonstrate the real hardships that have been caused by gun control and how it’s been used in the past to limit the rights of minorities.
Overall, this “interview” appeared to be less of a free exchange of ideas and more a way for CNN and the two guests to spread their anti-gun rights message without the necessary context to unveil a more full and complete story.
Regardless of where you stand on the gun debate, it is important to look at the facts and the history to understand the reasoning behind both arguments. In the end, retaining the rights of ALL Americans supersedes whatever narrative the left wants to create.