Scarborough: This Is an Epidemic and It Needs To Be Treated
RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
HEILEMANN: "In the face of this mass slaughter people find more courage. I don't think they're wrong taking some of the votes that Joe are talking about, 95% to 5% are issue. It's puzzling both that they don't have more courage and puzzling they're using this calculus that makes them think if they voted for increased background checks that would necessarily mean they would lose their seat. I think they're wrong about that.
BRZEZNISIKI: " Joe?
SCARBOROUGH: "They're dead wrong about that. And again, 95% of Americans support increased background checks. And most Republicans and overwhelming number of Republicans support increased background checks. Overwhelming number of Americans support a ban on military-style assault weapons. Those military-style assault weapons that are being used to gun down our children in schools in Florida, people in nightclubs in Orlando, people at country music concerts in Las Vegas, those are not constitutionally protected. They're not -- anybody that knows anything about the united States constitution, anybody that has read the decision the most aggressively pro-gun decision in the history of the United States in the supreme Court, one in which I wholeheartedly embrace, even justice Scalia said, you have a right to have a handgun in your home to protect your home. This doesn't extend to military-style assault weapons. Mika, yesterday we talked about epidemics. We talked about the opioid crisis. We talked about the number of people who died from opioids every year. Well, this is an epidemic as well. It wasn't an epidemic back in the 1990s. It wasn't even an epidemic after columbine. But three of the deadliest mass shootings have come in the last five months. Three of the ten deadliest shootings in America history have come in the last five months. At that point, it becomes an epidemic. 15 of the 20 worst mass shoots in the U.S. History have occurred since columbine. The five worst have all occurred since 2007. Mika, we're in the midst of an epidemic and yes, gun -- if you want to talk about overall gun violence it has gone down over the past 20 years. But what we're talking about is protecting our children in schools. Giving people the right to go to country music concerts. To go to NASCAR events. To go to football games. To go to baseball games. To go to churches, L churches deep in the heart of Texas. We're talking about people having that right without being gripped with fear that this Sunday as they pray in church might be the Sunday they get gunned down. Enough. It needs to be treated."
