I Just Watched Steve Scalise Totally Shut Down Whoopi on Gun Control
It’s always satisfying to witness gun control advocates getting shut down, and I just saw it happen to Whoopi Goldberg on ABC’s “The View” as she debated the issue with House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.
Goldberg began the gun control discussion Tuesday morning by mentioning the shooting last year in which Scalise was injured.
He was on the brink of death after being shot by a left-wing attacker during a congressional baseball practice session June 14, 2017.
“I’m a bit surprised that after all you went through that you don’t seem to have an idea that there may be some more gun control that we need to work on with stuff like this — with people who maybe shouldn’t have access to them,” Goldberg said.
I was happy to hear Scalise respond by pointing out that the right to bear arms is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution.
“I’ve got deep-rooted conservative beliefs, but they’re rooted in what the fundamental foundation of this country is based on,” the Louisiana Republican said.
“I mean, when the Constitution was written initially they didn’t have a protection for guns because our Founders just thought it was an assumed right,” Scalise said. “Later they added it in the Bill of Rights as the Second Amendment, but they felt very strongly every American has the right to defend themselves.”
I thought this was a great answer because it got to the root of the argument: The left’s feelings about guns won’t change the fact that Americans have a right to own them under the Second Amendment.
Scalise also pointed out that gun control won’t stop people from committing crimes.
“There are bad people out there, whether they use guns or knives or bombs,” he said. “There are a lot of laws on the books. If someone goes and uses a gun to commit a crime, they’ve broken a series of laws to get there.”
Scalise hit the nail on the head again. If someone uses a gun to commit a robbery, for example, he’s already a criminal for the robbery itself. He could’ve used a knife or any assortment of weapons and tools for the crime.
Gun control isn’t going to magically turn criminals into law-abiding citizens. However, it certainly hinders the ability of law-abiding citizens to protect themselves.
“So, we talk about the Founding Fathers from time to time, because we have all these discussions about guns and gun laws, and I’m a gun owner,” Goldberg began her next question. “What do you think they were talking about? What kind of guns? Because it says if you’re part of the militia, you have every right to carry arms.”
Scalise responded by reiterating the right of Americans to defend themselves.
“Look, our Founding Fathers, what they really talked about was that people had a right to defend themselves,” Scalise said.
“It did say militia,” Goldberg responded.
Scalise also had a response for the “militia” argument often peddled by the left.
“The Supreme Court, by the way, answered this question a few years ago. There was a question of whether or not ‘the militia’ only meant you have to be in the military to be able to own a gun or can you own it individually. … The Supreme Court said, very clearly, you can own a gun, not just as a member of the military but also individually to protect yourself.”
In 2008, the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment protected an individual’s right to own a firearm without service in the military.
The court explained that the “militia” portion of the Second Amendment was included “to deny Congress power to abridge the ancient right of individuals to keep and bear arms, so that the ideal of a citizens’ militia would be preserved.”
Goldberg seemed taken off-guard by Scalise’s great responses and decided to end the discussion.
“OK. You know, we may never agree on this,” she said.
When someone responds with “let’s agree to disagree,” that typically means that they are out of arguments.
This is what happens when liberals try to debate conservatives on gun control.
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