Brooke Baldwin Battles FL Lawmaker in Tense Gun Debate: ‘Stop Going Back to the Talking Points, Sir!’

On Tuesday, just six days after the Parklanf, FL school shooting, the Florida state House voted down a proposed ban on semiautomatic guns and large capacity magazines by a 71-36 margin.

One of the 71 legislators who voted against the measure was Republican Matt Caldwell. On Wednesday, Caldwell — along with Democratic colleague Kevin Rader — appeared on CNN to defend his position. Only, host Brooke Baldwin wasn’t buying what the Florida lawmaker was selling.

To open what would shortly become a contentious discussion, Caldwell explained his vote — saying he viewed it as a ban on “nearly all guns.”

“So this is your interpretation,” Baldwin said. “Okay.”

“It’s not an interpretation,” Caldwell replied. “It’s very obvious. And I encourage anybody to pull it up.” (The full text can be found here, but the first line explicitly reads, “An act relating to assault weapons and large-capacity
3 magazines.”)

Later in the discussion, Baldwin noted that the Florida House declared pornography to be a public health risk. She asked Caldwell, “Why is pornography worthy of a debate [in the Florida House] and not semiautomatic weapons?”

The lawmaker responded, “Trying to pull a bill out of committee is a political stunt.”

And Baldwin called out the legislator for what she deemed a non-answer.

“Stop going back to the talking points, sir,” Baldwin said. “Stop!”

Watch above, via CNN.

[featured image via screengrab]

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Follow Joe DePaolo (@joe_depaolo) on Twitter

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