Fox Panel Gets Tense And Personal Over Whether Gun Advocates Actually ‘Care About Helping People’
This morning on Fox News, the America’s Newsroom political panel got a bit intense and personal while debating the merits of NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre‘s Thursday afternoon response to the president’s State of the Union address.
Asked to address LaPierre’s claims that President Obama‘s gun control proposals don’t do anything to keep children safe, conservative writer Mary Katharine Ham agreed, saying, “A national assault weapons ban did not prevent Columbine, we’ve see that a state-based assault weapons ban did not prevent Newtown, unfortunately. And we’ve seen in Chicago, where he’s going to be talking about gun violence, ironically, that the tightest gun controls in the nation have not helped with the murder rate there.”
Liberal contributor Juan Williams pushed back on Ham, pointing out that national polls show “overwhelming” support for universal background checks.
“We have had a state of mass murderers, attacks in movie houses, school yards, even at churches, and we can, as an American people, decide something can be done,” Williams continued, “as opposed to saying, ‘Anything that is done is an attack on the Second Amendment,’ which is a charade.”
Ham shot back that when passing new laws, the onus is on its proponents to prove it’ll actually be successful in doing what it seeks. However, she said, “the incidents you just numbered off — which are tragic and horrible — it’s fairly clear that this would not help in these situations, and very little gun crime comes from the things you’re trying to regulate here.”
“Chicago, by the way, completely led by liberals and Democrats,” she added, “have some of the strongest gun laws in the country. Why isn’t this place a promised land of making this stuff work?”
“I live in the District of Columbia, they have extremely strong gun control laws,” Williams fired back. “They have a high murder rate. Why is that? Because guns flow in from virginia that has lax gun laws?”
“We have so much guns in Virginia and we don’t have a high murder rate,” retorted Ham. “So maybe there is a deeper social problem going on a, lone gunmen, and b, with crime and gangs in larger cities.”
“In other words, so my life and protecting my family means nothing to people in Virginia and I should be ignored?” Williams asked.
Host Bill Hemmer tried to step in, saying “Don’t twist her words,” but he was trampled by the two, as things took a turn for the personal:
HAM: I want to thank you, Juan, for putting that so accurately and disrespectfully to a friend of yours who you know very well cares very much about you. Thanks a lot.
WILLIAMS: You have to care about the idea that guns are flowing in.
HAM: I do. I would like you to accept the fact that people like me do care, we also care about other things, including preserving people’s rights who are already law-abiding citizens and I also care about actually helping people.
WILLIAMS: Well, yeah.
HAM: In places like Chicago, liberals have failed to to that and I would like you to show me how cutting down other people’s freedoms is going to help in the future, because I’m interested in helping those people.
WILLIAMS: My argument to you is I think people who want safety as they walk the street in a big city should have that. That’s their right.
Hemmer then ended the segment: “I appreciate the debate, but I think you are honestly offended, Mary Katharine.”
“A little bit,” she admitted, “but Juan and I will make it up later.”
Watch below, via Fox:
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