CNN’s Alisyn Camerota Defends Rubio, NRA to Parkland Survivors: ‘Maybe Your Ire is Misplaced?’

CNN host Alisyn Camerota defended Senator Marco Rubio and the National Rifle Association while speaking to the Parkland shooting survivors-turned-gun control advocates David Hogg and Lauren Hogg, as the two have been fierce critics of the lawmaker and organization.

With David Hogg’s many attacks on Rubio — including during the March For Our Lives, during which the student activist accused the GOP senator of receiving money for “every student’s life” in Parkland — Camerota asked if his “ire is misplaced.”

“I’m not a Marco Rubio spokesperson,” clarified Camerota — a former Fox News host now at CNN. “But now that I’ve heard what he’s doing behind the scenes — he’s sponsoring all of these various bills, two of which were part of the omnibus, & so things are happening. So all I’m suggesting is maybe your ire is misplaced? Since he is actually trying to work across the aisle.”

David Hogg responded by arguing that, while Rubio’s bipartisan legislative push is “a great step,” it won’t matter in the long term, as his financial support from the NRA limits his ability to vote for any effective laws. “So long as he’s supported by the NRA, no matter what he does, there’s always going to be loopholes in anything he does,” argued the Marjory Stoneman Douglas student.

Camerota continued by defending the NRA against some of the harsher criticisms that have been leveled against the pro-Second Amendment group — all with the caveat, “I don’t want to be an NRA spokesperson.”

“They don’t want the slaughter of children — NRA members have children themselves, people who work at the NRA have their own children,” said the host while pushing back against claims that the NRA pushes for laws that lead to gun violence against young people.

“Do you think that you are polarizing in saying things like that? Maybe it would help to get the NRA on board?” questioned Camerota.

While David Hogg noted that “most NRA members are safe gun owners who just want to protect their Second Amendment rights,” he claimed those leading the organization just want looser laws to “sell more guns” to profit the firearm industry.

Watch above, via CNN.

[image via screengrab]

Follow the author on Twitter (@calebecarma).

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