Fox News Panelists Suggest the Real Victim in Gun Debate is NRA’s Unfairly Tarnished Reputation

Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich argued that the real victim in the gun violence debate is the National Rifle Association, an organization that she claimed has been “smeared for years” amid the rise of mass shootings.

Pavlich made the comments during a Friday segment on Outnumbered, which she spent condemning Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke’s call to ban all semi-automatic, high capacity rifles.

“I think it is important to point out, the NRA has been smeared for years throughout this process — that is actually the organization that has been working [on firearm law reform],” said Pavlich.

“You mean the terrorist organization?” Fox Business host Lisa Kennedy sarcastically chimed in — a reference to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors labelling the NRA a “domestic terrorist” threat.

Pavlich, a pro-gun advocate who has referred to the NRA as “America’s real pro-women’s group,” went on to say that America’s largest pro-gun organization “actually worked to implement background check legislation that has been signed into law, they have actually worked to implement thousands of gun safety courses around the country.”

“When it comes to actually pushing through real things, putting more information to background check system and … [working] to embolden states to put relevant information into the federal system so people don’t fall through the cracks because they had a mental record or criminal record,” she continued.

Earlier in the segment, Pavlich and Kennedy got into a raucous clash with Fox News analyst Juan Williams, who maintained that a gun buyback program — like the one O’Rourke is proposing — is not radical.

“We have seen this in other countries and it has worked,” Williams noted.

Pavlich shot back by insisting buyback programs don’t work and rebutted Williams by asking a series of simple, condescending questions, such as, “What is the loophole, Juan?” and “What is an assault weapon, Juan?”

“A mandatory buyback is not a buyback, it is confiscation,” Kennedy added.

Watch above, via Fox News.

Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com