CNN's Banfield: Gun Rights Supporters Want to 'Tear Apart the 4th Amendment'

October 6th, 2015 6:28 PM

Appearing as a guest on Monday's The Nightly Show on Comedy Central, during a discussion of recent mass shootings, CNN host Ashleigh Banfield declared that it is "amazing" that, although "those who support gun ownership and gun rights" treat the Second Amendment as "unassailable," they wish to "tear apart the Fourth Amendment" to fight terrorism.

Near the end of the show, after The Nightly Show contributor Andy Yard cracked that he was surprised that no gun laws were passed after the Sandy Hook attack because "little white kids got shot," since "anytime something happens to little white kids, 'Oh, [bleep],'" Banfield moments later took aim at those who oppose more gun laws:

I always find it amazing that, when it comes to gun control, the Second Amendment is unassailable to those who support gun ownership and gun rights, but then, when you talk about terror, the Fourth Amendment is completely open season in search and seizure, right?

She added:

"We got to fight these terror-," you know, thousand to one, "We got to fight these terrorists, and I'm gonna listen to your phone calls, and I'm gonna tear apart the Fourth Amendment for that," you know.

Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Monday, October 5, The Nightly Show on Comedy Central:

11:55 p.m.
ANDY YARD, THE NIGHTLY SHOW CONTRIBUTOR: I think people are just done, you know what I mean? Listen, I said it before and I'll say it again. After Sandy Hook, I thought gun control was going to be taken seriously because little white kids got shot, okay? And you know, in America, anytime something happens to little white kids, "Oh, [bleep]."

LARRY WILMORE, THE NIGHTLY SHOW HOST: Let's be fair. It wasn't just little white kids.

YARD: Yeah, but, I mean, you know, if they didn't do anything about that after Sandy Hook, then, you know, it's just never going to happen.

RORY ALBANESE, THE NIGHTLY SHOW CONTRIBUTOR: All of these things, we were just talking about this last week with racism, it's like we're still having to convince people that these things are real. We can't even talk about fixing them because we have to convince them they're problems, and that puts you in a really difficult position where you just want to go, "Well, you know, I'll just stay in my bubble."

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: I always find it amazing that, when it comes to gun control, the Second Amendment is unassailable to those who support gun ownership and gun rights, but then, when you talk about terror, the Fourth Amendment is completely open season in search and seizure, right?

"We got to fight these terror-," you know, thousand to one, "We got to fight these terrorists, and I'm gonna listen to your phone calls, and I'm gonna tear apart the Fourth Amendment for that," you know.