On Tuesday, ABC’s World News Tonight filed its lone 2016 election report on GOP presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson in attempt to slam him for his response to a question on FNC’s Fox & Friends about how he’d deal with facing a mass shooter and his desire to arm trained schoolteachers to protect their students.
With the on-screen headline entitled “Carson controversy,” anchor David Muir hyped that there was a “new headline tonight involving Dr. Ben Carson and what he said about guns” before tossing to Clinton campaign correspondent Cecilia Vega and a segment with one of the on-screen captions hyping “Carson’s controversial comments.”
Vega provided a brief introduction before playing a clip of Carson’s response to a question from Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade about how he’d respond to a mass shooter like the one in Oregon who asked his victims about their religion: “I'm glad you asked that question because not only would I probably not cooperate with him, I would not just stand there and let him shoot me. I would say, hey guys, everybody attack him. He may shoot me but he can't get us all.”
After another soundbite from Carson’s latest FNC appearance “bashing President Obama's plan to visit with victims,” Vega explained that it followed a Facebook post from Carson that stated, in part, the following: “I never saw a body with bullet holes that was more devastating than taking the right to arm ourselves away.”
The ABC correspondent next transitioned to his tense appearance on ABC’s The View by alluding to his suggestion “that even some kindergarten teachers should be armed.”
Before going back to Muir, Vega spun Carson’s comments as hypocritical for politicizing the Oregon shooting while also slamming the President for “playing politics”: “And Ben Carson accusing Hillary Clinton and President Obama of playing politics with these mass shootings, but David, tonight, it is Ben Carson who is making headlines on that very topic.”
The transcript of the segment from ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir on October 6 can be found below.
ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir
October 6, 2015
6:37 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Carson Controversy]
DAVID MUIR: Now, to the race for 2016 and to the new headline tonight involving Dr. Ben Carson and what he said about guns. He was asked about the school massacre in Oregon and what he could do if a gunman pointed a gun at him and asked him his religion. ABC's Cecilia Vega with how he answered that question.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Race for 2016; Oregon’s Shooting; Carson’s Controversial Comments]
CECILIA VEGA: Today, this is what Ben Carson says he would have done had he come face-to-face with the gunman in that Oregon classroom.
FNC’s BRIAN KILMEADE [on FNC’s Fox & Friends, 10/06/15]: Dr. Carson, if a gunman walks up and puts a gun at you and says, what religion are you? That is the ultimate test of your faith.
BEN CARSON [on FNC’s Fox & Friends, 10/06/15]: I'm glad you asked that question because not only would I probably not cooperate with him, I would not just stand there and let him shoot me. I would say, hey guys, everybody attack him. He may shoot me but he can't get us all.
VEGA: Carson didn't end there. The GOP candidate also bashing President Obama's plan to visit with victims, saying, if he were elected, he would not go.
CARSON [on FNC’s Fox & Friends, 10/06/15]: I would probably have so many things on my agenda that I'd go to the next one.
VEGA: This all comes after the retired neurosurgeon wrote on Facebook, “I never saw a body with bullet holes that was more devastating than taking the right to arm ourselves away.” And today, suggesting that even some kindergarten teachers should be armed and defending himself on The View.
PAULA FARRIS [TO CARSON] [on ABC’s The View, 10/06/15]: You said that you’d be very comfortable if kindergarten teachers had guns in the classrooms. Why do you think that's a good idea?
CARSON [on ABC’s The View, 10/06/15]: Not all kindergarten teachers. I said people who are trained, and understand all the implications and, you obviously are not just going to have a weapon sitting on a kindergarten teacher's desk.
VEGA: The Republican candidates speaking out against gun control since last week’s shooting, but in Iowa today, Hillary Clinton making the case for tougher laws.
HILLARY CLINTON: We have to act against those people who should not have guns in the first place.
VEGA: And Ben Carson accusing Hillary Clinton and President Obama of playing politics with these mass shootings, but David, tonight, it is Ben Carson who is making headlines on that very topic. David?
MUIR: Cecilia Vega in Iowa on the campaign trail. Cecilia, thank you.
