Following the horrific shooting at an Oregon community college last week, during an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday New York Times Magazine writer Mark Leibovich conveniently blamed the NRA for preventing gun control legislation from passing Congress.
The liberal journalist complained that the issue of guns is “politicized because the NRA pretty much owns more than half of Congress. That is why this issue is basically immutable. You mentioned the constitution, public opinion. The other piece is the political impossibility...”
Moderator Chuck Todd weargued that gun control could be achieved “when the politics would change” because there have “dozens of candidates who've lost because of their position because they were too pro gun control” but no one gets punished at the ballot for supporting gun rights.
For his part, Rich Lowry of National Review pushed back against the notion that the NRA had “politicized” the debate over guns because “[t]he NRA represents real people out there which is why it's so powerful” and went on to blast President Obama’s comments on the recent Oregon shooting:
[I]t's the sense that he gave that there's some magic button that we can be pushed and we all know what it is and that we don't have the political will to push it. You look at the specific things the left tends to talk about that are more marginal, universal background checks. Well, a lot of these guys passed the background checks we already have because they don't have prior records.
After Washington Post reporter Ruth Marcus urged Congress to pass “marginal improvements” because “[w]e have to do something” to our gun laws, Lowry once again corrected the liberal myth that more gun control regulation could have prevented the shooting:
These aren't impulse killers. They're people who are sitting and stewing and I think Amy's point is an important one. Columbine created a cultural norm where if you're disturbed or disaffected you go out in a blaze of infamy. We need to disempower that norm that is much easier said than done.
See relevant transcript below.
NBC’s Meet the Press
October 4, 2015
CHUCK TODD: There's no doubt there's a media role. I don't want to mention the guy's name anymore. He's been mentioned once, I'm not going to voice his name. But as the president points out Mark, we're not the only country with crazy people.
MARK LEIBOVICH: That's true. Look, the president had this entire debate almost with himself.
TODD: You saw it.
LEIBOVICH: He anticipated all of the tropes sort of unfolding over a several day period all of which has happened by the way. He anticipated what the Republican presidential candidates were going to say, what Congress would say. I mean look, the issue is politicized. I don't even -- when he said they should politicize the issue, it is politicized, it's politicized because the NRA pretty much owns more than half of Congress. That is why this issue is basically immutable. You mentioned the constitution, public opinion. The other piece is the political impossibility of anyone --
TODD: I have a challenge for around the table. Can you name me the last candidate who lost because they weren't for gun control? That's a lot of silence here. I mean, that's -- if you want to know when the politics would change, right, Rich Lowry? Is when that phenomena-I can list you dozens of candidates who've lost because of their position because they were too pro gun control.
RICH LOWRY: The NRA represents real people out there which is why it's so powerful and what I really objected to in the president's statement, I don't mind politicizing an issue where we’re going to have a debate about public policy, that's what politics is, but it's the sense that he gave that there's some magic button that we can be pushed and we all know what it is and that we don't have the political will to push it. You look at the specific things the left tends to talk about that are more marginal, universal background checks. Well, a lot of these guys passed the background checks we already have because they don't have prior records. The assault weapons ban had lapsed because everyone knew
TODD: I guess the question is should we have a higher level of background checks?
LOWRY: Well, if someone hasn't committed a crime or hasn’t been adjudicated for any mental disorder, in a country with the Second Amendment, you are not going to stop that from buying a gun.
TODD: Alright, last word.
RUTH MARCUS; There is no perfect solution but there are marginal improvements. Limit the size of magazines, that would have stopped Jared Loughner from killing as many people before he stopped to reload. Make the background checks so that it's not automatic that you get it if it's not completed in three days, that might have stopped Dylann Roof from having his guns. We have to do something. Just because no solution is perfect doesn't mean there's nothing we should do.
LOWRY: These aren't impulse killers. They're people who are sitting and stewing and I think Amy's point is an important one. Columbine created a cultural norm where if you're disturbed or disaffected you go out in a blaze of infamy. We need to disempower that norm that is much easier said than done.
AMY HOLMES: And give families tools that if they have one of these young men under their roofs that they are able to address it.
