During MSNBC’s breaking news coverage of Friday’s Texas school shooting, former ATF agent and NBC News law enforcement analyst Jim Cavanaugh took time to attack President Trump for commenting on the tragedy at a White House event, dismissing those remarks of sympathy for the victims as “empty words” since the President had not pushed for gun control.
“So these are ongoing, ongoing issues. And you know, we’re just not getting the politicians to stand up. I mean, the President, those are empty words,” Cavanaugh proclaimed. Anchor Ali Velshi agreed: “Yup.” Cavanaugh continued: “They don’t walk the talk, they do not walk the talk. They talk, they talk, it’s all empty.”
The pundit then accused American politicians in general of being bought by gun rights supporters: “And until the political leadership, you know, is not a wholly owned subsidiary of the gun lobby and will take that issue on, at least to some reasonable effect, we can have movement there.”
Moments later, Cavanaugh rhetorically asked: “But are you gonna have these children shot and slaughtered in every school in America?” He encouraged people to take action: “You know, nobody will do anything and the citizens have to take it on because it’s not going to happen, Ali.”
After concluding his discussion with Cavanaugh, Velshi declared: “The President did say earlier, ‘Everyone must work together at every level of government to keep our children safe.’ But as Jim says, sometimes words like that at times like this do not feel as fulfilling as they may be intended to feel.”
This is not the first time Cavanaugh has used a shooting to get on his soap box about gun control. As the school shooting in Parkland, Florida unfolded back in February, Cavanaugh took to MSNBC to label the Second Amendment a “suicide pact” and denounce people who were concerned with such a “little right” to own firearms.
In the midst of breaking news coverage following the Las Vegas shooting in October 2017, Cavanaugh used similar phrases, again calling the Second Amendment a “suicide pact” and claiming that Congress was a “wholly-owned subsidiary of the gun lobby.”
MSNBC has clearly come to rely on his anti-gun talking points in times of tragedy.
Here is a transcript of the May 18 exchange between Cavanaugh and Velshi:
12:08 PM ET
(...)
JIM CAVANAUGH: So these are ongoing, ongoing issues. And you know, we’re just not getting the politicians to stand up. I mean, the President, those are empty words.
ALI VELSHI: Yup.
CAVANAUGH: They don’t walk the talk, they do not walk the talk. They talk, they talk, it’s all empty. And until the political leadership, you know, is not a wholly owned subsidiary of the gun lobby and will take that issue on, at least to some reasonable effect, we can have movement there.
But we’re also falling down on school security, we really are. How can these shooters continue to keep walking in? We need better work. How can anybody be confused? We need to know the procedures in schools, lock it down, train everybody, tell everybody. You might need more deputies, that’s gonna be more taxpayer money.
But are you gonna have these children shot and slaughtered in every school in America? You know, nobody will do anything and the citizens have to take it on because it’s not going to happen, Ali.
(...)
VELSHI: The President did say earlier, “Everyone must work together at every level of government to keep our children safe.” But as Jim says, sometimes words like that at times like this do not feel as fulfilling as they may be intended to feel.
(...)
