So far this month, two MSNBC personalities—Alex Wagner and Craig Melvin—have twice mocked or otherwise maligned the Second Amendment and the people who look to it as a bedrock guarantee of the right to keep and bear arms. In one instance, Wagner even called for us to “get rid of the second Amendment” altogether and to bid adieu to “the right to bear arms.”
If you’re thinking that you’ve never heard of either Wagner or Melvin, that’s okay, no one else has either; they’re on MSNBC, for Pete’s sake.
Anyway, MSNBC or not, the two mental heavyweights each made some statements that are so ludicrous they must either flow from raw ignorance or an ideologically-driven arrogance that is unimaginable to the average American.
For example, on November 1st, Melvin was guest hosting News Nation when he tried to take Spartanburg, S.C. Sheriff Chuck Wright to task for suggesting women in Spartanburg should arm themselves to defend against would-be rapists. In fact, the Sheriff not only suggested getting a weapon, but actually used a press conference to describe the best kinds of handguns women should consider carrying: “They got one called ‘The Judge’ that shoots a .45 or a .410 shell. [With it] you ain’t gotta be accurate. You just gotta get close.”
Asked Melvin: “If women are shooting potential attackers, aren’t they presuming guilt before innocence? What if a woman kills an attacker? Isn’t that opening another whole legal can of worms?”
Sheriff Wright responded: “Well, it’s easy to fix that. Just don’t attack a woman.”
(Can I get a quick YEEHAW! out of anybody?)
Anyway, Melvin couldn’t handle this and went on to give the impression that he wasn’t sure individual Americans needed guns because we have policemen who can take care of us.
And earlier this week, it was Wagner who responded to Bill Maher’s question, “What would you change in the Constitution?” by saying:
Well, I’m going to be pilloried for this. I think get rid of the second Amendment, the right to bear arms. I just think in the grand scheme of the rights that we have; the right of assembly, free speech, I mean, owning a gun does not, it does not tally on the same level as those other Constitutional rights. And being more discreet about who gets to have a firearm and right to kill with a firearm, I think is something that would be in our national interest to revisit that.Besides her apparent problems with speaking clearly—the transcript reads like she went to the Al Sharpton School of Public Rambling—the central point of Wagner’s answer is idiotic. For what is it that ultimately guarantees all our rights if not the ability of armed and therefore free men to defend those rights?
I wonder if Wagner would be willing to take time out during her next television appearance to tell the women of Spartanburg: “Don’t get a gun to protect yourself: Just call the police and hopefully they’ll get there before the attack is over.”
Where does MSNBC find these people anyway?
Big Journalism
