NBC's Chuck Todd is just one of the horde of gun control advocates who are mystified as to why Rep. Steve Scalise did not abandon his principled stand on the Second Amendment after being shot by an apparently deranged progressive at a GOP baseball practice.
It is as if Todd and like minded gun control advocates believe that Scalise and other supporters of the Second Amendment don't know guns can hurt until they have first-hand experience. Or maybe they don't understand that there are actual arguments and principles at stake.
At any rate, they are very disappointed that Scalise didn't return to Congress suddenly sharing their views. Because of course all right-minded people do share their views, right?
Mollie Hemingway has a great piece at The Federalist on how Todd Turned the televised portion of his recent "Meet the Press" interview with Scalise, just returned to Congress after nearly dying and having to learn to walk again, into one badgering session on gun control.
Mollie lists eighteen questions on gun control put to Scalise by Todd. According to Mollie, Scalise handled himself well:
In most of his responses, Scalise did a great job explaining the Declaration of Independence and the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights. He explained to Todd that a government that monitors the people down to their gun purchases is tyrannical and totalitarian. He patiently explained that the right to keep and bear arms does not extend to shooting innocent people, and managed not to roll his eyes or walk out when Todd asked that question. And he kept making his point about the need to enforce existing gun laws rather than pass more gun laws.
Todd on the other hand did not perform well, at least if you expected somebody engaged in a journalistic enterprise:
Todd would be doing his employers proud if he were officially employed by Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. But he’s supposed to be a neutral moderator of the longest-running Sunday political program.
Instead, he has a long track record of advocating strenuously for limits on the Second Amendment. He frequently gives Republicans “advice” encouraging them to step away from defending the inalienable right to defense of life and liberty. When victims of gun violence argue in favor of gun control, he presents them as moral arbiters. When victims of gun violence argue against gun control, he badgers them for their political views.
The Todd interview illustrates why it is so hard to have a debate about gun control–advocates are naive and ill-informed and don't realize that their opponents have principled arguments that must be met with something other than emotion and moral superiority.
Read the whole piece.