On Monday’s broadcast of MSNBC “Morning Joe,” host Joe Scarborough voiced his agreement with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, who on Sunday’s “Face the Nation” on CBS questioned those Republicans who are threatening a filibuster on pending gun control legislation.
Scarborough said such a filibuster would be an example of the GOP putting “rapists’ rights ahead over parents’ rights.”
“[I] tell you what, Richard Haass, I saw John McCain there,” Scarborough said. “And I’m hopeful. Because, you know, there are a lot of guys out there in the Senate and they are going out because it’s a free shot. This is free. I’m going to filibuster gun control and you automatically win unconditional support from a segment of your voting population. It doesn’t cost anything. It’s not like making a tough choice on Medicare or Medicaid or Sociall Security. This costs you nothing. But it does cost the Republican Party, overall. And I think John McCain understands that.”
“We got an issue that is a 92-7 [percent] issue and I can’t believe that Republicans, first of all, aren’t going to support it, but secondly won’t let background checks against rapists, people who have committed manslaughter in the past, people with mental illness, dangerous mental illness — I can’t believe those Republicans are going to allow the entire Republican Party to be the party that basically put rapists’ rights over parents’ rights to keep their kids safe when they go to school,” he continued.
Scarborough went through a list of recent gun tragedies and warned Republicans that they would be on the wrong side of history if they continue to oppose new firearm regulations, especially if another tragedy takes place.
“I’m concerned, Willie Geist, for my Republican Party, if they do filibuster — it’s not like we reached the end of history,” he said. “Newtown is not the end of history. Think of the killings and shootings since Newtown. There hasn’t been a mass killing yet but there will be. Why do we know that? Look in the recent past, kids shot up in an Oregon mall. Teenagers shot and killed while they’re watching a movie in Aurora, Colo. A grandmother shot while worshipping God up in Minnesota. And then, of course, these first graders dismembered by all of the bullets that were shot at them in rapid succession.”
“Republicans — maybe they believe this is the end of history, but it’s going to happen again and when it happens again and 92 percent of Americans have asked them to do something and they don’t do it, it’s just going to have devastating political impact on everybody,” Scarborough continued. “So those four or five grandstanding right now say they are going to filibuster a bill they don’t even know, that they haven’t even read, it might be great for them with a small segment of their base in their state. It’s pretty rough for the Republican Party.”
Scarborough went on to assure his Republican viewers that these background checks won’t lead to some sort of national registry, which had been one of the primary concerns of a so-called universal background check requirement to purchase a firearm.
