​MSNBC’s Chris Matthews acknowledges that the​ media’s values of being pro-choice and anti-gun are “​not representative of the country.​”​

Appearing on MSNBC Live on Friday before Donald Trump spoke at the NRA-ILA Leadership Conference, Matthews said, “We are uniquely pro-gun as a country, we’re not like the Japanese or the Chinese or English or French or the Germans. This country is unique! And today, we will see Donald Trump point to that and probably try to grab the support of that unique attitude about guns.”

Brian Williams asked, “Why has there been this split between members of the news media who so often are mystified to learn of a gun culture in America outside of New York, Washington and L.A.?”

“Because you’re answering your own question,” Matthews said. “Because of geography, Brian, and you know, just like stock car racing or abortion rights, we always assume in the big cities there’s sort of a cosmopolitan attitude that we all share. I’m sure there are quietly out there, even among our multitude of people we work with and know socially who have different views but there is sort of a lingua franca, if you will, a language that is spoken in the media which is pro-choice, it’s anti-gun rights, it’s the usual sort of sophistication we’re used to but’s not representative of the country. I think this is a cowboy country in spirit, self-reliance, drive your own car, people don’t like mass transportation. They like to get in their own car and drive around with their wife or girlfriend or husband and like to be on the road and they like to have that self-reliance of that gun.”

“I don’t have that instinct,” Matthews admitted. “But I know it’s out there and it’s very much a part of our history. It just is. And it’s in the Constitution and it’s in our history.”

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