Vox’s Dylan Matthews believes it would be best if the federal government banned all firearms.
“This is not Dems’ sales pitch but I’m totally down with letting the [president] unilaterally ban people (hopefully everyone!) from buying guns,” he said on social media.
This is not Dems’ sales pitch but I’m totally down with letting the prez unilaterally ban people (hopefully everyone!) from buying guns
— Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt) June 16, 2016
His remarks come on the heels of a shooting spree this weekend at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., that left 49 people dead. The shooter, 29-year-old Omar Mateen, was armed with a handgun and a Sig Sauer MCX rifle, and was also killed by police.
The tragedy has renewed support in Congress for legislation that would bar people who appear on the government’s terrorist watch list, a secretive database established in 2003 under the Bush administration, from purchasing a firearm.
Opponents of the proposal, including the Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald, argue it violates the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, which requires “due process of law,” and says no one can be held to answer for a crime “unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury.”
Greenwald said in reference to Matthews’ remarks that an executive order banning guns likely wouldn’t be applied to everyone.
“Like no-fly list, it will be overwhelmingly Muslims & others Govt views as threatening,” he said.
“Honestly, it’s always a terrible idea to allow restriction of rights without courts, evidence & due process: it will be abused,” he added.
Matthews responded, “reasonable. I don’t think there’s an individual right to bear arms but I totally respect erring toward due process.”
A contingent of U.S. lawmakers, including Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., have echoed Matthews’ desire to see fewer guns in America, though members of Congress haven’t said outright they support a total ban.
Unlike Matthews, however, Manchin appeared less concerned Thursday about “erring toward due process.”
“The problem we have, and really the firewall we have right now, is due process. It’s all due process,” he said Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“[The FBI] did everything they could. The FBI did everything they were supposed to do, but there was no way for them to keep him on the nix list, or keep him off the gun buy list,” Manchin said. “There was no way to do that. So can’t we say that if a person is under suspicion, there should be a five-year period of time that we have to see if good behavior, if this person continues the same traits, maybe we can come to that type of agreement.”
Matthews did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
