Actress and liberal activist Alyssa Milano praised Texas Sen. Ted Cruz after meeting with him to discuss legal possibilities in the interest of reducing the number of mass shootings in the United States.
Milano and Cruz had a largely amicable discussion last week in Washington, D.C., after a tense exchange on Twitter over gun rights and the Bible.
“Can someone cite which passage of the Bible God states it is a god-given right to own a gun?” Milano tweeted in response to Texas state Rep. Matt Schaefer saying gun control infringed on his “God-given” rights. “This guy is unbelievable and is clearly owned by the gun lobby.”
Cruz responded to Milano by crediting her for asking an “excellent” question.
“An excellent Q, worth considering carefully w/o the snark of Twitter,” the Republican senator said. “It is of course not the right to a modern-day firearm that is God-give [sic] but rather the right to Life & the right to Liberty. Essential to that right to life is the right to DEFEND your life & your family.”
An excellent Q, worth considering carefully w/o the snark of Twitter. It is of course not the right to a modern-day firearm that is God-give but rather the right to Life & the right to Liberty. Essential to that right to life is the right to DEFEND your life & your family. 1/x https://t.co/8pjstMGrGB
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 1, 2019
The ensuing conversation resulted in Cruz inviting Milano to come to D.C. to discuss their differences in person. In an op-ed published by CNN on Friday, Milano positively recounted the meeting with Cruz, which was also attended by Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jamie was killed in the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.
“Cruz and I agree on very little. He is a stalwart conservative; I am a committed progressive,” Milano said. “I know we didn’t change his mind on how we fix gun violence in America. And he didn’t change ours. But maybe we understand one another a little better.”
Milano also described her softened opinion toward Cruz, writing, “Here’s what I came away with that I wasn’t so sure of before the meeting: Ted Cruz is a human being. He is a real person. He isn’t a villain in a movie. He cares when these shootings happen. When people on my side of this fight say he doesn’t, they’re wrong.”
Cruz also praised Milano after the meeting via Twitter, thanking her for her civility.
“Thank you for coming & having a positive, civil & substantive conversation,” the senator said. “I hope it helps bridge some of the angry divides in our Nation and that Congress can come together to stop violent gun crime while protecting the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens.”
Thank you for coming & having a positive, civil & substantive conversation. I hope it helps bridge some of the angry divides in our Nation and that Congress can come together to stop violent gun crime while protecting the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. https://t.co/GJTADwbaW7
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 10, 2019
