CNN host Chris Cuomo started off his town hall on firearms, titled America Under Assault: The Gun Crisis, by criticizing the National Rifle Association for declining their invitation to participate in the event.
“I guess they want to do their talking with propaganda ads and millions in lobbying. Besides, let’s be honest, the gun lobby is not going to be the answer,” Cuomo said.
“And that shouldn’t be expected anymore than we expected big tobacco to help us expose the ills of smoking. The reality is, people like you are the answer, and there can be no sides when it comes to wanting to be safer, better protected,” he continued.
Survivors and victims’ family members from previous mass shootings were in attendance, such as the ones at Sutherland Springs church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and the Pulse night club in Orlando, Florida.
Wednesday’s town hall is the second CNN has hosted after mass shootings, with the first one hosted a week after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
The 2018 town hall was criticized for taking place very shortly after the incident and for the network appearing to take sides.
Dana Loesch, who was a spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association at the time, was heavily targeted by attendees at the event.
“Given how disastrous the last one was for civil discourse on the issue I have zero expectation that this one will be any better,” Loesch told the Washington Examiner. “It’s a difficult thing to ask viewers to suspend their reality and accept Cuomo, who has been quite partisan on the issue, as a sudden neutral moderator. Right off the bat it doesn’t seem like a good-faith gesture of objectivity.”
