CNN anchor Poppy Harlow scolded Rep. Tom Reed during her Tuesday interview with him after he said he would not support universal background checks or an “assault weapons” ban.
Reed said expanding background checks while the current system still needs major fixing is a “flawed” solution.
“How is it flawed? Do you truly not believe, congressman, that having universal background checks would save lives?” Harlow asked.
“What’s flawed is you have people that are in the system today of the existing background check with false information, with erroneous information.”
“I get that … I’m asking you, clearly, do you really not believe that just having universal background checks, which has such overwhelming bipartisan support from American voters, would not save lives?” Harlow pressed.
The New York Republican said ideas, such as universal background checks, could infringe on the Second Amendment, prompting Harlow to read it aloud.
“The Second Amendment does not say crazy people should have guns … It says nothing about people that are nuts being able to have guns. It says nothing about people that have true mental illness. Those people as well. It says nothing about that, sir,” Harlow said.
When Reed said he would agree to a system by which someone who is adjudicated to be psychopathic and violent would lose their right to own a gun, Harlow then brought up Trevor Irby, 25, who was killed during the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California and asked Reed why he would not support an “assault weapons” ban.
“When you talk about banning assault rifles, I do not support that,” Reed said. “Because how do you define an assault rifle? I have seen folks throw this term out in such a way it would trigger folks that have shotguns, rifles, handguns that duly licensed and banning those from existence.”
Many of the guns used in recent high-profile mass shootings were purchased legally, indicating the shooter went through background checks before obtaining the weapon.
Democrats are imploring for the Senate to vote on H.R. 8, which would expand background checks to all gun sales. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said Monday if the House bill is not passed, then “Mitch McConnell, President Trump, and Republicans in the Senate will have hell to pay.”
