U.S.A. -(AmmoLand.com)- No one’s claiming they watch ABC’s The View for factual Second Amendment news. But the gaggle of progressive television hosts got plenty wrong during a conversation about Second Amendment rights and recent criminal shootings perpetrated by people breaking the law.
The hosts are known for their extreme gun restriction beliefs. This particular discussion included Joy Behar bloviating about how the U.S. Supreme Court was “poised to pass a bill” that would force New York to “be an open carry state, and an open carry city,” among other nonsense.
The show’s conservative guest host, former Director of Strategic Communications for The White House for President Donald Trump Alyssa Farah, took the bait when it was suggested that no American needs an AR-15.
The hosts could use a Civics 101 lesson.
Rights, Not Needs
The View pushed partisan politics and gun control before the facts were known after a disturbed criminal attacked New York City subway commuters and injured at least 23.
The group decried Republicans for exposing soft-on-crime prosecutors as part of the problem. Behar blamed Republican governors for making it “easier” to get a firearm. She meant Republican governors in Alabama, Indiana and Georgia who all signed legislation enacting permitless carry, or Constitutional Carry. The laws in those states don’t “make it easier” to get guns. The laws mean only that if a law-abiding American passes a National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) verification, they can legally carry a firearm without having to pay for a state permit to exercise their fundamental right to bear arms. There are 25 states in this group.
Host Sunny Hostin questioned Farah. “Would you agree and concede that no one needs an AR-15 or, uh, an assault-style weapon….because hunters, if you’re a good hunter I don’t think you need to use that to shoot a deer,” she asked.
“So, yes,” Farah answered. She added that people often misunderstand firearms because of what they look like, not how they function.
The answer should have been “No!” Full stop. Not because of anything having to do with hunting. Not because they are supposedly “assault-style weapons,” – they aren’t. Not because Hostin thinks firearm ownership is about a “need.” The answer is “No” because it is a fundamental right of law-abiding Americans.
The first 10 amendments to the Constitution were deemed the Bill of Rights. Not the Bill of Needs.
America’s Rifle
The AR-15, or Modern Sporting Rifle (MSR), is the most popular-selling semiautomatic centerfire rifle in America. The AR stands for ArmaLite Rifle, the name of the company that developed the design back in the 1950s, not “assault rifle” as gun control groups or talking heads like Hostin falsely repeat. These rifles use the same one-trigger-pull, one-fire technology that was developed in the late-nineteenth century and is still commonly utilized in handguns and shotguns.
Modern Sporting Rifles have been commercially sold since the early 1960s and are available to law-abiding citizens who pass a NICS check. They only bear a similar appearance to the military’s M-16 or M-4 automatic rifles. Automatic rifles have been severely restricted from civilian ownership since 1934 and haven’t been commercially made since 1986.
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, firearm sales in America reached record highs with NSSF industry retailer data showing more than 21 million background checks for a firearm sale in 2020 and more than 18.5 million in 2021. That includes more than 14 million first-time firearm buyers between 2020 and 2021. Self-defense was one of the top reasons given when first-time purchasers were asked about why they bought a firearm. Given its versatility, affordability, accuracy and reliability, the MSR has always been a favorite choice for that category of buyer. Since 1990, estimates are there are well over 20 million MSRs in circulation today.
NBC News examined why so many Americans purchased MSRs throughout the pandemic and 26-year-old mom Megan Hill explained her decision.
“We looked at the AR-15, and it was all in one package,” Hill said. “You can target-shoot with it, protect yourself with it, hunt with it. Luckily we haven’t had to use it in self-defense, but it’s a comfort knowing that it’s there to protect my children and my family.”
Empowering Right
Hostin is no stranger to absurd statements about firearms. She’s bemoaned Americans like Megan Hill and millions more who own MSRs, saying she feels like “a hostage.” She loathed that her friends and family were buying firearms. She even sat and listened as previous guest host Sherri Shephard explained why she decided to purchase a firearm.
“I felt very empowered when I bought this gun. I took lessons. I took the test. I go to the range with my girlfriends like every other week, and it just makes me feel like at least if something happens, I can protect my child,” Shephard said. “I don’t know why you’re laughing.”
Women accounted for more than 40 percent of all firearm purchases over the past two years and African-American women have been the fastest-growing demographic segment of all. The number one reason has been for the protection of their families and children.
Americans aren’t taking their advice from television talk show hosts. They’re standing on the Constitution when it comes to their rights, including their right to own MSRs. Support for gun control is tanking as gun ownership is rising. They’re keeping it up today, not because of a need, but because it’s their right to do so.
About The National Shooting Sports Foundation
NSSF is the trade association for the firearm industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of thousands of manufacturers, distributors, firearm retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations, and publishers nationwide. For more information, visit nssf.org
View watchers as a group are clueless,so they fit right in with that disaster of a show and it’s crone hosts.
We can all be completely confident that AR-15’s are far from being the only thing that The View is clueless about.
The title could have just stopped at “The View is Clueless.”
Would they like to limited to single shot First Amendment? They can spout one sentence per hour.
While the View gals may be clueless, they are anything but powerless. Their ignorance of any topic has never stopped them from swaying the opinions of hundreds of thousands of gullible woman (and some wimpy men). It certainly doesn’t help anything when they bring unprepared and appeasing “conservatives” on as guests.
Good observation.
Bob – I suspect you meant ‘sacrificial lambs’ instead of “guests”.
What other kind of “conservatives” would they bring on the show. Whoopi and friends only want facts when they support their ‘view’point.
Nobody in Ukraine needs an AR15/ M4 or AK47. our any other arm to hunt deer or rabbits.
They need arms to defend their country.
When the USA was formed the People got the Bill of Rights. It says being well armed is essential and therefore the right of the People shall not be infringed.
There is that can be said. But calling MSR MODERN SPORTING RIFLE is a subterfuge. It can be used for sport but it is the American MODERN MILITIA RIFLE.
The View is CLUELESS peroid!
Zackley !
I see no reason to even watch the view.
Why anyone with actual knowledge about gun issues would watch and listen to the political addicts on The View, I cannot understand. These women are stereotypical of persons whose minds are made up and are unmoved by facts.
Not only is Professor Behar an expert on firearms technology, civil rights, and morality, she obviously has a strong grasp of our system of government. How else can one explain her statement that the supreme court is poised to pass a bill? Most people do not know this secret function of the supreme court. I’m mildly surprised that the professor let the cat out of the bag this way. Now, people will know that the supreme court can not only rule on the constitutionality of a law, it can actually pass and enact laws without the legislative or executive branches’… Read more »
The View is nothing but a gaggle of ignorant, self-important, addled idiots pontificating on subjects that escape their VERY limited grasp.
One MAJOR ERROR in this otherwise Excellent OpEd. Here is the sentence where the error resides; “They only bear a similar appearance to the military’s M-16 or M-4 automatic rifles. Automatic rifles have been severely restricted from civilian ownership since 1934 and haven’t been commercially made since 1986.” The NEWLY MADE AUTOMATIC RIFLES HAVE BEEN COMMERCIALLY MADE. They happen to be SOLD ONLY TO THE MILITARY!! The American Constitution is EXPLICIT when it STATES: The People have the RIGHT to own the CARRYABLE weapons WHICH THE MILITARY HAS!! Automatic weapons are restricted?? Nope! The LAW ABIDING American Citizens must PURCHASE… Read more »
But, but, the real pandemic is how stupid these twits are. That might be justification for masks, so these twits can’t breathe stupidity upon us. “Would you agree and concede that no one needs an AR-15 or, uh, an assault-style weapon….because hunters,…” Wait, wait, wait for it….. There it is!!! “There is no legitimate sporting or self-defense or hunting “NEED” for someone with proper marksmanship training to possess an AR or 10-plus-round magazine…..” OK, lets, take one more lap around the reality course. Once again, Boys and Girls…..yeah, I used gender terms and proud of it, so STFU,….the Second Amendment does not convey… Read more »
The View is clueless………………….
That statement will suffice in all things. This clown show passing as a national talk show is exhibit A in the case against the Progressive New Left and its war on critical thinking.
Volume of discourse is no substitute for quality of discourse. The personal attack and vilification is no substitute for reasoned debate.
It is clown shows like this that take the unsuspecting and dim witted to new lows in ideological interpretation of events. So sad for our republic.
What bothers me more than the yapping, clueless women on The View are the people in the audience. I’m convinced that they are low info people bereft of critical thinking skills who let their opinions be formed by the Joyless Behars and Sunny Hostins of the view.
Then those audience members go out into their circle of influence and pass on the lies to their friends as if it were the gospel truth ad infinitum…
Joyless Behar and the idiots on the view are completely clueless when it comes to firearms . They should keep thier mouths shut and be thought fools , rather than to open them and remove all doubt . OH they already have done the latter !
I’ve never seen the show, but it sounds like a fetid morass of emotional mental meanderings that lack any sense or being based on truth. Hormones can be ugly sometimes and the camera really brings that out.
Please do not watch, it has been shown that watching 30 minutes of this show your IQ drops 3-5%.
I am not an English scholar, by any means. I did pass Eng.101, with a C, but it was given to me by a lesbian professor who didn’t like the fact that I was attempting to go towards an eventual BA in Theology.
However, I have come to think that the word Liberal is just a synonym of the word Hypocrite. And they could be used interchangeably with no one noticing.
Oh, and the View, that’s just what we use to tell us it is time to stop spending so much time in front of the television.
No, the ugerly, Libtard skanks are clueless about EVERYTHING!!!
Maude Behar