During an interview with Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) on Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “All In,” host Chris Hayes stated that “Meaningfully reducing gun violence in America would require some pretty significant changes to the policy landscape.” And that while things like expanding background checks would make a difference in gun violence, “the people who oppose further legislation understand that” as “the camel’s nose under the tent. Like, they get that that’s the first opening salvo to try to get more and so they don’t want to do any of it.”
Hayes said, “So, let me sketch out the gun reform paradox, as I understand it. So, America has the highest level of gun ownership in the world, it’s twice [the] next highest nation, which is Yemen, per capita. We’ve got more guns than people. We’ve got — and guns are durable, they last for a long time. It’s just a ton of guns out there. Meaningfully reducing gun violence in America would require some pretty significant changes to the policy landscape. But of course, that’s not possible. It might not even be very popular. There are things that would matter, background checks, the things like an H.R. 8. But of course, the people who oppose further legislation understand that as the nose under the camel’s tent, right? They — the camel’s nose under the tent. Like, they get that that’s the first opening salvo to try to get more and so they don’t want to do any of it. Like, how do you convince them otherwise?”
Duckworth responded, “Well, they need to listen to their constituents. 95% of Americans, including hunters and outdoorsmen and Republicans and even MAGA Republicans, some of them, support universal background checks. This is not about the camel’s nose under the tent, Chris. This is about politicians who care more about a check, a payday, a payoff from gun manufacturers than they do dead babies. That’s the bottom line here.”
She continued, “We’re talking about getting rid of the assault weapon — restoring the ban. We’re talking about getting rid of high-capacity magazines.”
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