Short of donning an NRA cap and toting an assault rifle, it’s hard to think of how Megyn Kelly could have been any more biased in The Kelly File's phony debate over gun regulations last night.
As the demand for tighter gun regulations intensifies in the U.S., Kelly put her thumb on the scale on behalf of pro-gun advocates, first by playing a clip of “radio star Howard Stern offering an impassioned (her emphasis) response to those calling for stricter gun laws in the wake of the atrocity in Orlando.”
I guess we should be glad she didn’t say “radical Islamic atrocity” in Orlando.
Stern likened the calls for gun control to sheep giving up their ability to protect themselves from wolves.
“Mmm!” Kelly said to emphasize the import of Stern’s remarks and put her viewers in the pro-gun frame of mind in advance of the “fair and balanced” debate. But for extra “fairness and balance” Kelly also displayed a cartoon whose point, she said, was, “Who’s gonna be respectful of the gun-free zone laws, other than the law-abiding citizens?” Sure, just asking. It’s all part of being a “straight news anchor” on Fox News,
Gun-law advocate Nomiki Konst couldn’t even finish her response – that the so-called “good guy with a gun” savior is a myth - before Kelly interrupted to argue with her and then cut her off. But Konst was correct. As I wrote in a post for Liberal America, the NRA’s “good guy with a gun” myth puts people in more danger.
Funny, the other guest, gun-loving Dana Loesch, was able to finish every thought and more. She claimed that there is proof that carrying concealed weapons lowers crime without interruption – even though the data to support that assertion is murky at best. In fact, as Loesch joked that it was “almost like I just became best friends with Howard Stern,” Kelly smiled and added supportively, “I think he read your book!”
Konst, who is one of my favorites on Fox, didn’t wait to be called on and started to rebut. But before she could finish her sentence, Kelly interrupted with this next bit of “straight news anchoring:”
KELLY: Nomiki, the thing is, like, OK, so the studies are great but like, then you’re kind of looking at Dana and saying, “You know, our studies trump your needs and your belief about what’s best for yourself. Give us your gun.”
Actually, Konst had said nothing of the sort. And even if she had wanted to, she would not have had the opportunity. Even now, as she tried to explain, she was unable to get a sentence out without interruption from Loesch – which Kelly did not seem to mind.
That is, until Kelly interrupted to let Loesch speak some more:
KELLY: We are short on time today, but Dana, why does the AR-15 and guns like that, why do those need to be out there?
LOESCH: Well, the AR-15 is - it’s a .22. I mean, if you’re gonna actually - in fact, if I was actually gonna go, and go after a bad guy in my house, I’m not gonna grab my AR-15. I’m gonna grab my shotgun, or I’m gonna grab my Glock, I’m gonna grab something a little bit, you know, a little bit more serious.
KONST: So why have them? They're killing machines!
LOESCH: Women. This is a war on women, because the AR-15 is the most popular rifle with women. You’re talking about disarming women.
KONST: Oh, come on, Dana. These talking points are ridiculous! Dana, Dana, it's very simple! Let me say one thing.
But guess what? Time was up. ”I love both of you ladies… I’m sorry, I gotta go,” Kelly said.
As if Kelly hadn’t completely orchestrated it that way.
This segment, alone, should disprove claims that Kelly is some kind of new and different Fox host. Watch it below, from the June 16 The Kelly File, via Media Matters, and see for yourself.
Another reality about guns. They last a long, long, long time. A reality these well kept manicured women might have overlooked is that cute AR-15 they bought with the cute pink stock just to make her husband mad, well that gun is gonna keep on keepin’ on long after her grinning skull is six feet under.
Mosin Nagants, which were first made around the 1890s, well they are still in operation. I’m not talking about a delicate museum piece. These guns are robust killers firing modern ammo. 7.62 X 54R. Did you ever see the movie “Enemy at the Gates” with Jude Law? That was a Mosin. And they are still capable of killing a man 300-400 yards away. And the ammo is not exotic and hard to find. The Eastern Bloc made a gazillion rounds.
Some of those guns are 125 years old.
As opposed to, say, refusing to give women equal pay for the same work . . . or referring to rape as “legitimate” . . .
.
I didn’t find it exceptionally thrilling then, but I do know that it was then (and probably is now) a gun suitable for nothing more than killing other human beings.
I fired that miserable gun because I was ordered to fire it, and one of the biggest regrets in my life is that I was neither wise enough nor brave enough to refuse to fire that god-damned gun.
But now we have women saying that it is THEIR RIGHT to fire that gun. It seems to me that that’s an easy statement to make when you’re sitting comfortably in an air-conditioned TV studio. I’d rather that we all had the right NOT to fire that gun.
I’m always amazed at the number of assholes that think killing someone is fun.