If Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidate Walker Stapleton expected a softball interview on Fox about gun violence and school safety following Friday’s school shooting in Texas, he must have been quite disappointed.
Stapleton appeared on yesterday’s America’s News HQ show, presumably to tout his agenda for school safety (hint: gun control was not on it).
But rather than get straight to the campaign platform, anchor Leland Vittert started the interview by noting that Stapleton was skipping a Never Again Colorado debate on gun violence in schools and communities.
Vittert then asked, “As I understand it, you are not going to be at the debate tonight. Explain it for us.”
Stapleton’s response was vague. Stapleton: “I’m actually down in Colorado Springs and participating in a number of events down here and will not be in the Denver area tonight for the, for that particular event.”
Vittert was clearly not impressed with that answer. He responded, “Conceivably, if you wanted to be there for the debate and thought it was more important than whatever was happening in in Colorado Springs - we all make choices about why we go to things. It would seem as though it’s a political choice. Can you explain it for us?”
Colorado Springs is only about an hour away from Denver.
“No, I don’t think it’s a political choice,” Stapleton said. “As a dad to three kids - ten, six and four, I think that the sentiment that these students are expressing in the Never Again moment is incredibly important and I think their voices need to be heard. And as a father of kids who are all school age, it’s an unthinkable tragedy to send my kids to school and have violence ensue.”
“So I support their sentiment and I think that it’s really important that we do whatever we can to prevent these tragedies form ever happening again,” Stapleton claimed.
Vittert got in one more comment about Stapleton skipping the debate: “Noteworthy, perhaps, not support enough to show up tonight to their event but we’ll leave it there with your answer.”
Vittert moved on to ask Stapleton about his plans to prevent mass shootings.
The FOX News Twitter staff appears not to be impressed with Stapleton’s answer on skipping the debate. The tweet posted of the interview left out the opening, where he was asked about skipping the debate.
.@WalkerStapleton: "There should be.. an armed public safety official in all of our schools." pic.twitter.com/D1YWHgxft5
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 19, 2018
Watch the remarks Fox edited out of its tweet below, from the May 19, 2018 America’s News HQ.
That’s a fantastic recipe for a circular firing squad: everybody has a gun, there’s a shot, everybody whips out their gun and shoots at anybody who’s got a gun.. Nobody comes out unscathed. And the mealy-mouthed, in-the-pocket-of-the-NRA talking heads can talk some more about “thoughts and prayers”. The only body cheering is the NRA and its arms-selling backers.
I’m not sure why Vitter did this – it may be for him to act as though he’s somehow just as tough on GOP candidates as he is vicious toward the Democratic Party, in the same way that Laura Ingraham has played that game. Based on Vitter’s terrible record, I’m not fooled.
Fox News is still firmly in the tank for the GOP candidates running this year – their hope is to see the GOP expand their control over Congress thanks to the gerrymandering from the 2010 Census, and to then see another round of Tax Transfers and then the expected slashes to Social Security and Medicare. As for gun control, multiple Fox News hosts have made their preference clear – their solution to gun violence is More Guns in the schools.
Eyes is correct to note the nonsensical opinions of the Right Wingers frantically trying to plug their ears and shout above the cries of the parents who lost their kids in just the latest school attack. Sure, let’s have a single gate to enter any school. That’s a great idea! Wait a second – what happens if there’s a fire or another disaster? Does that mean all the kids are now trapped in the fire, kinda like the Triangle Shirtwaist Company employees back in the day? Because it didn’t work out so good for those employees…
Stapleton is parroting Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick who also called for a single point of entry into schools. Sounds great except the high school I went to and many others in the suburbs aren’t a single building but a group of classroom buildings with a separate outside door for each classroom.
He wants an armed officer in each high school but didn’t Santa Fe High School have 2. The net result? One ended up in the hospital with severe injuries. Texas is also investigating to see if any of the dead and wounded were shot by they good guys in the crossfire. Armed teachers only add to this liability.
Medal detectors? Can you imagine the line at the start of each school day as kids try to access their school through the single door? The sole resource officer stuck processing all those book bags and students?
The problem always circles back to our sick gun culture. How do you fix that? Until America reaches a tipping point where social pressure reigns it in significantly I see no relief.