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When Don Lemon first asked the two guests on his show if they believed the gun lobby efforts of groups like the National Rifle Association “hold the government hostage,” he probably had no idea the question would blow up like it did.
Igor Volsky, editor of a liberal website called ThinkProgress, took on Republican commentator Ben Ferguson during Lemon’s CNN segment called “#gunsinamerica,” and by the end of the shouting match, Volksy told Ferguson he “should be ashamed of himself.”
The shame and blame-game levied at Ferguson was for Ferguson’s argument that President Barack Obama is incidents like the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting — where 20 first-graders were killed by a crazed gunman in 2012– to promote his gun control agenda.
Ferguson and the NRA’s position was that none of the proposed new rules and executive orders would have prevented Sandy Hook or any other mass shooting that has occurred in the U.S. during Obama’s term in office.
Lemon was able to wrangle back control of the debate by lassoing the two guests into an agreement that some individuals simply should not be in possession of firearms.
Lemon used a personal story of taking away his grandmother’s car keys because she, “almost knocked her house down.” Lemon’s use of the personal narrative was a comparative point on which the two guests could agree. Lemon, Volksy, and Ferguson all agreed that background checks are necessary before some individuals should be allowed to purchase a firearm.
On a related note, the NRA released an ad Tuesday night attacking Obama’s new push for more background checks. Wayne LaPierre, president of the NRA, argued that he background check system, which the NRA helped launch, is broken.
Countering the claim that the NRA is holding the government hostage, LaPierre stated that the NRA has identified millions of people who they believe should be on the federal background check database but aren’t because politicians are blocking their names from being submitted to the system.
LaPierre also said 38 states submit less than 80 percent of their convicted felons’ names to the database. LaPierre’s contention is that the Obama administration should start with fixing the broken system before enacting new regulations.