Conservative commentator S E. Cupp called on lawmakers “to do something about guns” as she reveled her decision to quit the NRA.
"It's been one week since 31 people were killed in mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton," Cupp said. "It's worth pointing out that those two shootings followed another, one week earlier, in Gilroy, California, where three people including a six-year-old and a 13-year-old were killed by an angry guy with a gun."
“Amidst all this, many Americans are calling for more gun laws. Democrats have offered a wide array, from universal background checks and raising the minimum age requirements to suing gun manufacturers and banning assault-style weapons,” she added. “Some Republican lawmakers have expressed an openness, but how sincere and serious they are remains to be seen."
Cupp went on to review her own background as an advocate for Second Amendment rights.
"Now, for years, as you might know, I've gone on television and made the case for the Second Amendment — the right to bear arms. I've pointed out that criminals don't follow gun laws, and I've defended the NRA and its members, law-abiding gun owners like me, who have nothing to do with mass shootings or violent gun crimes,” she said. “I've done that because I am a gun owner and a gun rights advocate, and I believed it was true.”
“But I am no longer an NRA member. Being right no longer feels righteous,” she continued. “Because in the wake of more mass shootings, acts of senseless violence that send innocent people running for their lives, leaving children orphaned, loved ones dead on the ground, we must do something about guns."
Cupp declared that a key part of the problem about hate in America is that "it is too easy for too many sick people to get their hands on guns." After reviewing a list of moderate gun control measures which have been proposed but not implemented, she said that "I am so sick and tired of participating in this predictable cycle of politics, where a mass shooting happens, the left calls for new gun laws ― some meaningful, some unproductive ― the right yells ‘slippery slope’ and hides behind the Constitution."
"Nothing happens. Nothing changes,” she added. “And, with the next mass shooting, we do it all over again."
Cupp anticipated that critics would accuse her of being “emotional” rather than logical, and she invited other Republicans and gun owners to join her in calling for gun control.
"I’ll be accused of letting my emotions get in the way of facts here . . . It should be more emotional. And to my friends in the Republican Party, at the NRA, on the side of gun rights, if you're not emotional about this, join me. Won't you?" Cupp asked.
Despite the epidemic of mass shootings in the U.S., the NRA continues to hold considerable sway over the Republican Party and has used its influence to block even modest gun control legislation from being passed, including several laws proposed during former President Barack Obama's administration.
You can watch Cupp's full monologue below:
Shares