The Wednesday morning episode of “The View” ended up getting quite spirited when the discussion topic shift over to the recent Monday night shooting that took place on the campus of Michigan State University — all because Republican co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin, to go along with a staunch defense of the Second Amendment, even dared to think that mental health was a major factor when it comes to the carrying out of Mass Shootings.
Griffin did concede the point that she would stand in support of a few additional gun control measures, stating that she stood in favor of more broad background checks and the creation of red flag laws, but also made the argument that the idea of individual firearm ownership was fully protected by the constitution and that it should not be changed.
“Legal gun ownership is fundamental in this country,” she expressed.
One co-host, Sunny Hostin, nodded to the AR-15 — despite the fact that it seems as though the shooter for the MSU incident likely made use of a handgun — making reference to it as a “weapon of mass destruction” and positing Griffin whether or not she thought “assault weapons” should be legal. Griffin was fast to point out that sportsmen and collectors were the ones who favored the AR-15.
“You can’t shoot anything with an AR-15 and get any meat. That’s not sportsmanship. I’m just saying,” interrupted co-host Whoopi Goldberg.
Griffin went on to push back more, stating that she agreed that more could be done to keep guns out of the hands of criminals as shootings were clearly a societal problem — and she argued that the one thing which is entirely impossible to ignore was the fact that a significant number of mass shooters fit the same general profile: male loners in their teens-to-mid-forties.
WATCH:
Alyssa Farah Griffin notes that "we have a crisis of young men in this country" pointing to how most mass shooters fit a certain profile.
She notes "the left will not touch the mental health side" of the issue and gets pounced on by Sunny, who proves her point. pic.twitter.com/t6kfLBYfkc— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) February 15, 2023
Highlighting that, when speaking statistically, young men were far less likely to actually graduate college than young women and far more liekly to be arrested or die by suicide, she stated, “What is going on with young men in our country that is allowing this to happen, because guns are part of the problem absolutely, but this is where I worry the left and the right bear some responsibility.”
“The left will not touch the mental health side of this and the right will not touch the gun side,” Griffin claimed, sparking extreme objections from her co-hosts Goldberg and Joy Behar — prior to Hostin jumping in and proving Griffin’s point.
“We’ve said this many many times, let’s stop blaming mental health,” exclaimed Hostin, making the argument that people with mental problems were more likely to be the victims than perpetrators.
“People who shoot up Sandy Hook, that’s not a person in their right mind,” conclude Griffin soundly.