Fox Business host Stuart Varney was criticized after he interrupted a live breaking news report on a New York subway shooting to blame Democratic President Joe Biden's gun control measures.
As the network responded to the news a lone gunman had injured at least 16 people in Brooklyn, New York city during the morning rush, Varney pivoted asking Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade to wax lyrical about Biden's efforts to curb sales of so-called ghost guns, which are untraceable firearms without serial numbers.
Kilmeade referred to the Biden administration's efforts regarding ghost guns as "such an insult," but the two men did not stop there, going even further to turn the shock of a mass shooting attack into an opportunity to defend the gun lobby and gun rights.
You can hear what they said in the video below.
Spurred by Varney, Kilmeade launched into an impassioned tirade against gun control measures, saying curbing the sales of ghost guns is not unlike "blaming the car for a drunk driver."
Kilmeade said:
"Yeah, ghost guns are a problem. Of course!"
"If you have an unmarked gun that was put together with parts, yeah."
"But guess what, Stuart?"
"You could order a ghost gun right now, you're not going to shoot anybody! I'm not shooting anybody!"
"Most of our audience can get a ghost gun and not have it registered, but you're not going to be killing anybody."
Varney concurred with Kilmeade's assessment.
He went on to blame Biden for the growing number of guns nationwide, saying moves to restrict firearm sales only motivate Americans to purchase more guns.
"The President goes out yesterday and hammers ghost guns and then says he wants to go further."
"The result of that will be probably a million Americans will go out and buy their first gun. That's exactly what's going to happen."
In response, Kilmeade linked gun control measures to COVID-19 lockdowns around the world.
He suggested that to disarm the American public would be utterly authoritarian.
"In Shanghai, they basically jailed 25 million people for testing positive and being asymptomatic so, uh, the first thing they do is disarm you in society. And then they take over your life."
"And in Australia, believe it or not, I've never seen such a vicious crackdown on the pandemic from what they did in Australia!"
"And I'm not saying they wouldn't have done it if they had guns, but I'm telling you the American people will never be disarmed!"
Varney agreed again, proclaiming the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution is "one of the reasons I'm here."
But the two men's spirited defense of the Second Amendment did not go over well with their critics, who considered the display tactless given the purpose of the report was coverage of a mass shooting.
There are an estimated 400 million guns in the United States between police, the military, and American civilians, according to a Small Arms Survey, which conducts extensive research on all aspects of small arms and armed violence. That means there are more guns in the United States than people.
Varney and Kilmeade's attacks against Biden come after he announced that attorney and former Obama administration apointee Steve Dettelbach would be his nominee to serve as the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Dettelbach has been said to face "long odds" to confirmation, particularly because ATF, which is responsible for gun regulations, has not had a permanent director since 2015 and has been led by acting directors since the agency became a Senate-confirmed position in 2006.
The manhunt for the New York subway shooter continues.
Authorities have identified Frank James, a 62-year-old with addressses in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, as a suspect in the attack.
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