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A recent school shooting in Nashville reignited the gun control debate on Fox News, with even some of its hosts acknowledging easy access to guns in America is a serious issue.
Three 9-year-olds and three adults were killed in the shooting, which was carried out by a 28-year-old who had legally purchased seven firearms leading up to the attack.
During a discussion on The Story, Martha MacCallum and Geraldo Rivera clashed with their colleague Brian Kilmeade over the issue. MacCallum argued improving mental health resources, limiting access to firearms and stronger regulation could have prevented the shooting.
You can watch what happened in the video below.
\u201cFox News' Martha MacCallum: "You think if you're under medical care as an emotionally disturbed person, you should be able to buy these guns?!"\n\nBrian Kilmeade: "I can\u2019t stop it! You can\u2019t ask legal gun owners to stop it!"\n\nMacCallum: "So who needs to be responsible?!"\u201d— Justin Baragona (@Justin Baragona) 1680031363
MacCallum acknowledged there is :a serious problem going on in this country" but was interrupted by Kilmeade, who said there’s “nothing you can do about it.”
He added:
“The parents have to do something about it. We can’t stop these people. I can’t get into millions of houses.”
To that, MacCallum responded:
“We need to have places where families can turn to when they have no more control over their young person in their family. And, yes, we need to raise serious questions about whether this person should be able to purchase these guns.”
“You don’t think that this person, if you’re... an emotionally disturbed person, you should be able to go buy these guns?"
Kilmeaded responded that he personally "can't stop" these shootings from happening and resisted the suggestion that "legal gun owners" should be expected to stop them. After a little back and forth, he suggested it's not fair to say “the problem is the gun.”
A visibly annoyed MacCallum said:
“Nobody’s saying that, Brian. We’re saying it’s a number of factors here, but you can’t leave the gun out of the picture either. We’re doing something wrong. We’re doing something majorly, majorly wrong."
Their interaction quickly went viral and prompted responses from social media users.
\u201c@justinbaragona Does Brian Kilmeade really think guns can be confiscated by a psychiatrist filling out a form? Not federally and not in Tennessee. Not even in all the red flag states. Complete fiction.\n\nWhy is it that those who oppose stronger gun access laws pretend like we already have them?\u201d— Justin Baragona (@Justin Baragona) 1680031363
\u201c@justinbaragona Have these guys never heard of red flag laws\u2026\u201d— Justin Baragona (@Justin Baragona) 1680031363
\u201c@justinbaragona 'can't ask legal gun owners' \n\nfunny word, legal. means a whole lot of things, really. could mean a whole lot of other things too, if he didn't really mean 'can't ask anyone to stop anything.'\u201d— Justin Baragona (@Justin Baragona) 1680031363
\u201c@justinbaragona Wow. \n\nThat was weird.\u201d— Justin Baragona (@Justin Baragona) 1680031363
\u201c@justinbaragona "Well Martha there is something called Red Flag Laws\n\nIf Tennessee had those, six people would be asking someone to pass the biscuits at dinner tonight\u201d— Justin Baragona (@Justin Baragona) 1680031363
\u201c@justinbaragona \u201cWe can\u2019t inconvenience gun owners, so kids should be happy to die for the cause\u201d is a hell of a position to take. @kilmeade\u201d— Justin Baragona (@Justin Baragona) 1680031363
\u201c@justinbaragona Well, if these three can't solve it then we're doomed\n\ud83e\udd2a\ud83e\udd2f\u201d— Justin Baragona (@Justin Baragona) 1680031363
\u201c@justinbaragona Did two Fox hosts just wake up? I think we're gonna see a ratings downshift for FN this week.\u201d— Justin Baragona (@Justin Baragona) 1680031363
MacCallum's recent argument on Fox News regarding the need for gun law reform was an unexpected departure from the norm. Typically, the network's hosts and guests deflect blame onto other issues and ignore attempts at gun law reform in the wake of shootings.
One example of this is a guest who, following Monday's shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, suggested that unlocked side doors were the "common pattern" in school shootings that needed to be addressed.
This idea of "door control" is just one of many absurd solutions floated on the network in the past, including providing bulletproof armor for children and having "a little bit more faith."
Despite the increasing number of gun-related incidents in the United States, gun control measures are opposed by some who argue it infringes on their constitutional right to bear arms. However, others note the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, also enshrined in the Constitution, should be taken into account.