NBC's Guthrie Pushes Gun Control in Interview With Husband of Gabrielle Giffords
At the end of a Friday interview with Mark Kelly, former astronaut and husband of former Congresswoman Gabrille Giffords, Today co-host Savannah Guthrie made sure to bring up the favorite liberal talking point of the need for more gun control:
"...you gave a stinging rebuke in your statement to political leaders
who haven't done anything about gun control....What do you hope will
change? And are you expecting President Obama to do something about gun
control in a second term?"
Kelly avoided putting the President on hook: "I don't expect him to in
the beginning part of his second term. But, you know...we have a
Congress that can address it as well." He then argued: "...it's
obviously a problem. I mean, we have gun violence that happens time and
time again in this country. And I think almost everybody would agree
that we have a problem....repeatedly we lost the opportunity and I hope
somebody, you know, picks up that mantle and tries to do something about
it." Guthrie agreed: "Well, this obviously underscores the need for the issue to be addressed in some way."
Here is a transcript of the November 9 exchange:
7:20AM ET
(...)
SAVANNAH
GUTHRIE: And before I let you go, you gave a stinging rebuke in your
statement to political leaders who haven't done anything about gun
control. You and Gabby are gun owners and supporters of the Second
Amendment. What do you hope will change? And are you expecting President
Obama to do something about gun control in a second term?
MARK KELLY: You know, I don't know if he's – if he's going to address
that. He certainly – I don't expect him to in the beginning part of his
second term. But, you know, we have – you know, we have a Congress that
can address it as well. We've got state legislatures, governors. You
know, this is obviously – it's obviously a problem. I mean, we have gun
violence that happens time and time again in this country. And I think
almost everybody would agree that we have a problem. And we've got very
smart people and we've got committed legislators, you know, that can
work on the issue and it should – it should be worked on. I think, you
know, repeatedly we lost the opportunity and I hope somebody, you know,
picks up that mantle and tries to do something about it.
GUTHRIE: Well, this obviously underscores the need for the issue to be addressed in some way. Mark Kelly, thank you so much.
KELLY: Thank you for having me on the show, Savannah.
GUTHRIE: Appreciate it.
