On Sunday, Devin Patrick Kelley shot and killed 26 people during a service at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Amidst the inevitable cry for stricter gun-control laws that followed in the shooting's wake, right-wing pundit and Fox News contributor Tomi Lahren decided to chime in.
In a tweet, Lahren sarcastically dared those in favor of increased firearms restrictions to take it up with a Texan. For the record, Lahren lives in Dallas, but has only resided there since 2015.
If you think it’s wise to lecture Texans on gun laws, I’m guessing you haven’t spent much time in Texas.
— Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) November 6, 2017
Brandon Friedman, former deputy assistant secretary of public affairs at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and, more importantly, a Texas resident and gun owner, was quick to respond.
Hi. Gun owner here. Also a former gun user. I live in Texas. Our gun laws are counterproductive. Try to not speak for an entire state. https://t.co/Mcf2U58sNn — Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) November 6, 2017
Friedman also took aim at a talking point that many right-wing defenders of Texas' broad open-carry laws have been using since the shooting. These gun-rights advocates have focused on the fact that there was a shootout between Kelley and a gun-owning churchgoer, using it as proof that "the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." Friedman and many others worked to dispel that narrative.
Let's be clear - nobody "stopped" this shooting. 26 people, including little kids, are dead in one of our country's worst mass killings. https://t.co/MP2ZxrUEoo
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) November 6, 2017
Being the good guy with a gun is a selfish hero fantasy for so many "sheepdogs." It's not about keeping the flock safe. — Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) November 6, 2017
If it were, they'd be focused instead on policy solutions that would stop mass killings before they occur. Like restricting access to guns. — Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) November 6, 2017
Good points, all.
Lahren has been a vocal opponent of gun control since she began garnering mainstream attention after The New York Times called her a "rising media star." But that doesn't seem to be what Lahren always believed. Earlier this year, a video surfaced from her college news program in which she said gun control was "a multi-dimensional issue."
Tomi won't mention the words "gun control" without blaming Islam. But she calls it a multi-dimensional issue here, with no mention of Islam. pic.twitter.com/evDEUVbdPc
— Matt Gehring (@mattryanx) January 12, 2017
Lahren responded by saying that she was acting as as "moderator of a panel," which was true in a bunch of clips that were released on Twitter in January, but not the gun control clip. When Lahren said that gun violence was a "mutli-dimensional issue," she wasn't in the traditional "moderator" spot in the center of the shot. Nor was she reading off a script, she did while moderating this clip on climate change. She also said "I think" quite a bunch for someone who's not giving her opinion.
Alas, it was soon business as usual back on Lahren's Twitter feed.
Didn’t hear liberals asking for a truck ban after last week’s terror attack,yet they think stripping away our gun rights is the answer now. — Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) November 6, 2017
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