“The View” co-host Joy Behar said Wednesday that Republicans will change gun laws “once black people get guns.”
The panel played footage of the son of a Buffalo shooting victim testifying before Congress Tuesday weeks after teenaged gunman, a self-described “white supremacist,” opened fire inside a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and killed 10 people.
The co-hosts blamed Republicans for opposing stricter gun laws and the domestic terrorism bill, which intended to create domestic terrorism offices in three federal agencies. Co-host Joy Behar claimed Republicans voted the domestic terror bill down because “those are their voters.” Guest co-host Lindsey Granger said many gun owners across America do want to see new laws passed in order to create effective change.
Co-host Sunny Hostin said the Republican Party voted against legislation intended to combat white supremacy and argued action against terrorism, as seen from 911, works.
“But let’s talk about domestic terrorism and white supremacy which is the issue that he was talking about. Why did the Republican Party vote down that? When you talk about what happened on 911, and that was Islamic terror, that’s only 20% of the terrorism that effected this country. We upended our entire airline industry, our entire security system and that type of threat never happened again. Seventy-five percent of the terrorism that happens here is from the political right and it’s white supremacy. We have done nothing to address it,” Hostin said.
Granger argued there has been change since the Buffalo shooting because the shooter was charged with domestic terrorism. She said citizens need to vote for conservative or liberal candidates that will make progress in the country. (RELATED: Whoopi Goldberg Gets In Near Shouting Match With Conservative Guest Over Banning AR-15s)
“If you want me to sit up here and speak for every single Republican in Congress, I can’t do that. I can speak for being a black woman that’s a conservative. And I know what’s right is right and what’s wrong is wrong. And that is wrong, okay?” Granger said. “A man going in a grocery store and killing black people is wrong, because they’re black is wrong.”
The argument shifted to the question of owning an AR-15, which Granger argued in favor of the right to purchase the rifle for the purpose of self-defense.
“There are people in this country that genuinely own guns and just do so for the same reason that we all set up…” Granger began.
“An AR-15?” Behar interjected.
Granger pointed to a story of a black man in Connecticut who built his own AR-15 to protect his family.
“Once black people get guns in this country, the gun laws will change, trust me,” Behar said.
Pew Research data from 2021 shows that 4-in-10 adults live in a household with a gun and 30% personally own one. Nearly a quarter, 24%, of black Americans personally own a firearm, while 13% live in a household with a gun owner. In 2020, gun purchases by black men and women increased by 58%, the highest increase in gun sales, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF).