CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota compared background checks for gun sales to being a waitress on Tuesday’s CNN Newsroom.
Camerota was joined by former FBI supervisory special agent Steve Moore and former Philadelphia police commissioner Charles Ramsey to discuss “cursory” checks on firearm buyers after the shooting at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois. Moore said gun sellers are not allowed to conduct a thorough background check and that the government, not the retail establishment, is the gatekeeper.
“I like that analogy Steve, because I used to be a waitress,” Camerota said. “And for a while, we were told to run up the alcohol tab on people on customers who came in because you got them to pay more that way. Then the law changed and you couldn’t serve somebody who you knew had been drinking because they were killing people on the highway.”
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“That’s a little different, though, Alisyn, because you were actually serving,” Moore interjected. (RELATED: ‘Morning Joe’ Guest Says Trump Is Not To Blame For Parade Shooting)
“I get it, none of these are perfect. My point is, you can sometimes see them coming a mile away,” Camerota said. “They’re all starting to fit a pattern. These isolated teenage or up to 21-year-old young men who then go and buy AR-15s.”
Ramsey said the government needs to pass “meaningful and impactful legislation” to prevent mass shootings across the country. He said the bipartisan legislation signed recently into law by President Joe Biden does not go far enough.
“It’s just one right after the other,” Ramsey said. “I’m here in Philadelphia and we had two policemen shot last night during the fireworks display. I mean, this isn’t going to stop on its own, it’s going to continue as long as action, strong action, the right action isn’t taken to really keep the guns out of the hands of people that just should not have them.”
Police detained Robert Crimo, 22, as the person of interest in the shooting that killed at least six people and injured more than 20 others. It is believed he fired over 70 rounds of ammunition with a legally purchased firearm and was also reported to be wearing women’s clothing and then escaped to his mother’s house where he stole her vehicle.