Never letting a bad situation go to waste, the ladies of ABC’s The View spent the beginning of Tuesday’s episode exploiting the tragic and allegedly unlawful use of deadly force by an elderly white man against a black teenager in Missouri. According to them, it was “unfortunate” that people had the right to self-defense at all, and insanely proclaimed that elderly people who couldn’t physically fend off an attacker shouldn’t be allowed to own guns.
During the incident in question, 16-year-old Ralph Yarl was shot after he rang the doorbell of 85-year-old Andrew Lester thinking it was the house he was supposed to pick up his siblings from. According to reports, no words were exchanged and there was no evidence of an attempted forced entry before Lester shot Yarl twice with his revolver through the glass door. Prosecutors also allege that there was an unspecified “racial component” to the shooting.
With the details as reported, Missouri’s self-defense laws (particularly their castle doctrine) didn’t seem to apply. But nuance and attention to detail weren’t things The View excelled in.
Co-host Sara Haines repeatedly advocated for the elderly to have their Second Amendment rights stripped from them if they felt they couldn’t fend off an attacker with their bare hands:
[Lester] said, “You know, at my age, I was scared I couldn't defend myself.” People like that, we need to be checking up on these gun owners.
(…)
He said, "I am an 85-year-old man not able to defend myself." I then say, “You sir should not have that weapon.”
In reality, those too weak to defend themselves physically were arguably the ones who needed guns for self-defense the most.
Haines then lashed out at the National Rifle Association, despite the fact they were not defending Lester. According to her, this incident “fuels the profit of more gun sales” and the NRA wanted to roll back “the accountability of the people shooting.”
Often ignorant of guns and gun laws, Haines flaunted her lack of understanding again when she suggested simply “say[ing] someone threatened you, and you're scared in your house” would allow you to get away with shooting someone. The fact that Lester was charged with two felonies proved that to be untrue.
She then falsely suggested not all states required background checks (they’re federally mandated) and demanded that we somehow find out if people harbored racist thoughts in their heads before allowing them to buy a gun:
This is why I think we need to be doing -- we can't even get background checks and all the other things passed in every state. But mental health, or if you have deep-seated racism that should be checked on a background check, you know, this stuff needs to be checked sporadically throughout time. These types of situations, your mental capacity changes.
Racist co-host Sunny Hostin whined that “the castle doctrine has been around forever” and that “you can protect your home with deadly force in certain states.” She called the right to self-defense “unfortunate” and was thankful “New York is not one of” the states that allowed it. She went on to blame the shooting on “the right” and “Fox News” because of their “fear-mongering” about rising crime.
The View’s outcry against the right to self-defense was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Nature’s Bounty and Purina. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
April 18, 2023
11:05:35 a.m. Eastern(…)
SARA HAINES: A man that – he said, you know, at my age, I was scared I couldn't defend myself. People like that, we need to be checking up on these gun owners. Because if you are someone who stands in a home and is petrified at someone ringing your door when you were never even -- there's still a door between you and you're the one with the weapon, then you need to not have weapons. Because the stand your ground laws and the castle doctrine – is it castle doctrine?
SUNNY HOSTIN: Castle doctrine.
HAINES: These things are scary. The NRA wants to roll these things back further because it fuels the profit of more gun sales, when we can defend these people who are holding these guns. It's a money problem right here. The other issue, though, is they're rolling back kind of the accountability of the people shooting. When you can just say someone threatened you, and you're scared in your house, this is problematic.
This is why I think we need to be doing -- we can't even get background checks and all the other things passed in every state. But mental health, or if you have deep-seated racism that should be checked on a background check, you know, this stuff needs to be checked sporadically throughout time. These types of situation, your mental capacity changes. To know an 85-year-old man, I get answering the door, defending your home. One conversation, one exchange, would have completely --
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: He didn't have to open the -- this is the -- this is the thing. I don't want you to cut off. Go ahead and say what you're –
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: Oh, no. Go ahead.
GOLDBERG: I was just going to say, listen, you're 85, somebody knocks on your door at 10 o’clock at night, either do not answer it and call the police or say “who is it?” It should not be the first thing you do should not be to go to the door with a gun that you're ready to shoot.
HAINES: And criminals don't typically start by knocking on the door.
(…)
11:08:14 a.m. Eastern
HAINES: He said, I am 85-year-old man not able to defend myself. I then say, “you sir should not have that weapon.”
HOSTIN: I reject the age argument. The castle doctrine has been around forever, by the way, in the law, so you can protect your home with deadly force in certain states, which is unfortunate. New York is not one of them, thankfully. But I think it's the fear mongering that’s going on on the right, and on Fox News, and talking about a rise in crime.
(…)
