In the wake of the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine overnight, the liberal media made their predictable and ghoulish push to strip law-abiding American gun owners of their Second Amendment rights. MSNBC’s Chris Jansing was particularly irritated as she spent part of her eponymous show on Thursday lashing out and attacking the residents of Maine for supporting the Second Amendment and repeatedly rejecting attempts to curtail their rights via gun control legislation.
Jansing openly whined that Mainers were exercising their right to vote, live how they wanted, and pass the laws they felt were right for them:
In Maine, though, efforts to tighten state laws have repeatedly been defeated. The Associated Press reports that “proposals that require background checks for private gun sales and create a 72-hour waiting period for gun purchases failed earlier this year. Proposals that focused on school security and banning bump stocks failed in 2019. State residents have also voted down some attempts to tighten gun laws in Maine,” and it goes on.
Growing more hysterical as the segment went on, Jansing looked to MSNBC anchor Lindsey Reiser to decode Maine’s supposedly mysterious gun laws. “You’ve been looking into Maine's gun laws, what did you find?” she asks as if she was translating the Rosetta Stone.
Reiser did admit that Maine had “relatively low homicide rates compared to rates of high gun ownership. Last year alone, they had only 29 homicides.”
But she did take issue with them having “permitless carry.” “So, anyone 21 or older can carry a gun without a permit. If you're 18 to 20, you need a permit to carry a weapon, unless you serve in the armed forces or you're in the National Guard,” she added. Of course, this left out the important detail that to buy the gun they were carrying, they would have already had to pass a background check.
And on background checks, Reiser was out to mislead with lies like the gun show loophole. “We know that they don't require background checks for all gun sales, just for federally licensed dealers, so private sales, gun shows, those don't require background checks,” she falsely proclaimed.
Even Maine’s Yellow Flag law wasn’t good enough for Reiser:
And they do have a Yellow Flag law. So, that differs from a Red Flag law, which really just requires a court order, testimony from a police officer, or a family member to revoke the privilege to have a gun. The Yellow Flog law also requires a medical evaluation. And so, that can now be done through telehealth. And many of the local publications in Maine are saying that it's being used more since that was allowed.
“And they don't ban high capacity magazines,” she tacked on as she proceeded to echo “gun control advocates” who blame Mainers for the shooting. “Many of them are blaming this tragic mass shooting on what they call Maine's weak gun laws...But just as you mentioned, voters have voted down proposals that would strengthen gun laws in recent years,” she complained.
Basically shouting at the camera, Jansing furiously read a quote from a far-left D.A. in Portland, Maine who bemoaned that supporting the Second Amendment was a bipartisan cause in the state legislature, which was dominated by Democrats, calling it “extreme”:
Look, after two shootings in Maine earlier this year, the D.A. in Cumberland County, which includes Portland told the local paper, “It's uncomfortable in Maine to talk about guns. Maine has a king of bipartisan support for the Second Amendment in its most extreme form.”
The Portland Press Herald also writes, “Strong Democratic majorities in both chambers of the legislature this year once again failed to pass widely popular gun control measures, including universal background checks,” as we mentioned.
Jansing would go on to falsely claim there were no laws on the books, state or federal, that would have banned the shooter, who had a history of mental illness and institutional admittance, from buying or owning a firearm.
Jansing falsely claims we "don't see anything in federal law...that suggests that he shouldn't have had the gun he had."
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) October 26, 2023
Question 21g on federal gun transition form 4473, asks if the purchaser has "ever been committed to a mental institution." Marking "yes" ends the sale. pic.twitter.com/JTtwI062tr
But that was a lie. On the federal background check form (4473) that every person who buys a firearm filled out, question 21g asks (bolding theirs): “Have you ever been adjudicated as a mental defective OR have you ever been committed to a mental institution?” Answering “yes” on the form ends the sale because it’s illegal for them to purchase or own firearms.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
MSNBC’s Chris Jansing Reports
October 26, 2023
1:49:40 p.m. Eastern(…)
CHRIS JANSING: Folks who are pushing for tougher gun laws, though, will tell you that the time for thoughts and prayers has long since passed.
In Maine, though, efforts to tighten state laws have repeatedly been defeated. The Associated Press reports that “proposals that require background checks for private gun sales and create a 72-hour waiting period for gun purchases failed earlier this year. Proposals that focused on school security and banning bump stocks failed in 2019. State residents have also voted down some attempts to tighten gun laws in Maine,” and it goes on.
I want to bring in NBC's Lindsey Reiser. You have been looking into – and Katherine is with us as well. Former assistant D.A. in the Manhattan D.A.'s office.
You’ve been looking into Maine's gun laws, what did you find?
LINDSEY REISER: And they do have relatively low homicide rates compared to rates of high gun ownership. Last year alone, they had only 29 homicides. And there is a strong gun ownership culture in Maine, it goes back to hunting and sports shooting. At the same time, they have permitless carry. So, anyone 21 or older can carry a gun without a permit. If you're 18 to 20, you need a permit to carry a weapon, unless you serve in the armed forces or you're in the National Guard.
And there are exceptions: federal buildings, the state Capitol, Acadia National Park, you need a permit to carry there. We know that they don't require background checks for all gun sales, just for federally licensed dealers, so private sales, gun shows, those don't require background checks.
And they do have a Yellow Flag law. So, that differs from a Red Flag law, which really just requires a court order, testimony from a police officer or a family member to revoke the privilege to have a gun. The Yellow Flog law also requires a medical evaluation. And so, that can now be done through telehealth. And many of the local publications in Maine are saying that it's being used more since that was allowed.
And they don't ban high capacity magazines. You mentioned gun control advocates. Many of them are blaming this tragic mass shooting on what they call Maine's weak gun laws. And they are calling for an assault rifle ban, also universal background checks. But just as you mentioned, voters have voted down proposals that would strengthen gun laws in recent years.
JANSING: So Catherine, look, after two shootings in Maine earlier this year, the D.A. in Cumberland County, which includes Portland told the local paper, “It's uncomfortable in Maine to talk about guns. Maine has a king of bipartisan support for the Second Amendment in its most extreme form.”
The Portland Press Herald also writes, “Strong Democratic majorities in both chambers of the legislature this year once again failed to pass widely popular gun control measures, including universal background checks,” as we mentioned.
(…)
