70 LISTENER MARCH 10 2018
TV REVIEW
T
here was a moment during
CNN’s extraordinary town
hall gun debate, Stand Up: The
Students of Stoneman Douglas
Demand Action, when irresistible
force made almost audible contact
with immovable object. Actually,
there were many such moments as
survivors of the Florida high school
shooting and families of those
murdered challenged lawmakers for
answers before a broken, often angry
audience.
See Republican Senator Marco
Rubio explain the problem with
imposing a ban on assault weapons:
“Once you start looking at how easy
it is to get around it, you would liter-
ally have to ban every semi-automatic
rifle that’s sold in the US.” Cue roars
of approval. “Fair enough,” said
Rubio. He’d inadvertently articulated
what many viewed not as a problem
but a solution to a situation where
18-year-olds can legally acquire weap-
ons of mass destruction.
Stephen Colbert replayed the scene
via a wicked Late Show Rubio imper-
sonation: “Look. We’d have to get
rid of guns and that’s a slippery slope
to fewer dead people. Oh, you’d like
that? Fair enough. It takes all kinds.”
Not everyone was impressed by the
town hall or, as Fox News’ Sean Han-
nity preferred, “Fake News CNN’s gun
control, quote, town hall.” HannityGETTY IMAGESwas apoplectic during the Obama
Kids bravely step
up to tackle a gun
lobby that their
elders and betters
keep running from.
Generation game
“Many in legacy
media love
mass shootings
... You love
the ratings.
Crying white
mothers are
ratings gold.”
years. You’d think he’d be happy now, but he’s
positively frothing at the mouth. The students were
being exploited, he raged, though he was happy to
have students not on board with CNN on his show.
The maturity of the Stand Up students stood in
contrast to that sort of thing. Cameron Kasky asked
the crowd not to boo speakers along party lines.
“Anybody willing to show change and willing to
start to make a difference is somebody we need on
our side here.”National Rifle Association (NRA) spokesperson
Dana Loesch got booed. “Dana ... why are my
son’s inalienable rights not protected as fiercely as
the right to bear arms?” asked one victim’s mother.
Loesch’s answer: more guns. “Next week, there’s
going to be good guys with guns that are going to
be in school protecting lives.”
Sheriff Scott Israel received a largely raptur-
ous reception for his impassioned, if sometimes
ungrammatical, support. “You just told this group
of people you stood up for them,” he told Loesch.
“You’re not standing up for them until you say, ‘Iwant less weapons.’”
Israel wasn’t so impressive at
explaining the numerous missed red
flags about the shooter. That and the
adequacy of the police response to
the attack are under investigation.
Complex matters. Student Emma
Gonzalez had a simple question for
Loesch: “Do you believe it should be
harder to obtain the semi-automatic
and the modifications for these weap-
ons to make them fully automatic
like bump stocks?” Loesch: “I don’t
believe that this insane monster
should have ever been able to obtain
a firearm, ever.” So no guns for insane
monsters, then.T
he town hall may or may not
turn out to be a pivotal part of
what one teacher described as
“a revolution”. The students are up
against it. In a speech at the Con-
servative Political Action Conference
the next day, to loud cheers, Loesch
took aim: “Many in legacy media
love mass shootings ... You love the
ratings. Crying white mothers are
ratings gold.” She and the students
inhabit different Americas. Loesch’s is
armed to the teeth.
Rubio eventually said he would
support raising the minimum age
for buying a rifle and banning bump
stocks. But when Kasky pressed him
for a clear answer to his question –
“Can you tell me right now that you
will not accept a single donation
from the NRA?” – he didn’t get one.
Still, change is in the air and time is
taking sides. Student David Hogg,
interviewed on MSNBC, had a mes-
sage for those attacking the students’
movement. “You might as well stop
now,” he said, looking steadily into
the camera, “because we are going to
outlive you.” lDIANA
WICHTEL
Student Cameron Kasky, left, shows up Marco Rubio.