MSNBC "The Ed Show" Interview With Representative Carolyn McCarthy - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC "The Ed Show" Interview With Rep. Carolyn Mccarthy (D-NY)

Interviewer: Ed Schultz

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MR. SCHULTZ: Joining me now is New York Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy.

Congresswoman, good to have you with us tonight. I know that you have been an advocate for gun control. I'm an advocate for responsible gun ownership. Whether that's gun control or not, we could argue that till the cows come home, so to speak. But is there anything that we could do, in your opinion, that might have prevented something that happened yesterday in Washington, D.C.?

REP. MCCARTHY: Well, you know, first let me say, Ed, that I happen to agree with you. I'm not for gun control. I'm for reducing gun violence in this country. And I also agree with you that as far as anybody going hunting or sportsmanship, I don't have a problem with that. It's the other guns that are out there and the loopholes that are out there.

Last year I had a bill passed called the NICS bill, which was the NICS Improvement Act, which would have looked back in the courts years ago to find out if this person had bought that gun, and then he would have been able to -- not be able to have that gun.

MR. SCHULTZ: Should a guy that went through the life that this Mr. von Brunn went through, should he own a firearm? I mean, we know his activities he was involved in. We know his feelings. He was very threatening. And he's got a firearm. Now, should there be legislation that would take that freedom away from this guy?

REP. MCCARTHY: Well, to be very honest with you, when you really think about this, we know that the FBI had been watching some of these groups, and especially the group that he belonged to. So with that right there, you know, they infiltrate those particular groups. And they have basically a very large amount of guns. And I'm sure that many of those guns are also sold to other groups legally without going through a background check.

With the shooter, certainly he should never have been able to have a gun, that's for sure, mainly because he had been a convicted felon. We don't know how old that gun was and we don't know if he got that gun before he was convicted. But these groups that are out there, I know that people, you know, make -- they don't want to believe that they're out there with these different militias --

MR. SCHULTZ: But do you --

REP. MCCARTHY: -- that believe that they should be able to have machine guns. They believe that they should be able to have tanks. Do I believe that? No, I don't.

MR. SCHULTZ: Okay. Now, you made the comment in your release, in the wake of that terrible tragedy yesterday, many of the wrong people have access to guns. How could you reel that in? Obviously this guy was one of them, and we knew what his makeup was. But he had a firearm, and he went and he killed a security guard and ruined the lives of a lot of people.

So what would you suggest we do to prevent something like that happening again?

REP. MCCARTHY: Well, depending on where he got the gun, but I will tell you, a lot of the guns from people that can't get a gun legally go to gun shows.

MR. SCHULTZ: Okay.

REP. MCCARTHY: You can go there and you can buy any type of gun you want without going through a background check.

MR. SCHULTZ: So that's the key. I mean, people just can't walk up to a gun show and just get a gun. They can do that right now, but that's a loophole. Is that something that you think that the Congress should look at?

REP. MCCARTHY: I think it is something. And we have introduced legislation basically to stop those loopholes on the gun shows. New York did it, and it's working. And, by the way, everybody's still going to the gun shows. Everybody's still able to buy a gun that they see and they like, but they have to go through a background check and pass that.

MR. SCHULTZ: Congresswoman, thanks for joining us tonight, Congresswoman McCarthy from New York.

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