On NBC's Meet The Press on Sunday, guns and gun control were the focus of the program from the jump, with gun rights supporter Ted Cruz, the freshman GOP Senator from Texas, blasting President Obama's new focus on gun violence as simply part of a "partisan agenda."
Matched up against a longtime gun-control advocate in New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, Cruz said there was no such thing as a "gun show loophole" and said any type of gun control was in violation of the Constitution.
Schumer replied that not only is sensible gun regulation constitutional, but to oppose any attempt to reduce gun violence is "dumb."
Referring to the 2008 Supreme Court Heller ruling, Schumer said:
" Heller also said that there should be reasonable limitations, that they’re allowed reasonable limitations. I don’t think that lady needs an assault weapon. I don’t think she needs a 100-round clip. I don’t think, for instance, that those things would help her in any way. So so to say she has a right to bear arms: yes. To say, just like on the first amendment — we say you can’t scream “fire” in a crowd falsely, we have anti-pornography laws, anti-libel laws. There are reasonable limitations. And the NRA [National Rifle Association], in many instances, doesn’t believe in any limitation at all. That’s not unconstitutional. That just is dumb."
This article appears in Jan 17-23, 2013.