'The View' hosts call for gun control after 'White whack job' shooter tried to assassinate Donald Trump

'The View' co-hosts condemned the attack on Donald Trump and pointed out the shooter had easy access to guns
PUBLISHED JUL 16, 2024
The View's Sunny Hostin demanded gun control legislation after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump (Screengrab/The View/X, Getty Images)
The View's Sunny Hostin demanded gun control legislation after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump (Screengrab/The View/X, Getty Images)

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: 'The View' co-hosts Joy Behar, Sara Haines, Ana Navarro, Sunny Hostin and Alyssa Farah Griffin discussed the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. The former president was shot in the ear at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

While the incident was roundly condemned at the Hot Topics table, the co-hosts took the opportunity to raise awareness about the "obsession" of Americans with guns and called for stricter gun control measures in the country.

The shooter, who has been identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Brooks fired a bullet that grazed Donald Trump's right ear and caused the death of one rally-goer and critically injured two others, before being neutralized by the Secret Service.

BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA - JULY 13: Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump is whisked away by Secret Service after shots rang out at a campaign rally at Butler Farm Show Inc. on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump slumped and injuries were visible to the side of his head. Butler County district attorney Richard Goldinger said the shooter and one audience member are dead and another was injured. (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is whisked away by the Secret Service after shots rang out at a campaign rally at Butler Farm Show (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

Sunny Hostin fears gun ownership in America will 'go up' 

"So I know everybody always says (that) it’s too soon to talk about guns ... because there has been a terrible death of a father of two, that thoughts and prayers should be where we go," Hostin said on Monday of the death of rally-goer Corey Comperatore, 50, who died covering his family from the gunfire at the rally ground.

"I say no. I say now is the time to talk about the common denominator when it came to this assassination attempt, is America’s fascination and obsession with owning guns," continued Hostin, condemning the violence.

The liberal co-host feared that the incident might spark the rhetoric of needing more "good guys with guns," saying, "I think gun ownership will probably, because of this event, go up in this country instead of going down, and that is my fear. I think we need to have an honest and real conversation about real gun control legislation."



 

'The View' host Ana Navarro slams 'lone wolf' shooter 

"I hope that at some point in this country, we do have a conversation about what is happening because we can’t just react when it is our side," Ana Navarro stated, calling for strong action in response to the rally shootout.

"What was this again? It was a 20-year-old lone wolf, a White whack job with easy access to a gun, and we have to have a conversation about that, because it wasn’t a drag queen. It wasn’t an immigrant. It wasn’t a pissed-off liberal woman, and this keeps happening, and we need to react not as left or right, not as Republicans or Democrats. We need to react as Americans, and we need to ask better," Navarro added.

Earlier in the show, Joy Behar focused her commentary on Brooks as well, questioning why no one reported a 20-year-old "White guy" purchasing 50 rounds of ammunition before his ambush.

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