The View host Sunny Hostin claimed the Second Amendment was “designed to protect slavery” during a discussion of gun rights in America on the show Friday.
“If you look at the history of the NRA for decades, the NRA has pushed legislation that not only supported a lot of gun ownership and the proliferation of guns, but also stifled the study and spread of information about the causes gun violence,” Hostin said. “The right to bear arms was designed to protect slavery, right? Our founding fathers and others, they wanted to be able to empower a local militia group to basically put down slave revolts and protect plantation owners.”
Hostin was responding to comments made by co-host Ana Navarro, who called gun violence “an American problem.
“It’s very much an American problem, and we’ve got to study it as such,” Navarro began. “Republican members of the legislature have got to get from under the grip of the NRA — which, today, is far from the club that started centuries ago. Today, it is a grift and a way for people to make a lot of money. A lot of funding is coming from the gun manufacturers. It is a special interest group, and they are holding up any progress that could be made on this issue.”
Co-host Meghan McCain fought back against the anti-gun comments, saying gun ownership is the cornerstone of America.
“I never want to be lectured to by people who don’t own guns, who didn’t grow up in gun culture, who don’t understand why women like me want to be armed, want to feel safe in my home, want to know that if there was an intruder that my husband would be able to protect me and my baby,” McCain said. “It’s a very hard thing for people to understand that don’t believe in it, and it’s one of the most polarizing issues in the United States of America.”
“Going forward, I will always vote for any person and any party that continues to defend the Second Amendment, no matter what happens,” she continued. “It is the cornerstone of who I am and what I think America should be.”
Contradicting Hostin’s assertion that the Second Amendment is anti-black, National Shooting Sports Foundation spokesman Mark Olivia told CNN that 2020 saw a 58 percent increase in African American gun buyers, more than any other racial group.
“Today’s gun buyer is shattering tired and worn-out stereotypes of who owns a gun,” Oliva said in an email. “Today’s gun owner is younger, includes more women, more minorities and doesn’t just look like the rest of America. They are America.”
