The View tackled the toughest subject first in the “Hot Topics” segment on Thursday’s (September 5) episode. Cohosts Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin, and Alyssa Farah Griffin discussed the mass school shooting that took place in a Georgia high school Wednesday, leaving two students and two teachers dead and others wounded.
First, Hostin opened with a happier note, wishing her husband Emmanuel Hostin a happy birthday on air. Then, they got into the difficult conversation of how to address gun violence in America, particularly as it pertains to schools and children.
After reviewing footage of Kamala Harris saying “it doesn’t have to be this way” and Donald Trump blaming a “sick and angry world” with ongoing wars, Behar exclaimed, “Talk about a digression. He went from the school shooting towards… what is it? He’s losing it.”
Goldberg immediately followed up on that thought, adding, “I’m not even sure how to pose this question, but does it feel like one of these folks is ready for the job and one of these folks is not sure what the hell is going on?”
After reviewing another clip in which Trump bragged about doing “nothing” in response to public pressure for sensible gun laws during his administration, Alyssa Farah Griffin, who served in his White House tenure, pointed out that he was even incorrect saying that: “He did sign a law banning bump stocks,” she said, to which Behar responded, “He can’t even keep his lies straight.”
Farah Griffin then went on to note that it’s a “universal fear” for all Americans of any political persuasion that their children might be in danger of a school shooting, but advised, “The key is that candidates make clear they’re not coming for safe, lawful, legal gun owners who are never going to pose a harm to someone else.”
After she introduced numerics on the public’s support for background checks, red flag laws, and waiting periods for gun purchases, Behar challenged, “How many support getting rid of AR-15s?” Farah Griffin then admitted she didn’t have that information but continued to press her point about the political ramifications of going after all guns.
Once she moved to the subject of mental illness being a factor in many school shootings, things started to get testy between the cohosts.
“Don’t the Republicans keep knocking down mental health measures all the time?” Behar asked.
Hostin also disagreed that this should be a focal point of the response, saying, “I’m not saying there isn’t a mental health problem here, but that seems to be the first thing we jump to…. There’s mental health [issues] all around the world, but we seem to be the only country that has 14-year-olds killing people.”
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Haines then jumped in to argue that the conversation about banning AR-15s causes politicians to run into “the same wall, [and] there’s no progress made.” She also noted that a separate safety measure given to teachers in the school helped law enforcement officials in their response before Goldberg shut down the increasingly heated conversation.
“Ya’ll, hold up,” she said, quieting her cohosts. “This happened yesterday. Can we just right now… we’ll talk about it more, but right now, our hearts are with those families who are living through this.”
The View, weekdays, 11 a.m. ET, ABC
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