A day after telling CPAC that “many in the media love mass shootings” because they are good for ratings, National Rifle Association national spokesperson Dana Loesch complained on CNN that its town hall on gun violence on Wednesday did not focus enough on solutions. Moments later, she angrily rejected the suggestion that her organization bears some responsibility for the epidemic of mass shootings and gun violence in America.

Loesch partially praised the host of the Wednesday discussion, Jake Tapper, for having done an “admirable job” before he “ultimately lost control,” but charged, “I do think maybe perhaps the way the network was hosting this discussion, it didn’t seem that the network perhaps intended for it to be geared towards discussing solutions. I get it, emotions are high. It’s awful. Barely a week ago, but I really want to have that discussion as to what we can do to stop this in the future.”

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New Day host Alisyn Camerota noted that in her appearance at that town hall, Loesch had projected a reasonable image, but that on Thursday, she had intentionally inflamed the situation before a more conservative audience. “You’ve used that inflammatory rhetoric. Why do you use it at CPAC, why are you doing that?”

“Because it’s true, Alisyn,” Loesch replied.

The heated exchanged continued. Moments later, Camerota suggested that perhaps the NRA bears some responsibility too for gun violence and thus has a responsibility to help address the problem. The organization has not just opposed common sense measures like universal background checks and bans on semi-automatic weapons like the one used in last week’s horrific Parkland mass school shooting, but has actively encouraged Americans to arm themselves.


“The NRA does bear some responsibility in terms of [finding] this solution. They do need to come to the table,” Camerota said.

“No, we absolutely do not,” Loesch responded. “We’re parents too.”

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Camerota then observed that the NRA’s response to tragedies like Parkland is simply changing the subject. “It’s so interesting that you guys want to talk about all sorts of things. You talk about the mistakes at the FBI. You’re happy to talk about mental health. But when it comes to gun violence, you don’t want to talk about guns.”