Fox News anchor Shepard Smith gave a rather stunning rebuke to a suggestion that gun-control measures wouldn't pass Congress because of non-moving polling on the subject.

"If we stuck with the polls, we’d have had slavery a lot longer than we did," Smith said.

Smith's comment came in a back-and-forth with The Hill associate editor A.B. Stoddard during a slow moment in the inaugural parade on Monday, when the two discussed the vision President Barack Obama laid out in a rather progressive inaugural speech.

Congress is scheduled to begin what could be a lengthy debate over new gun-control measures that Obama announced in a White House press conference last week.

Stoddard wasn't optimistic about any bipartisan consensus on new measures such as an assault-weapons ban or limits on high-capacity magazines.

Smith sounded incredulous that there would not be agreement on large-capacity magazine limits.

"No chance for that?" he said.

“Right now, the numbers don’t exist on the Republican or Democratic side,” Stoddard said.

What about closing the so-called "gun-show loophole" on background checks, Smith asked?

“The polls show a change in support,” Stoddard said. “If you poll the members of Congress…”

“If we stuck with the polls, we’d have had slavery a lot longer than we did,” Smith said, interrupting.

Watch the full clip of the exchange below, via Mediaite's Noah Rothman:

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