Almost two full days after the horrific Orlando nightclub shooting, Full Frontal host Samantha Bee’s eight-minute segment dedicated to the story went viral. Not so much because it was chock-full of facts and figures about gun violence (which it was), nor due to her adopting any particular stance on the gun control issue (she did). Instead, everyone kept watching Bee’s video because of how obviously, and depressingly, angry she was. The Full Frontal team used the bit’s popularity and Bee’s impetus to live-tweet the Senate Democrats’ nearly 15-hour filibuster on gun control, but now that a week has passed and the major votes have failed, it seems the host’s ire won’t be abating anytime soon.
All four proposed reforms, including the filibuster’s much-talked about background checks and terrorism loophole closures, failed in a Senate vote on Monday. Since Full Frontal tapes at 5:30 p.m. ET and airs five hours later on Mondays, it’s unlikely that Bee or anyone in the writers room were able to incorporate the news in time for the “From Their Cold Dead Hands” segment. Yet this didn’t stop Bee from brandishing the Senate Democrats’ filibuster in comparison to Ted Cruz’s fake one in 2013. That, or detailing the anti-gun comments and legal actions of President Ronald Reagan:
Gov. Ronald Reagan banned open carry in California as soon as the Black Panthers discovered it applied to them. Reagan’s prejudice was vindicated years later when he was shot by noted Black Panther, John Hinckley, Jr. But you have to give the Gipper credit. He pushed for an assault weapons ban, and in ’91 he openly flipped off the NRA.
As well as other conservative heroes:
George H.W. Bush publicly quit the NRA because he was disappointed by their hateful, paranoid rhetoric… And Republican Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger [called the NRA’s lobbying “one of the greatest pieces of fraud.”]
Despite these points, Bee admits NRA CEO and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre’s control over Republican lawmakers like Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, is unwavering. So much so that the latter will openly acknowledge the organization’s displeasure as a factor in deciding whether to support gun-control measures like the one that failed on Monday.