On Wednesday, CNN’s Alisyn Camerota interviewed anti-gun activist Andy Parker, who published a book about his daughter Alison, a reporter who died in an August 2015 news station shooting. During the interview, Parker emphasized his activism for Democrats against Republicans, and Camerota concluded the interview by saying CNN has “cheered you on every time that we talk to you.”
Andy Parker mentioned the victories of Democrats in Virginia in 2017 and across the country in 2018. He went on to mention 2020.
“If you can’t change their minds, which unfortunately most Republicans — 99 percent of them are still walking in lockstep with the NRA — if you can’t change their minds, you change their seats,” the bereaved father said.
Camerota, the anchor of CNN’s show New Day, clarified, “So your battle has morphed into a political one to get the people who are of that kind of thinking out of their seats?” The father said, “Yes.”
In concluding the interview, the CNN anchor said, “Well that is what you have done, and we’ve watched you do it and we’ve cheered you on every time that we talk to you and now yet another step forward.”
Alisyn Camerota may have been trying to comfort the bereaved father, and it is right to comfort him. But she actually said that CNN has been cheering on an anti-gun, anti-Republican activist whose goal is to help Democrats win elections.
The CNN anchor had the activist on the show to discuss his new book For Alison: The Murder of a Young Journalist and a Father’s Fight for Gun Safety. In the book, Parker wrote, “I want this book to hurt you. I want you to understand my hurt. If we hurt together, then maybe you can help me save others from ever feeling that pain. This is not a grief memoir. This is an anger memoir.”
Interestingly, Andy Parker brought up House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), suggesting that the congressman’s brush with death in the congressional baseball game shooting should have turned him into an anti-gun activist.
“You look at Steve Scalise. I mean, here’s a guy that gets shot. You would think he would have some kind of ‘Come to Jesus’ [moment] and say, ‘Maybe I’m doing something wrong,’ but his response is, ‘We need more guns to save people,'” the bereaved father noted.
Rather than taking this realization as an opportunity to consider Steve Scalise’s position, however, the bereaved father dismissed him as a pro-NRA “true believer” who needs to be booted from his seat in Congress.
It is horrific that Andy Parker lost a daughter, and Americans should mourn with him. However, there are more solutions to gun violence than banning or restricting Americans’ access to firearms. Steve Scalise is a living testament to the fact that there is more than one answer on this issue, and if CNN were truly objective, it would be open to reporting both sides, rather than cheering on Democrats.
Follow Tyler O’Neil, the author of this article, on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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