Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann said on Monday that the National Rifle Association enables massacres like the mass shooting in Las Vegas Sunday night.
Olbermann kicked off the latest episode of his GQ web series, "The Resistance," by belittling those, including President Donald Trump, who have offered "warmest condolences and sympathies" for those impacted by the Las Vegas shooting. He called for leadership instead to prevent "the terrorists in this country from buying guns in this country and killing crowds of people in this country."
The host argued that rather than taking action, we instead have "warmest condolences and sympathies," and the Second Amendment.
He said the Second Amendment has deviated from its original purpose and transformed "into an excuse for why mad men of whatever heritage or political purpose cannot be stopped from carrying at least ten long rifles into a hotel room in Las Vegas and setting up a sniper’s nest and killing people."
Olbermann went on to say that the NRA, a group that defends U.S. citizens’ Second Amendment right to bear arms, "enables such massacres."
"A group that enables such massacres, the National Rifle Association, is not branded for what it is: a terrorist organization," Olbermann said.
"It is time to end refusing to call mass murderers who do not have obvious political motives ‘terrorists.' It is time to end the National Rifle Association. And it is time to end the career of any political figure who made his way to the White House dog whistling to his Second Amendment people," Olbermann said.
The shooting, which resulted in 59 deaths and over 500 injured individuals, has reignited the ongoing debate over gun control laws in the United States.
The Las Vegas Police Department found 42 guns in Stephen Paddock’s possession, according to the Washington Examiner.
The motive of the shooter is still unknown, but police believe he acted alone.
Olbermann ended the segment with a final dig at those offering "warmest condolences and sympathies."
"But we don't have to do anything about it do we?" he asked. "We have thoughts and prayers, and we can pretend some of the carnage is terrorism and some of it is not. And we have a president's 'warmest condolences and sympathies.'"
Following the mass shooting in Las Vegas, the president called on the country to unify.
"In moments of tragedy and horror, America comes together as one, and it always has," Trump said. "We call upon the bonds that unite us, our faith, our family, and our shared values. We call upon the bonds of citizenship, the ties of community, and the comfort of our common humanity."