Washington Free Beacon editor in chief Matthew Continetti said Thursday that Democrats who say negotiating with the NRA is impossible are taking an unreasonable position.
Chuck Todd, host of MSNBC’s "Meet the Press Daily," asked whether Congress could pass anything when opinions differ as wildly as those of Sen. Brian Schatz (D., Hawaii) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R., Ky.). Schatz tweeted that no compromise is possible with the NRA, while Massie said guns should be legally purchasable at age 18.
"Should anybody expect anything?" Todd asked.
"Believe it or not, there is that one policy of fixing the background-check system, which the NRA supports," Continetti said. "And even listening to the red-meat speeches from the NRA officials at CPAC today, that was their real fix."
He said the background check system has failed repeatedly and needs to be updated, and he said that compromise should not be hard to strike.
"That, I think, is a policy the NRA supports that most reasonable people on either side of the issue would support," he said. "So the Schatz position is unreasonable."
Todd asked whether Massie’s position is also unreasonable, and Continetti said it brought up a legitimate question about minimum ages.
"There are some legal or rational concerns about that," Continetti said, pointing out that you can join the military at 18.
"If you have military training, you get out at age 20—what, federal law is going to bar you?" Continetti asked.
Todd said that could be addressed in the law itself, and Continetti said Congress would have to work that out.
"That is the question. How is the law written and once the law is written, how do people vote on it?" he asked. "I think there, too, Massie might have some objections."