MSNBC anchor Brian Williams conducted an interview that seemed more like a pro-gun-control forum on Monday, asking Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) why passing her proposed law banning people on a terror watchlist was difficult and gushing that her remarks would be repeated "on all of our broadcasts throughout the day."
In the wake of the Orlando nightclub massacre carried out Sunday morning, Feinstein first read out a bill that would create criteria for citizens to be placed on a terror watchlist and thus be unable to purchase guns.
"Now, senator, for our viewers who may have reason to wonder why such a law is so difficult, what is the answer in plain English?" Williams asked.
"Oh my goodness. It's unbelievable," Feinstein said. "The NRA opposes this. This is to put people on the watchlist to prevent terrorists from buying guns in this country."
She went on to say it was too easy for terrorists to buy guns in the United States, adding just background checks were not enough.
"It's been shown that 90 percent of potential terrorists pass background checks," Feinstein said. "The other that don't, the 10 percent, are fugitives, felons, and others, so the background check doesn't stop anybody, but being on the watchlist and making it a prohibition to buy a gun if you are on the watchlist, I believe, will."
Williams asked Feinstein whether she thought the FBI had perhaps missed something in its earlier investigations of the Orlando killer, before then wondering whether there was a distinction between an attack being "ISIS-directed" and "ISIS-inspired."
"To me, it's not a big difference," Feinstein said. "ISIS-inspired means some directions flowing out of a terrorist in another country to a potential terrorist in this country. Self-made is what's really happening ... The social media programs are successful in recruiting potential terrorists, and then I think anybody's that's disgruntled at a society such as ours or any Western society can use this disgruntlement and use terror to combine the two of them. It's not exactly simple, and it can happen, but what we're responsible for is seeing that our laws are adequate to meet the challenges of our times, and frankly speaking, with respect to guns, they are not."
"Senator, something tells me we're going to be repeating your remarks on the watchlist on all of our broadcasts throughout the day," Williams said. "Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, thank you very much for joining us."