Washington Free Beacon reporter Elizabeth Harrington said Monday on Fox News that a ban on all semi-automatic weapons will not be enacted with the Second Amendment in place.
Harrington joined Fox News host Sandra Smith and the Hill contributor Michael Starr to discuss the ongoing debate over gun policy following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, earlier this month.
Smith first asked Harrington whether there will be changes to the country's gun laws after the Florida school shooting, noting that President Donald Trump is meeting with U.S. governors on Wednesday to discuss gun violence, among other issues.
"Well, that remains to be seen because it's a very difficult issue, and I like what the White House is saying, that this shouldn't just be a feel-good legislation, because the problem with the gun control debate has always been that it's emotionally driven without the facts," Harrington said.
Harrington then said gun-control activists are misguided in blaming the National Rifle Association for recent mass shootings, calling the outrage "misplaced." She said that criticism should be directed at the Broward County Sheriff's Office, which has jurisdiction where the shooting occurred, and the FBI, which recently admitted that it ignored a tip about the alleged shooter, Nikolas Cruz.
"Here we have this gun-control debate in the last two weeks, a vitriolic campaign, a political campaign against the NRA before we knew the facts. And the facts are this was a mentally disturbed individual who was well on law enforcement's radar ... They had every opportunity to stop this guy before he did it," Harrington said. "So the outrage, I think, is very misplaced with the NRA and should be directed at the Broward County Sheriff's Office and the FBI for that matter."
Starr, a Democratic strategist, called on President Donald Trump to take action and do "common-sense things like getting semi-automatic weapons off the street" and raising the minimum age to buy a firearm to over 18 years of age.
Harrington pushed back against Starr, saying that the White House has been "engaged" by talking with the shooting survivors and the victims' families, as well as local law enforcement.
"But the problem is they are coming up with solutions that hopefully can actually address the problem, which is, I don't believe, tinkering with the age when the core of the issue for these mass shootings we've seen over and over again has been mental health and how we can prevent mentally ill people from not being able to purchase guns," Harrington added. "That's also a problem with the background-check system and these people that should be on the—are on the radar of law enforcement but they're not entered into the system that would prevent them from buying a gun."
Harrington also took issue with Starr's call for a ban on all semi-automatic weapons.
"But when Michael says we need to just not allow semi-automatic weapons on the street, that is every gun we're talking about," Harrington said. "Every gun is a semi-automatic. Fully automatic are pretty much banned and very difficult to get; they're there not on the street. But semi-automatic is every single gun, and that's not going to happen with the Second Amendment."