MSNBC host Ali Velshi inadvertently explained why America is awesome Friday in a segment intended to attack the National Rifle Association.
In his segment, Velshi argued the NRA is a tool of gun companies and does not represent most gun owners, and he concluded with a statistic he thought supported his argument: Americans constitute 4.4 percent of the world’s population yet own 42 percent of the world’s civilian firearms. Velshi credited the NRA for this because the organization has prevented sweeping federal gun control laws from passing.
"The NRA has succeeded in blocking every major gun control bill before Congress since 1994," Velshi said, implying the NRA's actions were a bad thing.
Most other countries have little to no civilian gun ownership because the government prevents its people from obtaining them.
In the most populous country in the world, China, the communist government fiercely cracks down on any civilian ownership of firearms, extending its reach even to toy guns.
Meanwhile, the governing doctrine in most European countries does not provide citizens with a right to bear arms, making private ownership uncommon. But a substantial portion of the civilian population is armed in some other countries that allow citizens to own guns, such as Israel and Switzerland.
Velshi's attack on the NRA comes as the organization holds its 2018 Annual Meeting in Dallas and President Donald Trump prepares to speak at the event on Friday.