MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle on Wednesday mocked hunters who use firearm silencers to prevent hearing damage, putting her hands over her ears and poking fun at Republican gun legislation loosening silencer regulations.
USA Today reporter Heidi Przybyla told Ruhle that her reporting says President Donald Trump will visit Las Vegas on Wednesday to offer sympathy after Sunday night's massacre but not "offer any kind of hope" that gun violence would be addressed through policy solutions.
"Think about what was happening right before this massacre took place. We have a Congress here in Washington, D.C., that was moving in the exact opposite direction," Przybyla said. "They were preparing to loosen gun regulations, to allow people to use these silencers, to make them more available."
"Because the hunters, their ears were hurting," Ruhle said mockingly, putting her hands over her ears. "Because those hunters, their ears were hurting."
Przybyla repeated the talking point of "how much worse" the situation in Las Vegas would have been if the killer had used a silencer.
The Washington Post fact-checker gave the claim that firearms with a silencer are "quiet" a "Three Pinocchio" rating in March, comparing the noise level of an AR-15 using a silencer to a jackhammer.
The legislation Ruhle and Przybyla were referring to is the SHARE (Sportsman's Heritage and Recreational Enhancement) Act, which was passed out of committee last month and, among other measures, eases regulations on silencer purchases and furthers protections of interstate firearm transport.
Ruhle and Przybyla's exchange was the latest in MSNBC's open push for gun control measures. MSNBC anchor Brian Williams blatantly advocated for gun control during an interview this week with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.), asking when he thought Americans would push back against "the edges of the Second Amendment."
The Washington Free Beacon reported last year on the enthusiastic mainstream media coverage of the Democratic "sit-in" in Congress pushing for gun control.