Bill Maher Says Media Was Disappointed ‘The Civil War Didn’t Break Out’ At Virginia Gun Rally
Despite tens of thousands of pro-advocates rallying at Virginia’s capital on Monday — per Fox News — violence didn’t break out as some media outlets warned. During Friday’s episode of HBO’s Real Time, host Bill Maher suggested that the peaceful outcome was not what the media had hoped for, The Hill reported.
The conversation began when former Fox News and NBC host Megyn Kelly took aim at the current state of the media.
“The media’s so messed up right now, it’s disheartening to me. And I’ve felt this way for a long time,” she said.
Kelly claimed that the media problem has been around since before Donald Trump and noted that they are biased politically. She also claimed that Fox News — her former employer — did so well because the network stood in contrast to the biases of the rest of the competition.
Maher noted he believed the media bias is primarily in favor of money.
“They’re biased toward money and conflict, because that’s what sells. I was watching the Virginia rally this week. There was a gun rally. It was peaceful. And you could see how disappointed the media was that the civil war didn’t break out.”
Just days after the Virginia rally, a Democratic-led House committee voted to advance several pieces of gun-control measures. Although the bills do not include an assault weapon ban, they include universal background checks on gun purchases, as well as a red flag bill that would allow authorities to confiscate guns from individuals deemed to pose a danger to themselves or others.
Per Fox News, the legislation will likely head to the full House for a vote next week before it heads to the Senate.
The push comes after multiple 2019 mass shootings pressured lawmakers to take action on gun control measures. Speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper, former U.S. President Bill Clinton urged Trump to pass gun control in the wake of the Saugus High School shooting in Santa Clarita, California.
Clinton pointed to his time in office and the work his administration accomplished even in the face of impeachment from the Republican-controlled House.
“Once the public rendered judgment on what they thought should be done, I kept working with them. That’s just an excuse,” Clinton said, per Breitbart.
Many of the most vocal people opposed to gun control take issue with plans to ban assault weapons such as the AR-15 and claim that Democrat-led efforts for gun control will eventually lead to the confiscation of all firearms from American citizens.
