Pro-gun, antigay politician Marco Rubio participated in a CNN town hall with students and parents from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and, let’s just say, it didn’t go over so well.
Related: Marco Rubio Loves Gay Music But Not Gay People
Rubio visibly trembled as he was forced to defend his stance (or lack thereof) on gun control to the father of a 14-year-old girl who was shot to death last Wednesday. He also had to respond to 17-year-old junior Cameron Kasky, one of the founders of the #NeverAgain movement, who asked, “Would you refuse to accept donations from the National Rifle Association in the future?” (Spoiler alert: Rubio said he’ll proudly keep taking the NRA’s blood money.)
Related: GOP Golden Boy Marco Rubio OK With You Being Fired For Being Gay
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It was a bad night. For everyone, really. But mostly for Rubio, who appeared to be clinging for dear life to his A+ rating from the NRA. Today, he’s no doubt feeling the hangover.
Check out some of the brutal Marco Rubio CNN town hall meeting memes that have already begun circulating…
Related: Confronted By Protester, Marco Rubio Insults Pulse Victims
DCguy
He’s taken millions of dollars from the NRA. You don’t take that money and they don’t pay it unless there is an agreement to do what they want.
Kids being slaughtered are what they’ve paid him to overlook.
ChrisK
Rubio is the poster child for NRA bribes.
whatsaywhat
@chrisK At 4’2″ with the gravitas of a high school debate club president, Little Marco is indeed the poster “child.”
Polaro
Will anything change in November? Lots of hand wringing and little action at he ballot box; we get the leaders we deserve.
whatsaywhat
Rubio is a phoney, greasy little shill – acting and reciting the NRA and the gun industry line. NOT MORAL. NOT A LEADER.
This is all about the gun industry ensuring a demand for their death machines. Just like the cigarette companies telling us smoking is harmless for decades, they are telling us more guns will mean less shooting. COMPLETE & UTTER NONSENSE!
woodroad34
Board member of the Republican Death Squad
Doug
How can anyone expect any realistic responses from the GOP when most of them were paid off by the NRA? Paul Ryan is another weasel.
mhoffman953
The entire CNN town hall was one sided and biased. The only person that responded logically was the NRA spokeswoman who answered all of the questions thoroughly, many illogical questions. Many of the people in attendance at the event were very rude as well by shouting over people as they answered questions.
Schools need to increase their security protocols if they want things to be safer. States needs to openly share people’s criminal histories in all background check databases.
Simply banning guns won’t stop these issues. Murder is banned, drugs are banned but both are rampant.
projo
Banning guns may not 100% stop these issues but will make some impact. And murder happens b/c of guns that is why its rampant.
mhoffman953
@projo
Murder would still happen whether you ban guns or not. Gangs would just get illegal guns from the ghetto that would ship in from Mexico or would be stolen guns already in circulation.
If we ban guns, does that mean police aren’t allowed to have firearms either? It would only benefit the black market by enacting such laws.
Most gun deaths come from handguns and not long guns. The issue is about mental health, revamping the background check system, and improving security in unsecured locations. Too many balls were dropped which led to this incident. The solutions above would provide a greater impact
kevin57
“Comrade Hoffman, you may want to tone it down a bit. We can’t be too obvious in our work to undermine Amerika.” -Vlad
mhoffman953
@kevin57
>Translation: Label everyone you disagree with as a Russian because you cannot formulate a coherent opinion with facts
tham
No, call Russians, Russians.
Gays disagree, sure, but in such a different way it’s hilarious.
You guys are in OUR wheelhouse now. The games you play with Straights, don’t work with us.
paul peniscocker
Stop saying that liberals want to ban ALL guns. Yes we have a few of those, but no one has made a proposal to ban ALL guns. This is like when Pro Life people call Pro Choice “Pro Abortion”. You don’t want a real discussion because you start of with an attack and then wonder why people find you rude.
If you actually cared about your stance, you would first show that you listened (or read and cared) to what the opposition is.
The conservative stance all through these shootings has not even to have a better background check system. Even the argument the prevention of the mentally ill since they made the background checks stop checking for that.
He BGB
Russian troll above.
whatsaywhat
Definitely an Ivan
Celtic
How sad that our once great nation has collapsed / devolved into this position today. Rubio is a slimy, spineless, soulless, heartless lying weasel. He is a national disgrace and Florida should be ashamed they put this evil shill in office. During the Jake Tapper CNN Town Hall, Rubio actually tried to make himself look like the hero, trying to divert the wind behind the sails of the young people who braved the tyranny of this current Republican administration to fight and to challenge. Unless this atrocious behavior, perpetuated and promoted by Republicans and the NRA is reined in, we are toast.
KaiserVonScheiss
The left can’t meme. Just a bunch of nonsense.
The same people who complain about Trump being a “fascist” and “literally Hitler” only think the government should have so-called “assault weapons” (a made-up propaganda term; just rifles that look scary). I find that funny.
kevin57
Wrong, Comrade, I think that the insane, abusers, terrorists, etc. shouldn’t have it. And it isn’t funny…except from the vantage point of Moscow.
Brody
You’ve got fight fire with fire, not eliminate it altogether.
Provide schools with adequate armed security, as they do at banks, court houses, airports, etc., and the issue will all but vanish.
There, I fixed the whole problem, so the whiners can now stop attacking the NRA as if they were responsible for insanity itself.
Kangol
Parkland had “adequate armed security,” and the vile coward ran and hid. Also, three more peace officers working for Scott Israel appeared afraid to go into the school with cops from a nearby jurisdiction. WTF? Guns are the problem, more guns only makes things worse. We have the most powerful standing military in the world and don’t need slave patrols to suppress slave revolts, which is what those “well-regulated militias” in the 2nd Amendment mean (look it up), so the GOP gun-fanatic mentality should go the way of the 19th century! Also, I’m waiting to find out just what the links were between the NRA and Russian money. Will you still be defending the NRA and its insane leader if it turns out they also conspired with a hostile foreign power to elect your beloved racist, pathological liar Con Man Trumpkin?
Atldeuce
Please. Rubio is a loser that couldn’t even beat our current President: the doll handed manatee in a wig. He left the Senate as promised and then reneged and ran again. Yuck. He and his Cuban heel lifts should go home.
paul peniscocker
I figured he also probably thinks the shooter was one of Ted Cruz’s family.
Hussain-TheCanadian
I really hope the American public, gun owners and non-gun owners alike, force their theiving political class to pass laws to ban all military grade weapons, make attaining a gun extremely difficult and thorough, laws to register both guns and bullets, and a nationwide data base to record and track all gun sales and gun owners.
No civilized society can allow this insanity to continue.
mhoffman953
@Hussain
All that would do is punish law abiding gun owners and create ridiculous amounts of red tape to register bullets. Your plan doesn’t address those who break the law through illegal gun sales. Plus, military grade weapons such as automatic weapons are essentially banned already from the public. Modifying a semi-automatic to an automatic is illegal.
Plus, do you really think the US government (even though you’re a Canadian) can do a successful job handling this matter? The FBI couldn’t even successfully stop this Florida shooter when they received 2 tips that he was definitely going to shoot up a school. The local law enforcement agencies visited his home 39 times and did nothing. But you think they would successfully handle this program you propose and homicides would magically stop happening.
Hussain-TheCanadian
What I suggested works pretty well here in Canada; do you know how many school shootings we’ve had recently and how many firearms related homicides in 2017?
Our population is about 12% of yours, so multiply the # by 8 – what do you get?
Also I thought most American conservatives are propolice and promilitary, yet youre amassing all of this weaponry to fight them in a possible tyrannical future?
mhoffman953
@Hussain
Just because it works well in one country, doesn’t mean it will work well in all countries. Mexico has strict gun laws and look how that’s working out for them. The city of Chicago has tough gun laws and that hasn’t stopped gun murders.
mhoffman953
@Hussain
“Also I thought most American conservatives are propolice and promilitary, yet youre amassing all of this weaponry to fight them in a possible tyrannical future?”
One can still be pro-police and support the US military while also wanting to protect oneself. Tyrannical governments have popped up all throughout history and will pop up again. Look at the Chinese government that ordered the massacre of it’s own people in Tian An Men square in 1989. There even have been many examples throughout the history of communism. What are citizens supposed to do then?
Plus, in an unrelated point, Korean business owners armed themselves with massive rifles and long guns during the LA riots. Had they not been able to possess these guns, they would’ve been dead and their stores gone.
jckfmsincty
The NRA is a terrorist organization. Politicians who accept money from the NRA are supporting its terrorism.
mhoffman953
@jckfmsincty
You’re turning the debate about public safety into a campaign finance debate. If one was to delve into that debate, then based on your logic, the pharmaceutical and abortion lobbyists are also terrorist organizations because their lobbying also indirectly leads to death.
Comments like that don’t progress the discussion of security while preserving our Constitution at the same time.
Notright
I thought he did a good job and he was brave to go into that Lion’s den. It never ceases to amaze me that liberals call Trump a tyrant but then want him to take away our guns! I know there are others who agree but are afraid to say anything. Support the second amendment with this iPac t-shirt. https://www.therainbowright.com/ipac-shirt
whatsaywhat
Nobody is coming to “take away guns”. Just like they aren’t coming to take away cars (even though there is regulation regarding testing, licensing, type of vehicles that can be driven on public roads, rules for driving on those roads, etc. etc. etc.)
But nice try, Sergei.
GayEGO
So why do you need military assault weapons to go hunting or target practicing? Maybe you get checks from the NRA like Rubio does!
GayEGO
@whatsaywhat: Notright is not right in his brain, money is his interest, not the 2nd amendment which he declares. When the 2nd amendment was written, times were quite different back then and we did not have the military or police to protect us. Sure, if you like hunting or target practice, there is nothing wrong with that. But permitting crooks and mentally ill violent people to purchase and obtain guns is criminal and the NRA and gun sales merchants need to be held accountable instead of letting them hold profit over life.
ChrisK
@Notright. No one wants to take away your guns dum*ass. Maybe just ones that mow down dozens of people at a time though.
whatsaywhat
@gayEGO Notright is probably writing from a troll farm in suburban Moscow
Ukin Blome
russian troll
paul peniscocker
The argument that if some weapons are banned they will just get them through illegal means, therefore it wouldn’t make a difference. IS BULL.
I don’t think that the high school student would have been able to easily contact an illegal arms trader to upgrade.