Whoopi Goldberg used to be pretty funny, at least as I remember things. I used to watch her stand-up specials with my folks and we’d get a good laugh. Then she started making movies and did pretty well there, too. I enjoyed a lot of her work.

Now she’s on The View and we all know what kind of a trainwreck that show is, and Whoopi is a part of that.

On Wednesday’s show, she decided to talk about guns and Texas and, unsurprisingly, managed to get just about everything wrong.

“Listen. I want to thank Governor Abbott because he signed 22 bills this year making it easier for mass shooters to buy, carry, and own guns in his state,” Goldberg said sarcastically.

…

Clearly still fuming at the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion over Roe v Wade, Goldberg mocked Supreme Court Justice Alito with her next point. “Actually, let’s invoke some Supreme Court logic, too. Alito says abortion’s not in the Constitution, well, neither are AR-15s. So I guess the Constitution doesn’t cover them, either.”

…

“Get people who are going to look and say, ‘Okay. We don’t have to have AR-15s, but I want to keep my shotgun because I still hunt.’ Okay. You can have your hunt, but you can’t have your AR-15!” Whoopi exclaimed.

OK, so let’s break down these arguments one by one. I know Whoopi won’t see these, but who knows who actually agrees with her and will regurgitate this nonsense.

Abbott signed laws that made it easier for mass shooters

This is a common enough talking point and Whoopi is far from the first person to spout this nonsense. However, let’s understand a few things.

First, the killer in this case was 18. Texas does have constitutional carry, but that only applies if you’re 21, which means he couldn’t lawfully carry a firearm. That’s strike one.

Next, we have the fact that Texas has never restricted gun purchases in any way. Like most states, they adhere to federal rules on the topic, but while states have generally been found to be able to make things more strict, Texas never did. As such, there’s literally no way he actually made it easier for anyone to buy guns during his tenure as governor.

That’s strike two.

Further, since all the same applies to owning guns, that’s also strike three.

The AR-15 isn’t in the Constitution either

Well, that’s true. The AR-15 isn’t explicitly listed in the Constitution for protection just as the word “abortion” isn’t mentioned.

But that’s to ignore the plain text of the Second Amendment that explicitly protects “arms.”

The word “arms” is a broad category that basically includes all weapons. From AR-15s to longswords, the Second Amendment doesn’t differentiate between certain arms and others. After all, when the Second Amendment was written, there were privately-owned warships that were more powerful than anything the United States possessed.

With abortion, well, there’s no real category that explicitly includes abortion. Roe vs. Wade used the right to privacy–an implied right, to be sure, but one I happen to think is a valid right–but even that was a stretch. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg even found the reasoning in Roe to be suspect.

So while the AR-15 isn’t explicitly mentioned, there are far more grounds for protecting the right to own one than for abortion.

The old hunting thing

This is going to be short.

Find anywhere that suggests the Second Amendment deals with hunting. Let me guess, it’s right next to the word “abortion,” isn’t it?

Anyway, that’s what we got from Whoopi, and she managed to get a surprising amount wrong. I get it, though. She’s a comedian turned talk show host, not a policy wonk or someone who focuses on this kind of thing.

Still, if you’re going to offer an ill-informed opinion, expect to be smacked down over it, and what she uttered aspired to become an ill-informed opinion.