Kimmel mocks Scalise for sticking to his guns

(Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

When Rep. Steve Scalise was shot by a deranged Bernie Sanders supporter, he had a long road to recovery. Yet he did, in fact, recover and is back on the job.

There was a certain degree of interest as to where his stand would be on guns when he spoke publicly again. After all, a lot of people might be pro-gun until something happens to make them change that mind. The same is true in the other direction.

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Would Scalise still be pro-gun?

Well, yeah. He holds the same position on guns that he did before he was shot.

For late-night “comedian” Jimmy Kimmel, that’s something to mock.

During his opening monologue on Wednesday, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel took time to recap the House GOP’s decision to nominate Rep. Steve Scalise to be Speaker of the House. As part of these developments, Kimmel profiled Scalise whom he attacked for not embracing gun control despite almost being assassinated.

Kimmel described Scalise thusly:

He’s an interesting person, this Steve Scalise, he was one of the biggest gun supporters in Congress, but then in 2017, remember he was shot and seriously wounded at a Congressional baseball game by a man carrying a legally-purchased assault rifle. And when he recovered and came back to Congress, he knew that nothing like what happened to him should ever happen again. So as his first act, he introduced House Resolution 2481, that required all baseball players to carry AK-47s in their protective cups and—it’s an inspiring story, they’ll make a movie about it one day.

So this is what passes for funny in 2023?

Thank God I go to bed early these days.

See, Kimmel thinks this is funny, but as Newsbusters notes, he leaves out that this was a Bernie Bro who hated Republicans. He was trying to kill as many of the people that Kimmel himself tries to demonize as he possibly could, yet only Scalise had any serious injuries.

But at the heart of it, Kimmel clearly thinks Scalise should have become a gun control fan, that he should have wanted some kind of restrictions on firearms simply because of what happened to him.

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Look, a lot of people do change their position after something happens. I had that moment myself a while back and it’s easy to think you’ve been wrong all those years. The thing is, nothing changed. It’s still not the fault of the gun but the jackwagon pulling the trigger.

They’re called “principles.” They’re things you believe and stand for and you’re not going to change them just because something doesn’t go perfectly. They’re not subject to popular opinion.

Honestly, it’s something that should be celebrated, not mocked.

Then again, this is Kimmel. I’ve seen him try to be funny before. It didn’t work all that well then and it’s clearly not working now. Especially when all he’s done is highlight that while all lawmakers should be judged with skepticism, at least Steve Scalise can be trusted to defend our gun rights.

After all, he got shot and still support our right to keep and bear arms.

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