Dark Side of the Pro-Gun Movement': MSNBC Uses Ricin Letters to Demonize Gun-Rights Advocates

MSNBC didn't take long to politicize the ricin-laced letters addressed President Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg as emblematic of the “dark side of the pro-gun movement,” among other observations.

Two of the network's programs Thursday seemingly used the ricin-letter incidents as an opportunity to disparage  gun-rights advocates, noted National Review Online. The ricin letters were intercepted by law enforcement officials before they reached Obama and Bloomberg, but they all communicated outrage over new gun-control measures, defended the right to bear arms, and one noted, an approximation of "Anyone who comes for my guns will be shot in the face."

Anchor Thomas Roberts asked his guests if the letters were an indication of the “dark side of the pro-gun movement”; contributor Joy-Ann Reid jumped right in, pointing a finger at conservatives' “rhetoric of revolution” that perpetuates a “violent undercurrent” among gun owners.

Joy-Ann Reid (Credit: MSNBC) 

Here's Roberts' panel discussion:

Another MSNBC host, Chris Jansing, interviewed Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, for her reaction to the ricin letters; specifically Jansing asked Watts if she'd ever been threatened by gun-rights supporters.

Watts appeared to fish for an answer, saying she'd gotten “interesting e-mails and calls” and had observed protesters with guns at the her group’s rallies.

But on the Bloomberg letter she was to the point: It “just shows that there’s a lot of fear on this issue,” she said.

Here's Jansing's interview with Watts:

(H/T: Cold Fury)

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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