Sunny Hostin: ‘I feel like a hostage’ to assault rifle owners

“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin said she feels “like a hostage” to Americans who own assault rifles while arguing resistance to reform measures from gun rights activists is unpatriotic. 

“I don’t think we can any longer equate freedom with the unfettered right to own assault rifles,” Hostin said on the ABC show Tuesday. “That is not freedom. Because I feel like a hostage right now. I feel like a hostage to the selfish people who insist on owning these types of weapons. That is not freedom in the country.” 

Addressing Americans who own assault rifles, she said: “You are not a patriot because you feel you have the right to own these types of weapons. You should be taking care of your fellow Americans.” 

TEN KILLED IN COLORADO SHOOTING: After a gunman opened fire at a grocery store where residents gathered to shop and receive COVID-19 vaccines in Boulder, Colorado Monday, the co-hosts react and question if Americans will push for stricter gun laws. https://t.co/g3yOiicJiX pic.twitter.com/otRdf5BpIk

— The View (@TheView) March 23, 2021

Since a mass shooting in Boulder, Colo., on Monday, lawmakers and activists have renewed calls for Congress to pass meaningful gun reform legislation, an idea Republicans have largely dismissed. 

On Tuesday, President Biden again called on Congress to pass an assault weapons ban. 

“I don’t need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take commonsense steps that will save lives in the future and to urge my colleagues in the House and Senate to act,” Biden said. “We can ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in this country once again. I got that done when I was a senator. … We should do it again.”

The Boulder shooter reportedly used a Ruger AR-556 pistol he had bought less than a week earlier. The weapon would have been covered by a city ban on assault weapons in passed in 2018, according to news coverage in Colorado, but the measure was struck down by a local court 10 days before Monday’s shooting. 

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday promised his caucus would create a plan for addressing gun violence in the wake of the Boulder shooting and a string of mass shootings in the Atlanta area a week earlier. 

“I’m going to sit down with Murphy and others and we’re going to figure out the best path forward,” Schumer said. “We will put these bills on the floor. I’ve said that and it will happen.” 

Republicans Sens. like Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and John Kennedy (R-La.) have dismissed calls for gun reform measures and accused Democrats of “political theatre.” 

“What happens in this committee after every mass shooting is Democrats propose taking away guns from law-abiding citizens, because that’s their political objective,” Cruz said. 

“I don’t believe we have a gun control problem in America,” added Kennedy. “I believe we have an idiot control problem.”

Hostin, who previously worked as a federal prosecutor, called rhetoric from Republicans like Rep. Lauren Boebert (Colo.), who this week began a fundraising campaign based on defending gun rights, “despicable.” 

“That is not about the constitution. That is not about the second amendment,” she said. “That’s not freedom. It’s not what freedom is.”