New NY state bill would make firearms sales dependent on social media content
~@3:50 Tucker Carlson Tonight 12-5-18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2Q8itFdn4s
NY State Senator Kevin Parker (Dem) is one of the sponsors of a state bill would require those who apply for a NY gun license to give regulators passwords to their social media accounts, so what they say there can be checked out before they're issued a license. Parker was interviewed by Tucker tonight; the two tussled for almost ten minutes over whether the issue on the table is about "public safety" (Parker) or "freedom of speech" (Tucker). Highlights below:
Tucker: It's already against the law to sell guns to the mentally ill…and I think all of us support that restriction. But what other constitutional rights….should be contingent on how we behave on social media?…
Parker: This is not about constitutional rights, it's about safety…[New York] is one of the 10 safest states in the country, but we could always be safer…This law simply says "let's look at what people are putting out on social media as part of a set of criteria we're using to see who gets handguns….
Tucker: But why restrict it to gun owners?….You are an elected official…you wield a lot of power, you control peoples' lives ….Why shouldn't I have the password to your social media to see whether you should be wielding the power that you do?…Would you send me your password?….
Parker: [Deflects.] What we should be talking about is "How do we make the state of New York safe?"….
Tucker: [Then] why restrict…[it] to gun owners? Why don't we apply it to voting? [later mentions other Constitutional rights that could become dependent on the state's approval, e.g., abortion rights.]
Parker: [Deflects, then this:] We know that there's a direct correlation between the number of guns that are available in states and the prevelence of mass shootings.
Tucker: I'm sorry…but that's not true. I think that Wyoming has the highest per capita gun ownership in the country and…..[Parker interrupts him; they continue to debate the point.]
Tucker: But you're not calling for limiting the numbers of guns in this bill, you're calling for people to turn over their social media passwords, so you can see whether they've said things that are "naughty," and if they have, they don't get to own a gun….
Parker: I'm really focusing on gun violence…In addition to other criteria…we should also have the state police review the social media accounts of the people–
Tucker: –and take the passwords….so the state police…just get to decide whether you can have a gun or not based upon whether or not they like what you've said on Facebook.
Parker: [says something about the legislature making the law before the politce apply it.]
Tucker: So then you turn it over to the police–
Parker: –to make a determination….
Tucker: So youre' comfortable giving them that kind of power?
[They argue back and forth.]
Tucker: Do you think it's a little intrusive that the government would be forcing citizens to turn over their social media passwords to the police, before doing something the Constitution guaranteees them the right to do? That doesn't bother you in any way? That doesn't sound a little bit totalitarian to you? Like something China would do?…
[More argument.]
Tucker: This is something you typed out…. Boy[it]…sounds a little Orwellian to me….
Parker [saying that's not the whole bill]: The big thing is to review social media–
Tucker: "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"
[Arguments continue until Tucker finally thanks Parker after requesting his password once last time!]