Geraldo and Bongino spar over response to Uvalde school shooting
'The Five' host Geraldo Rivera and 'Unfiltered' host Dan Bongino sound off on the Uvalde, Texas elementary school shooting on 'Hannity.'
President Biden incorrectly blamed "the gun lobby" for the Uvalde, Texas school shooting, former Secret Service Agent Dan Bongino said, while correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera posited Americans who aren't old enough to buy alcohol shouldn't be allowed to purchase rifles.
The suspect in the shooting, Salvador Ramos, was 18.
Bongino told "Hannity" on Tuesday that Biden proved it is already too late not to politicize tragedy, saying the president's nighttime remarks could've been a healing moment, but were instead another example of intentional division.
"In a moment where he could have been a great healer and unifier, he chose that moment to start screaming at Americans and the gun lobby who had nothing to do with," he said, noting oft-invoked public advocacy groups like the Virginia-based National Rifle Association were not involved in the attack despite politicized suggestions to the contrary.
UVALDE, TEXAS SCHOOL SHOOTING: LIVE UPDATES
U.S. President Joe Biden makes a statement about the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas shortly after Biden returned to Washington from his trip to South Korea and Japan, at the White House in Washington, U.S. May 24, 2022. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)
"Cutesy-time with these people is over. They don't care," said Bongino, who also hearkened back to his time as an operational security professional in the Secret Service.
"We should expand [police's] footprint. We have a number of retired law enforcement who have the skills, who may not be able to engage in foot pursuits, but are perfectly capable of securing a two- or three-acre school somewhere. So I think we have to start to think outside the box."
Later, Rivera echoed Bongino's call for better school security, but diverged from his remarks on the subject of gun laws.
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Parents wait to be reunited with their children at the Ulvede Civic Center. (Fox News Digital)
"It's these little children, the most vulnerable, innocent beings on earth being slaughtered. You know, the only place [Hannity], Dan and I diverge is … how can you buy an assault weapon on your 18th birthday when you cannot buy a beer?"
Rivera said he previously spoke to President Trump about a "juvenile assault weapons ban" and wondered aloud why the aforementioned NRA couldn't back it.
"If you can't buy a beer, you can't buy an assault weapon. Why is that un-American? How does that violate the Second Amendment?"
Host Sean Hannity replied such Second Amendment restrictions are "predicated on a false notion" that evil people with intent will respect any laws in order to perpetrate their crimes.
Bongino (Fox)
"By the very nature of somebody being that evil, they're not going to obey," Hannity said.
Bongino added criminals love hearing talk of stricter gun laws, because they will inevitably only make weaponry less accessible to the average American.
"You're talking about an obviously psychologically-disturbed young man here who walked into a school and shot a bunch of schoolkids," he said. "You really believe like he was sitting there reading a law book beforehand?
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