U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s tenure as the top federal prosecutor in the nation’s capital hasn’t exactly been smooth. The former Fox News host has, just in recent months, lost key cases and launched absurd criminal investigations.
But the Trump-appointed prosecutor has nevertheless maintained a high public profile, making frequent appearances in conservative media, including a Fox News appearance on Monday in which Pirro unexpectedly threatened to arrest anyone who enters Washington, D.C., with a gun.
“You bring a gun into the district, you mark my words, you’re going to jail,” she declared. “I don’t care if you have a license in another district, and I don’t care if you’re a law-abiding law owner somewhere else. You bring a gun into this district, count on going to jail.”
Second Amendment advocates — many of whom were already displeased after Donald Trump and other leading administration officials said Americans couldn’t bring guns to public events — were bothered anew after seeing Pirro’s comment.
It also sparked some mockery among Democrats, including Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., who joked via social media that he was “old enough to remember the ‘Obama is going to grab your guns’ hysteria. Turns out it was the Trump White House.”
On Tuesday morning, Pirro scrambled to undo the damage she’d done, publishing an online item describing herself as “a proud supporter of the Second Amendment.” Roughly two hours later, she kept going with a minute-long video statement directed at “my fellow gun owners.”
“Washington, D.C., law requires handguns be licensed in the district with the Metropolitan Police Department to be carried into our community,” Pirro said in the video, by way of a defense. “We are focused on individuals who are unlawfully carrying guns and will continue building on that momentum to keep our communities safe.” “We’re taking guns off the street, illegal guns in the hands of criminals who want to use those guns to victimize law-abiding citizens,” she added. “There’s a big difference here. You’re responsible, you follow the laws, you’re not going to have a problem with me.” Time will tell whether gun-rights advocates find this satisfactory, but shortly after Pirro began walking back her comments, a spokesperson for the National Association for Gun Rights argued via social media, “You can’t say you ‘support the Second Amendment’ while threatening to jail peaceful gun owners for crossing a city line.”
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
Latest Post
Recommended
