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A couple of weeks ago, Rep. Lauren Boebert came up with an argument the Colorado Republican seemed to like. Rejecting new gun laws in the wake of deadly mass shootings, the congresswoman told Fox News, “When 9/11 happened, we didn’t ban planes. We secured the cockpit.”
The comments generated a fair amount of commentary, none of which was especially flattering for the far-right Coloradan. Perhaps House Minority Whip Steve Scalise missed all of this. NBC News reported:
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said Congress should try to address the root cause of the problem and not impose gun restrictions, arguing that lawmakers did not ban airplanes after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. “Airplanes were used that day as the weapon to kill thousands of people and to inflict terror on our country. There wasn’t a conversation about banning airplanes,” Scalise told reporters.
Part of the problem with this is that it’s an amazingly bad argument. Whether the Louisiana Republican understood this or not, this is actually a talking point that helps his opponents more than his allies.
As we discussed two weeks ago, it’s true that we did not ban airplanes after Sept. 11, 2001. But we also didn’t shrug our shoulders and wait for the next terrorist attack.
Instead, we temporarily grounded all flights. A series of security measures were immediately implemented in the interest of public safety — and more than two decades later, travelers still can’t board an airplane without careful screening.
In fact, travelers can’t even buy a ticket without having their names go through a background check of sorts: Those who are included on watch lists are not allowed to fly.
What’s more, the United States has an entire federal agency that’s responsible for heavily regulating the airline industry — including how planes are built and made to ensure the public’s safety — and creating rigorous standards for airports.
While we’re at it, let’s also not forget that when Americans want to fly, they have to show government-issued identification. When Americans want to become pilots, they have to go through extensive training before acquiring a government-issued license and operating an airplane.
If buying guns were in any way similar to getting on an airplane in post-9/11 America, the number of people killed by gun violence would fall dramatically.
Scalise really ought to know all of this. In fact, it’s entirely possible that he does know this and pushed the foolish talking point anyway.
That’s because for too many Republicans, the goal is to get through a news cycle, not win a policy debate.
I continue to believe there’s an important difference between bad arguments and unserious arguments. As Scalise reminded us yesterday, the problem is not just that Republicans’ claims are wrong, it’s that they’re not even trying to be right.