Fox Business Host Calls on Trump to Ban Assault Weapons, Battles Ex-NRA Spokeswoman
In a somewhat surprising move, Fox Business Network host Trish Regan—a vocal and loyal booster of President Donald Trump—on Wednesday called for stricter gun laws and the ban of assault weapons.
Her comments drew the ire of one-time NRA spokesperson and frequent Fox News guest Dana Loesch.
With renewed calls for action on gun control and universal background checks following this past weekend’s mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, the conservative Fox personality took to Twitter to call on the president to act.
“.@realDonaldTrump has a major opportunity: he can BAN assault weapons and envoke strict gun laws and backgrnd (sic) checks in one executive order,” Regan wrote Wednesday morning. “To heck w/ lobbyists at NRA - the majority of Americans and common sense supports this! It’s time to do what is right for our country.”
Regan’s message to Trump prompted Loesch to fire back, telling the Fox Business host that she disagreed with Regan and wasn’t sure where Regan was getting her data to support stricter gun laws.
“She has to disagree bc she’s paid to disagree,” Regan replied, referencing Loesch’s former position at the gun lobby. “I don’t envy her position.”
The primetime FBN host continued: “Nonetheless - majority of Americans believe we need better background checks for prospective gun owners. No one w/common sense believes we should hand an assault rifle to a mentally ill person.”
Regan went on to write in another tweet that recent polls reveal the vast majority of voters favoring background checks on all potential gun buyers and purchases.
Loesch, meanwhile, said Regan’s “ergo decedo response is unnecessary” since she’s been a strong Second Amendment defender for more a decade and that, seeing as she’s no longer employed by the NRA, she’s not currently paid to disagree with anyone.
As for the poll numbers Regan shared, Loesch brushed them off, adding that she was “disappointed” to see such a response from the Fox host and “was hoping for good faith discussion on this issue.” She further asked for “cross tabs” of the polls, which showed 92 percent and 86 percent in favor of universal background checks, respectively.
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