Ted Cruz Accepts Actress Alyssa Milano's Debate Challenge: 'Might Help Resolve the Discord in Our Nation'
Sen. Ted Cruz accepted actress Alyssa Milano’s request to meet to discuss gun violence and other issues, expressing the hope it “might help resolve the discord in our nation.”
The Texas Republican’s agreement to meet came via a Twitter exchange on Sunday, which started with Milano asking, “Can someone cite which passage of the Bible God states it is a god-given right to own a gun?”
Cruz responded, “An excellent Q, worth considering carefully w/o the snark of Twitter. It is of course not the right to a modern-day firearm that is God-give but rather the right to Life & the right to Liberty. Essential to that right to life is the right to DEFEND your life & your family.”
An excellent Q, worth considering carefully w/o the snark of Twitter. It is of course not the right to a modern-day firearm that is God-give but rather the right to Life & the right to Liberty. Essential to that right to life is the right to DEFEND your life & your family. 1/x https://t.co/8pjstMGrGB
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 1, 2019
The senator continued with a series of tweets laying out the case, first quoting from Exodus 22:2, “‘If a thief is caught breaking in at night & is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed.’ (Note, though, verse 3 says it IS murder if during daylight (ie, not self-defense).”
Cruz then cited one of the nation’s founding documents, the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes that all are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
He explained the founders understood the Second Amendment to be a recognition of the God-given right to protect one’s life and home and family.
The former Supreme Court clerk to Chief Justice William Rehnquist noted after the Civil War that Jim Crow laws enacted in the south stripped African-Americans of this God-given right to self-defense, allowing the KKK to terrorize and murder them.
Cruz went on to argue, “We need to do MUCH more to stop violent criminals & those w/ dangerous mental illness BEFORE they murder & I’m leading the fight in the Senate to do so.”
The Texan concluded, “Playing politics w/ these deranged crimes—and trying to use them as an excuse to violate the [constitutional] rights of law-abiding citizens—won’t make anybody safer. Forcible gun confiscation (as some 2020 Dems urge) won’t prevent mass-murders. But it would weaken our self-defense.”
Milano responded to Cruz’s tweets, writing, “I’d love to come in and meet with you on the gun issue and many other issues that include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, @tedcruz and also, 1 Peter 4:8.”
The Bible passage reads: “And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins.’”
The liberal activist added, “I’ll be in DC next week. We can live-stream the meeting so the American people can hear your bulls— 1st hand.”
I’d be happy to sit down & visit next week about uniting to stop gun violence & about the Constitution. If we can have a civil & positive conversation—in the spirit of 1 Peter 4:8 as you suggest—despite our political differences, that might help resolve the discord in our Nation. https://t.co/YfkB97wAA0
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 3, 2019
Cruz ignored her last sentiment, simply replying, “I’d be happy to sit down & visit next week about uniting to stop gun violence & about the Constitution.”
He continued, “If we can have a civil & positive conversation—in the spirit of 1 Peter 4:8 as you suggest—despite our political differences, that might help resolve the discord in our Nation.”
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