MSNBC host Joy Reid grilled one of the leaders of a Texas gun rights’ group on Tuesday, asking him repeatedly whether or not he understood the idea that it would scare people to see a group — like his own — open-carrying guns in public spaces. But Tov Henderson, of Open Carry Texas, seemed unable to understand the idea.
Henderson’s group was recently rebuked by the National Rifle Association for acting “weird” and “downright scary” for carrying guns in restaurants. But Henderson himself strongly disagreed with the NRA’s characterization, and on MSNBC Tuesday he would not yield to Reid’s suggestion that people might reasonably be scared by groups of men carrying firearms.
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“Given you had a mass shooting in a theater,” Reid asked Henderson, “do you think it would scare people in a movie theater if you walked into a movie theater with your long gun exposed?”
“I’m not aware of any group that has walked into a movie theater,” Henderson said, dodging the question.
“Do you think it would scare people?” Reid responded. “I can’t get you to answer a very simple question. Do you think it scares people to see not alone one armed person but a bunch of armed people in this day and age? Do you think it scares people?”
“I think it has the potential to do anything, to have all kinds of emotions,” Henderson finally settled on.