Whoopi Goldberg Begs for Gun Reform: 'Stop Using Guns to Abort Young Lives!'

It was an emotional morning on The View as the co-hosts discussed the tragic shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday afternoon. The panel was outraged as they discussed another preventable massacre, and they called on lawmakers, particularly Republicans, to go beyond "thoughts and prayers" and meet the moment with actual gun reform legislation.

"What are we doing? Why are we always at square one with this?" said moderator Whoopi Goldberg, after playing clips of President Biden and Sen. Chris Murphy's passionate speeches in the wake of the tragedy. "And I swear to god, if I see another Republican senator talk about their heart being broken, I'm gonna go punch somebody ... If your thoughts and prayers were really with everybody, you'd have done something by now!"

The co-hosts each took a turn reacting to the news, with Joy Behar calling for an end to political donations from the NRA and Ana Navarro blasting members of her own party for their inaction. "I would like Republicans — and let's just say Republicans, because they are the ones standing in the way," said Navarro. "I would like Republicans to show the same energy that they do for banning books, and banning conversations about gays, and banning conversations about Black history, and regulating my uterus — I want them to show the same energy for banning guns! There is no reason why an 18-year-old should have access to weapons of war that can kill children in a matter of seconds!"

After Sunny Hostin advocated for discussing gun violence as a "public health issue" and Sara Haines noted the importance of red-flag laws, Whoopi turned her attention to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has signed several measures into law that expand gun rights. "I want to thank Gov. Abbott because he signed 22 bills this year making it easier for mass shooters to buy, carry, and own guns in his state," she said, sarcastically. "Let's apply his abortion laws to guns by deputizing citizens to sue anyone involved in gun violence!"

"Actually, let's invoke some Supreme Court logic, too. Alito says abortion is not in the constitution, well, neither are AR-15s. So, I guess the constitution doesn't cover them, either," continued Whoopi. "Life is so sacred? Then stop using guns to abort young lives!"

Whoopi's monologue was briefly interrupted by Behar urging viewers to "stop voting for Republicans," but after a quick dismissal — "Don't stop voting for Republicans, but get better Republicans in there!" — she got back on track. "You can have your gun, but you can't have your AR-15. You're going to get all in my business and tell me what my family can and cannot do, neither can you!" she said. "They're going to come for those AR-15s, and you better get ready to give them up!"

"We are allowing things out there that kill children!" concluded Whoopi. "And you didn't do anything the last time. You've done nothing since Sandy Hook. Well, I think it's time for the people to say, 'We're going to take this to the courts and we're going to make you give these guns up because you don't need to have them.'"

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.