Actress and liberal activist Alyssa Milano revealed in a meeting with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) that she has two guns in her home for self-defense, and that “we all believe in the Second Amendment.”
The meeting between the two on Sept. 10 to discuss gun violence, which was live-streamed on Facebook, was sparked after Milano asked on Twitter for someone to “cite which passage of the Bible God states it is a God-given right to own a gun?”
In a lengthy series of tweets to Milano, Cruz said that at the core of the discussion is the right to life and liberty, which is intrinsic to the right to defend oneself. Milano responded saying that she’d “love” to meet with him and also suggested they live-stream the meeting “so America can hear your [expletive].”
Milano arrived Sept. 10 at Cruz’s office in Capitol Hill alongside two others—Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter, Jaime, was killed in the 2018 Parkland shooting, and Ben Jackson, a gun control activist. During the conversation, both Milano and Guttenberg expressed their wish to reduce gun violence to protect lives.
Guttenberg asked Cruz about supporting universal background checks—in particular, the HR8 bill—while Milano repeatedly asked “isn’t that worth trying?”
At one point, referring to the Twitter posts that Cruz had posted to Milano earlier, Guttenberg clarified that “Nobody’s trying to remove your right to self-defense … nobody’s trying to remove weapons from anybody.”
“By the way, I have two guns in my household for self-defense, just so you know,” Milano interjected.
Later, Milano said, “We all believe in the Second Amendment.”
Cruz responded in agreement, saying, “That’s one of the reasons I believe in people’s rights to protect themselves.” He later referred to a recent case in Houston, Texas, where a 28-year-old woman defended herself from assault by a group of men, by firing shots from a pistol she had in her bag.
Guttenberg at one point asked, “Can we also agree that not everybody should have access to a weapon?” To this, Cruz replied, “of course,” adding that he believes laws should be focused on “felons and fugitives and those with serious mental illnesses” rather than restricting the rights of law-abiding citizens.
