NYTimes Columnist Claims Wall St. Execs Afraid Trump Will Arrest Them If They Back Gun Control

New York Times columnist and CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin isn’t exactly a neutral observer in the gun control debate. It was Sorkin, you might recall, who started the push for gun store-specific Merchant Category Codes as a way to “control gun sales if Washington won’t” back in 2018. Since then he’s used his perch in the media to repeatedly lobby for businesses to enact their own anti-gun policies and practices, so it’s clear that the columnist has a particular viewpoint that he brings to the table.

I disagree with Sorkin, but he has a right to his opinion. I have to say though, that his anti-gun advocacy makes me less inclined to take his reporting at face value when he’s supposedly repeating what others are unwilling to say publicly. 

Wall Street executives are staying silent on the need for gun laws in the wake of the shooting in Manhattan this week, in part because they fear President Donald Trump would find a reason to throw them in jail for it, New York Times columnist and “Sqawk Box” co-host Andrew Ross Sorkin told MSNBC’s Ari Melber on Thursday evening. 

… “After this horrific shooting that happened in Midtown Manhattan earlier this week, I wrote something in The New York Times about how business leaders, this is one of those opportunities to have a reasonable conversation about gun violence in America,” said Sorkin. “And a couple of CEOs called me up — by the way, mostly Democrats, but a couple of Republicans, too, who said, yeah, we should be having that conversation, but I can’t have that conversation because right now I’ll lose that conversation. There’s no winning in that conversation. And I said to them, ‘Well, what happens if you spoke out on this issue, really?’ And one of them said, ‘Well, the president, if he wants to put me in jail, he can put me in jail.”

“Now, I think some of them don’t think they’re going to go to jail, but they think they’re going to make my life difficult with the business,” Sorkin added. “They’re going to make my life difficult with this or that or who knows what.”

That’s a similar take to what Sorkin wrote a couple of days ago in the Times:

… in this very fraught political moment, there is virtually no appetite to touch this topic in public or in private. Unfortunately, I don’t see that changing. Companies view engaging in any discussion that could be described as a “social issue” as simply too high a cost. But if the cost is that of the life of an employee, killed in cold blood, what would it take to speak out?

I suppose its possible that some of Sorkin’s CEO buddies reached out to him after that column to express their fears, but it’s also possible that Sorkin is relying on anonymous sources to push his own talking points. 

I just find it hard to believe that Wall Street execs are so afraid of Donald Trump locking them up for expressing support for a gun ban that they’re keeping mum. After all, New York City Mayor Eric Adams has pushed for new gun laws in the wake of the shooting, and he’s been cozying up to Trump in recent months. 

For that matter, the NRA has come out this week with their stated concerns about the DOJ’s proposed rule to give prohibited persons a pathway to have their Second Amendment rights restored. I don’t think NRA-ILA Executive Director John Commerford or NRA Executive Vice President Doug Hamlin are worried about being thrown in jail as a result of their criticism, nor should they be. 

I’ve been equally critical of the proposal, as well as some of the other positions DOJ has taken since Trump’s second term began, and I don’t stay up at night wondering if the ATF is lurking outside my door because of what I’ve said. If any CEOs are truly biting their tongue because they’re terrified of what might happen to them because they speak their mind, it’s because they’re cowards.

Of course, these CEO’s might also just be telling Sorkin what he wants to hear in order to curry favor with a pretty powerful financial journalist. Maybe they don’t want to speak up about “assault weapon” bans or restrictions on the right to carry because they’re not in favor of those things. 

Again, that’s assuming that Sorkin really did have these conversations and isn’t just making them up to make himself look better. After all, he’s not afraid to speak up in this “very fraught political moment”, is he? Oh no, he’s so brave for pushing for more gun laws in the wake of the shooting in Manhattan, knowing that Donald Trump might sic the DOJ, FCC, or other federal agencies on him. 

I don’t know if Sorkin’s telling the truth, and ultimately, I don’t really care what his CEO pals think. Banning guns doesn’t stop crime, but it does violate our constitutional rights. We’re currently witnessing a staggering drop in violent crime and homicides, all while more than 59 million guns have been sold over the last 59 months. We don’t need more gun laws to keep us safe. We need to focus on violent and prolific offenders, fix our broken mental health system so dangerous individuals aren’t spit back onto the streets, and ensure that responsible Americans (including C-suite executives) can protect themselves with a firearm if they choose to do so. 

Editor’s Note: The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie about gun owners and our Second Amendment rights.

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