MSNBC's Joe Scarborough sounded off Monday against the Republicans threat to filibuster new gun legislation, saying the GOP has become a party that puts "rapists' rights over parents' rights."
Scarborough criticized the filibuster — which was spearheaded by Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Mike Lee (R-Utah) — of being a cheap play to the conservative base. And he warned that it could have larger ramifications for the Republican Party.
"We've got an issue that's a 92-7 issue," Scarborough said, referring to public polling consistently finding around nine in 10 Americans supporting universal background checks on gun purchases.
"I can't believe that Republicans — first of all, aren't going to support it — but secondly, won't let background checks against rapists, people who have committed manslaughter in the past, people with mental illness, dangerous mental illness — I can't believe those Republicans are going to allow the entire Republican Party to be the party that basically put rapists' rights over parents' rights to keep their kids safe when they go to school."
Scarborough's comments came the morning after a moving 60 Minutes interview with some of the parents whose children died in the December elementary-school massacre in Newtown, Conn. The parents called on Congress to pass new measures, particularly focusing on background checks and a limit on magazine capacity.
"For my Republican Party, if they do filibuster, it's not like we've reached the end of history," Scarborough said.
"Maybe they believe this is the end of history, but it's going to happen again," he said of Newtown. "And when it happens again and 92 percent of Americans have asked them to do something and they didn't do it, it's going to have a devastating political impact on everybody."
Watch Scarborough's comments below, courtesy of MSNBC:
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SEE ALSO: John McCain: Republicans threatening to filibuster are 'afraid' of something >
AND: The Heart Wrenching '60 Minutes' Interview With The Newtown Families
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