'The View' hosts defend gun ownership as check to tyranny after years of show criticizing gun rights

Co-hosts of "The View," a show known for staunch liberal stances like criticizing gun advocacy, found themselves defending the Second Amendment as a check to government power after the killing of Alex Pretti,

As the show discussed the shooting death of the 37-year-old on Saturday by Border Patrol agents, a clip of Homeland Security Secretary Noem was shown where she said, "I don't know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign." Pretti was carrying a gun at the time of the incident but appeared to be disarmed before he was fatally shot.

After co-host Whoopi Goldberg accused Noem and other public officials of lying about the nature of the incident, co-host Sunny Hostin agreed. 

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"I think your point is extremely important because we see now that the government lies to the American people, and they also flout the Second Amendment and Minnesota law," Hostin said. "Because Alex Pretti, while he did have a concealed weapon, he had a permit-"

"He was allowed to carry it," Goldberg agreed.

"There is no question that you can protest, exercising your First Amendment right to peacefully assemble in Minnesota, while having that handgun," Hostin said.

Co-host Sara Haines recalled that a former boyfriend carried his weapon legally to all manner of places, as he had the proper license to do so, but recalled a historical fact about the Second Amendment. 

"And the birth of the Second Amendment was about the people being able to protect themselves in case the government was to turn on them," she said.

"It's for this very same thing," Hostin said.

"Exactly what's happening right now," Haines continued. "I'm guessing he carries this wherever he goes, whatever, but this is a prime example of what people were allowed to protect themselves against was to carry that weapon."

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Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former Trump aide, said her "jaw was on the floor" hearing what she described as officials "denying the existence of the Second Amendment, something that is sacrosanct in the Republican Party."

"The View" has a long history of condemning gun rights and questioning the Second Amendment.

While Hostin defended the Second Amendment on Monday's episode of "The View" as intended to hold government in check, she sang a different tune in 2021. That year, she summarized that, according to a book she read, "the right to bear arms was designed to protect slavery because our Founding Fathers, and others, wanted to be able to empower a local militia group to basically put down a slave revolt and protect plantation owners."

In 2022, Goldberg juxtaposed abortion with gun rights after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, arguing that while it may be understandable to have a shotgun for hunting, Republicans who took away abortion rights should prepare to have their AR-15s taken away in return.

"OK, you can have your [shotgun] but you can't have your AR-15. If you are going to get all in my business and tell me what my family can and cannot do, neither can you. They're going to come for those AR-15s and you better get ready to give them up," she said. "Because this is America. We were supposed to be able to do things and be the people we wanted to be, and now we are in a crazy place."

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More recently, after the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump in 2024 in Butler, Pa., the co-hosts of "The View" suggested America's "obsession" with owning guns is the problem.

"I say now is the time to talk about the common denominator when it came to this assassination attempt, is America's fascination and obsession with owning guns," Hostin said after condemning political violence. 

The same co-host went on to say that she feared the incident would spark rhetoric about needing more "good guys with guns."