Alyssa Milano tells Ted Cruz that she has two guns at home for self-defense, shares hug after meeting
Actress and gun control activist Alyssa Milano, during a debate with Texas Senator Ted Cruz, revealed that she had two guns at home for self-defense. The actress met Cruz after the pair traded barbs over Twitter on gun control recently and the former challenged the Republican senator for a meeting, saying she would "love to come in and meet" him, adding, "we can live-stream the meeting so the American people can hear your b******t 1st hand."
The debate was organized on September 11 at Cruz's Capitol Hill office, where Milano and anti-gun activist Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter was shot dead in the Parkland shooting in 2018, discussed multiple gun control proposals with Cruz.
The actress, during the meeting, proposed restricting access to AR-15s, universal background checks, and background checks for bullet purchases. She also insisted that "we all believe in the Second Amendment," however, she added that "we have to try everything, and figure out what works. Isn’t that worth it?” Guttenberg, nearly 13 minutes into the discussion, said he was offended by the senator's argument that gun control reforms would erode Americans' rights to self -defense. "That’s a load of BS. Nobody’s trying to remove your right to self-defense," he said.
At that point, Milano interjected, saying: "By the way. I have two guns in my household for self-defense, just so you know." The actress is known for her support of gun control as she pushed for universal background checks, on June 1, 2019, after the deadly Virginia Beach shooting that left 12 people dead. Milano, on May 5, 2018, had also led a protest against Vice President Mike Pence at the NRA’s 2018 convention in Dallas, Texas. There have been nearly 10,000 gun violence-related deaths so far this year in the United States.
The meeting between Milano and Cruz occurred after the actress responded to Republican Texas state Rep. Matt Schaefer's tweet. Schaefer, in his tweet, had stated that he was "NOT going to use the evil acts of a handful of people to diminish the God-given rights of my fellow Texans. Period. None of these so-called gun-control solutions will work to stop a person with evil intent." His comment came in the wake of a shooting rampage in Odessa, Texas, that led to the loss of seven lives, and injured 22 others.
Hours after Schaefer's tweet, Milano, responded on Twitter by asking: "Can someone cite which passage of the Bible God states it is a god-given right to own a gun?" The actress also accused the Texas politician of being "unbelievable and clearly owned by the gun lobby."
Senator Cruz quickly caught on to Milano's tweet, writing that hers was an "excellent" question "worth considering [without] the snark of Twitter." He then went on, in a series of ten tweets, to cite a few examples from the Bible which, according to him, related to her question.
Daily Mail reported that after the meeting, Milano tweeted: 'I just left. He was gracious. I'm unsure if it changes anything. But appreciative for the opportunity to bridge the divide with civil, meaningful, discussion." They even shared a hug while leaving.