After meeting with Ted Cruz to discuss gun control, actress and outspoken leftist Alyssa Milano had some nice things to say about the Republican senator.
The two had previously agreed to meet to discuss how to reduce gun violence and mass shootings in a way that would not infringe on Americans’ Second Amendment rights. The Washington Examiner reported that the discussion was “largely amicable” and Milano even said afterwards that Cruz “isn’t a villain.”
Alyssa Milano to Sen. Ted Cruz: "Your stance has made you almost like this caricature of a villain, and that's why this meeting was so important for me, because I wanted to look at you in the eye and know that you're really a human with a heartbeat." https://t.co/4oLjxn2bRy pic.twitter.com/NlDNUZMCWd
— The Hill (@thehill) September 12, 2019
Meeting Came Out of a Twitter Disagreement
The meeting between the two came about after they went back and forth on Twitter last week.
Milano tweeted, “Can someone cite which passage of the Bible God states it is a god-given right to own a gun? This guy is unbelievable and is clearly owned by the gun lobby. #NoRA”
Can someone cite which passage of the Bible God states it is a god-given right to own a gun? This guy is unbelievable and is clearly owned by the gun lobby. #NoRA https://t.co/PxVV1RoV2Z
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) September 1, 2019
RELATED: Ted Cruz Schools Alyssa Milano With a Lesson On Our God-Given Right to Self Defense
Cruz bit, writing, “An excellent Q, worth considering carefully w/o the snark of Twitter. It is of course not the right to a modern-day firearm that is God-give[n] but rather the right to Life & the right to Liberty. Essential to that right to life is the right to DEFEND your life & your family.”
An excellent Q, worth considering carefully w/o the snark of Twitter. It is of course not the right to a modern-day firearm that is God-give but rather the right to Life & the right to Liberty. Essential to that right to life is the right to DEFEND your life & your family. 1/x https://t.co/8pjstMGrGB
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 1, 2019
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Cruz then cited a bible passage about self-defense, adding that many have defended themselves with guns.
“Playing politics w/ these deranged crimes—and trying to use them as an excuse to violate the constl rights of law-abiding citizens—won’t make anybody safer,” Cruz said. “Forcible gun confiscation (as some 2020 Dems urge) won’t prevent mass-murders. But it would weaken our self-defense.”
2/x The right to self-defense is recognized repeatedly in the Bible, eg Exodus 22:2: “If a thief is caught breaking in at night & is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed.” (Note, though, verse 3 says it IS murder if during daylight (ie, not self-defense).
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 1, 2019
Cruz continued with a flurry of tweets, essentially giving Milano a thorough lesson on gun rights.
Agreeing to Meet
Milano responded to Cruz the next day, saying she would “love to come in and meet with you on the gun issue and many other issues that include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The actress said that she would be in Washington, D.C., where she and Cruz could “live-stream the meeting so the American people can hear your bullsh** 1st hand.”
Cruz said no problem and the two got together.
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My interview with @ChrisCuomo on my meeting with Senator Cruz on the gun violence epidemic #NoRA pic.twitter.com/9QFBkjbNG7
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) September 12, 2019
What Did They Learn?
Afterwards, Milano explained her decision to meet with Cruz in a CNN op-ed.
“Cruz and I agree on very little. He is a stalwart conservative; I am a committed progressive,” Milano wrote. “I know we didn’t change his mind on how we fix gun violence in America. And he didn’t change ours. But maybe we understand one another a little better.”
“Here’s what I came away with that I wasn’t so sure of before the meeting: Ted Cruz is a human being,” Milano said. “He is a real person. He isn’t a villain in a movie. He cares when these shootings happen. When people on my side of this fight say he doesn’t, they’re wrong.”
Props to Milano–it’s big of her to see someone she disagrees with’s humanity, instead of just doubling down on partisan hate.
Alyssa Milano still wants Ted Cruz to support gun control, which will likely never happen. But their meeting did prove one thing: Events you believe will never happen, can!