Geraldo Rivera engaged in a fiery debate with fellow Fox News "The Five" co-hosts, particularly Eric Bolling, over the issue of gun control, demanding at one point the names of all those who receive money from the National Rifle Association have their names published for the world to see – and then dropping this bombshell: Yes, I'm a member of the lobby group.
"The Five" debate centered on the recent Oregon community college mass shooting, and the potential for universal background checks to prevent such violence from re-occurring. Bolling said universal checks only hurt poor people; Rivera, however, favored them.
Bolling: "What the gun show loophole is ... if you are a gun seller, you have to have a background check on you."
He also said only a "very small percentage" of guns are sold by private individuals to others, and in "30 states out of 50, you do not need an extended background check.
"They want to close that loophole so that every single gun sold to anyone requires a background check," Bolling said.
And Rivera's response?
"Good," he said.
Bolling: "Here's what happens with universal background checks ... poor people ... will have to make choices between buying this gun to protect my family or feeding my family. Sometimes it can be in New York upwards of $80. In Maryland it's $200 just for the background check. People can't afford to protect their own families, instead they decide not to buy the gun."
Rivera, however, said universal checks were still the way to go.
"This is a gun-sick nation, 330 million weapons in this county," Rivera said, detailing how the oversight would identify those who buy guns every week and allow the government or seller to question the buyer's need for so many firearms. "You need universal backgruond checks. It's like a no-brainer."
Bolling: "The bad guys, the gangbangers, aren't buying their guns fron a licensed dealer."
Rivera also said "there should be one armed guard in every educational institution," but that "students and others" shouldn't carry guns on school properties. And his other idea?
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He said: "The NRA is running the Republican half of the Congress of the United States. I want to know who takes money from the NRA and I think it should be published. I want to know everyone takes money from the NRA to have their name published."
Bolling then asked Rivera, "Aren't you an NRA member?"
And Rivera quickly replied, "Yes."