In the aftermath of the Annunciation Catholic School shooting in Minneapolis, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski went after Republicans for their history of resisting more gun control, and ignored the fact that Democrats run Minneapolis and have had complete control of Minnesota's state government as recently as 2024. Scarborough also bizarrely pined for a wish list of gun restrictions that Democrats have long wanted to enact nationally even though they have nothing to do with the circumstances of the Minneapolis shooting.
The show began with a clip of the principle of Annunciation Catholic School asking for both prayers and actions in reaction to the deadly attack, leading Brzezinski and Scarborough to start mocking Republicans for expressing condolences:
BRZEZINSKI: The principal of Annunciation Catholic School following yesterday's deadly shooting in Minnesota while young students were literally praying in mass. That is just, at this point, "thoughts and prayers"? No.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, you know, people that don't want to move their feet -- that don't want to do the work required to stop this killing will always say, "hopes and prayers, hopes and prayers," but, Mike, as Mika just said -- we talked yesterday while this was going on -- those young children, those young babies were praying and hoping for the start of a wonderful new year, and yet we've just seen it -- we've seen it way too much -- this has happened so much. It's been happening for 15, 20 years, and -- and, yes, you know, Mother Teresa said, "Pray as if there's no such thing as work, and work as if there's no such thing as prayer." It's about time members of Congress and people in Washington, D.C., start doing this and stop this madness.
A few minutes later, Scarborough complained about "bullshit excuses" as he put the onus on Republicans to change their views on the issue:
SCARBOROUGH: I mean, we have laws that are on the book that continue to allow crackpots to go into gun stores, get high-powered rifles and go and shoot up schools -- go and shoot up churches -- go shoot up country music concerts -- and seems to me Washington is far too -- far too comfortable doing that, letting that happen, and all the bullshit excuses and all this bullshit calls for this, that or the other. The kids were hoping and praying. So hope, pray, and act.
BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.
SCARBOROUGH: But Republicans won't do that third part in Congress. They just won't do the third part.
The MSNBC host's complaints about illegal guns, background checks, and people under 21 buying AR-15s fly in the face of the gunman being a 23-year-old man who passed a background check and legally purchased his weapons. Scarborough even seemed to suggest that people should be required to get a background check to receive a gun from a close relative like an uncle.
For his part, show regular Mike Barnicle declared that it was "truly warped" that America has so many guns, and, during an interview with Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), wanted to know how she can avoid screaming at Republicans on the Senate floor.
Transcript follows:
MSNBC's Morning Joe
August 28, 2025
6:00 a.m. Eastern(...)
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: The principal of Annunciation Catholic School following yesterday's deadly shooting in Minnesota while young students were literally praying in mass. That is just, at this point, "thoughts and prayers"? No.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Well, you know, people that don't want to move their feet -- that don't want to do the work required to stop this killing will always say, "hopes and prayers, hopes and prayers," but, Mike, as Mika just said -- we talked yesterday while this was going on -- those young children, those young babies were praying and hoping for the start of a wonderful new year, and yet we've just seen it -- we've seen it way too much -- this has happened so much. It's been happening for 15, 20 years, and -- and, yes, you know, Mother Teresa said, "Pray as if there's no such thing as work, and work as if there's no such thing as prayer." It's about time members of Congress and people in Washington, D.C., start doing this and stop this madness.
(...)
6:07 a.m.
SCARBOROUGH: And this is normal? No, there's nothing normal about this, and it's not a great mystery. It's just not a great mystery. I mean, we have laws that are on the book that continue to allow crackpots to go into gun stores, get high-powered rifles and go and shoot up schools -- go and shoot up churches -- go shoot up country music concerts -- and seems to me Washington is far too -- far too comfortable doing that, letting that happen, and all the bullshit excuses and all this bullshit calls for this, that or the other. The kids were hoping and praying. So hope, pray, and act.
BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.
SCARBOROUGH: But Republicans won't do that third part in Congress. They just won't do the third part.
BRZEZINSKI: They'll tell you now is not the time to talk about it.
SCARBOROUGH: And it keeps happening -- it keeps happening. I mean, I mean, how many mass shootings do we have? It keeps happening where crackpots get ahold of a gun, and they have more power in their hand than police officers do outside. Is that really what they want?
BRZEZINSKI: It's an American problem.
(...)
MIKE BARNICLE: One item that is for sure is there are more guns in America -- as the mayor of Minneapolis pointed out -- there are more guns floating around the United States of America than there are people living in the United States of America. There's something truly warped about that idea.
(...)
BARNICLE: What is it about this issue that prevents people from doing the common sense thing?
SCARBOROGH: By the way, it's not even the number of guns -- it's the illegal guns -- it's the ghost guns -- it's the illegal transfer of guns. You know, these people don't even want you to be able to monitor where AR-15s are being sold. There are people that can drive around -- and they do drive around the neighborhoods -- and they open up the back of their cars, and there are a lot of AR-15s and other weapons of war in back of their cars, and they sell it. One gang to another gang -- one person to another person -- one mentally deranged person to another mentally deranged person.
And so, "Oh, my uncle just wanted to hand me a gun, and I would have to go through all of this?!" Yeah, maybe, maybe, maybe until we get our arms around the illegal transfer of guns -- the fact that for most gun shootings, only what, three, four percent of those gun shootings are actually shot by the people who legally own the guns. Yeah, maybe we should do that.
(...)
If you see something, say something -- preemptive action making it harder for 18-year-olds to walk into gun shops, get AR-15s. I mean, making it harder for people to get weapons of war until they are screened -- we're not talking about making them illegal although about two-thirds of Americans would be fine taking -- making military-style weapons illegal. That's not even what we're talking about now. But if you're going to sell a weapon of war to an 18 or 19 or 20 or 21-year-old, you know, actually figure out -- as the First Lady says -- you know, let's do some preemptive screening to make sure that we're not going to have a tragedy like this happening.
(...)
7:13 a.m.
(during interview with Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN))
BARNICLE: How do you have the self control to go back to the floor of the United States Senate and not scream at the people who are opposed to common sense legislation? Scream at them?