Chris Matthews: Opponents of background checks "don’t accept an African-American president"

 What does the Second Amendment have to do with race? 

CHRIS MATTHEWS: To everybody watching, this isn’t just about guns — is about guns. It is about this war in this country, that’s gotten more divided, more polarized. And it’s about symbols like telling you you can’t have certain kinds of gun. You need certain kinds of freedoms with your gun, like no background checks. Or that you have an African-American president.

… I don’t know if he’s burning books there or not. Let me tell you, Kasie [Hunt], it’s a lot that lays on your shoulders. I have to tell you this. I see a far bigger fight than over background checks and gun shows. It’s culture war. They don’t accept an African-American president or president of color who has some antecedence in Africa. No. It has to be us or him. And our guns or him. And everything is totemic; everything is iconic; everything’s fighting words. What was it feeling like down there? Didn’t they react when they hear this kind of talk?

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