Elon Musk weighs in on gun control debate, supports ‘tight’ background checks

Yahoo Finance Live anchors discuss Elon Musk's views on gun control reforms in light of the recent school shooting in Texas.

Video transcript

DAVE BRIGGS: Two days after the deadly elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 students and two teachers were killed, it's, again, a stark reality that Congress neither has the will nor the votes to change gun laws. But Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who recently said he'll be voting Republican this year, made his clear-- feelings clear on the issue, calling for tighter laws, tweeting this, assault rifles should be at minimum require a special permit where the recipient is extremely well vetted.

Elon also emailed CNBC that he supports, quote, "tight background checks for all gun sales and limiting sales of assault weapons to people in special circumstances, like gun range owners or people who live in high risk locations, like gang warfare." Credit Elon Musk, once again, Seana, for speaking out. Did he miss?

SEANA SMITH: I think he missed. I think that last statement you just read that he sent to CNBC, I don't think that's the answer. I don't think we should be allowing those types of guns in-- even if you live in a high crime area. I don't think that is a strong argument for why we should have those types of guns out there on the street.

My second piece of-- or my big takeaway from this is, Elon Musk should call Governor Abbott. Why not? He would take your call. He would take your call in a second. You are a massive employer in the state of Texas. You recently moved Tesla's headquarters to the state. SpaceX has a presence there. You live in Texas now. Has massive implications economically for the state, something that Governor Abbott, obviously, is very, very worried about and something that he is, obviously, very in tune with. So give him a call and see what he says. Rachelle, what do you think?

RACHELLE AKUFFO: I mean, we're seeing, obviously, Elon weighing in, in some of these political issues. A lot of people, when he didn't say anything within the first, like, 10 or so hours of the shooting, really wanted to get his take. And then, of course, when he gave his take, it wasn't very well received. And I think, as you mentioned there, you have the ear of Abbott there. You also have the ear of millions of followers.

So if politics or perhaps knowledge about gun laws isn't your strength, perhaps take advice from those who do know better before sort of weighing in with some of these things. I do believe that he missed the mark there. And he also did say, you know, why is the media doing exactly what the mass murderers want by giving them the attention? You have to keep in mind, people have a vested interest in wanting to know that their children are safe and that something is being done about it. So I do believe he missed the mark on it.

DAVE BRIGGS: Yeah, alternative is the media ignoring the most important story in the country. And look, he moved from California, where they were pro-choice and anti-gun, to Texas, where we all know the laws there. So he's clearly putting his wallet ahead of his morals and his principles. As long as he knows that, he can continue to weigh in. But we'll continue to discuss Elon Musk.