President Trump insists tougher gun laws or stronger background checks for individuals wishing to purchase guns would not have stopped the mass shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas last weekend. Trump believes many more people would have been killed had another person armed with a gun not been nearby.
During a press conference in South Korea, President Trump was asked if he would consider extreme vetting for anyone wishing to purchase a gun.
Before responding to the question asked by NBC journalist Ali Vitali, President Trump took a deep breath and appeared to look irritated by what he was being asked by the reporter. Trump agrees to answer the question but also suggests it wasn’t really appropriate to address the issue “in the heart of South Korea.”
“If you did what you’re suggesting, there would have been no difference three days ago, and you might not have had that very brave person who happened to have a gun or a rifle in his truck go out and shoot him, and hit him and neutralize him,” Trump said in response to Vitali’s question.
“And I can only say this: If he didn’t have a gun, instead of having 26 dead, you would have had hundreds more dead. So that’s the way I feel about it. Not going to help,” Trump added.
Last week Sunday, Devin Patrick Kelley went inside the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas during service, killing 26 people using a semiautomatic assault rifle.
As the shooter left the church, Stephen Willeford, who lives nearby, grabbed his gun and confronted Kelley outside of the church and exchanged fire. Kelley was left wounded, but when police found him, he was dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Wilson County Sherriff Joe Tackett told CNN he considers Willeford “a hero” for his courage to confront Kelley and wound him. “Had he not done what he did, we could have lost more people,” he told CNN.
Reporter Ali Vitali followed by asking President Trump if he will consider any kind of gun control policies in the near future.
“Look at the city with the strongest gun laws in our nation — Chicago,” Trump said. “Chicago is a disaster, a total disaster. If this man did not have a gun or rifle it would have been a much worse situation in the great state of Texas.”
President Trump talks about gun control during news conference in South Korea
Trump on civilian who intervened in Texas shooting: “If he didn’t have a gun, instead of having 26 dead, you would have had hundreds more.” pic.twitter.com/K67H8HpF9J
— CNN (@CNN) November 7, 2017
