Jeb Bush kick-started the Republican Party’s conversation on doing nothing to protect our children from gun violence when he dismissed the role of government in creating safe communities by saying, “stuff happens,” but this is a common theme from other candidates. Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, John Kasich, and the rest of the GOP field have parroted Bush this week, blaming victims, mental health issues, or both.
Even today, Bush argued that more guns in more hands is the solution, saying in Muscatine, Iowa, “I think it reduces crime to have people have concealed weapons permits.” But, as the Washington Post reported, it’s “a stretch to say such laws are a slam-dunk reason for why crimes have decreased.”
Here’s what the GOP field has to say about gun violence:
Jeb Bush: “It’s just — it’s very sad to see, but I resist the notion, and I did — I had this challenge as governor. Because we had, look, stuff happens, there’s always a crisis. And the impulse is always to do something, and it’s not always the right thing to do.”
Marco Rubio: “We have a serious societal problem…But we’re focusing too much on what it is people are using to commit violence, and not enough on why it is that people are committing violence…These gun laws just aren’t effective at preventing this.”
- Rubio: “Guns are what they’re using to commit the violence. And, again, in many of these cases, the laws that are actually being proposed wouldn’t have prevented them.”
Ben Carson: “Obviously, there are those that are going to be calling for gun control, but that happens every time we have one of these incidents. Obviously, that’s not the issue.”
- Carson: “Of course it is the person behind the gun — guns don’t kill people.”
John Kasich: “I don’t believe that gun control would stop this…I don’t think any president can stop mass shootings.”
Carly Fiorina: “So, before we start calling for more laws, I think we ought to consider why we don’t enforce the laws we have.”
Bobby Jindal: “The left comes out and says, ‘We need to talk away people’s freedoms,’ yet nobody seems to want to talk about the root cause of why these keep happening…We’ve got a culture now that no longer protects — that no longer values innocent human lives, from conception to death.”
- Jindal: “What I’m not for: Too many times, politicians try to use these tragic events as an excuse to pursue their agendas when it comes to gun control. I’m not for restrictions on law abiding Americans’ right to have guns.”
Mike Huckabee: “We have not so much a gun problem; we have a problem with sin and evil…I hear people say, ‘We just have to do something.’ Well, we need to do something that makes sense and something that actually helps.”
Chris Christie: “I don’t think there is [a correlation between New Jersey’s tough gun laws and its low murder rate]…In many of the places around this country where they have the toughest gun laws, they have the highest violent crime rates.”
Published: Oct 7, 2015