Falling back on the old conservative talking point that says the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun obtained through a country’s laughably lax gun control regulations is through the actions of a good guy with a gun, obtained through a country’s laughably lax gun control regulations, Donald Trump made it clear today that he thinks America’s firearm-crazy culture was the only thing that stopped more people from dying during Sunday’s mass shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Trump was asked about the massacre—which ended with 26 people dead after thoughts and prayers somehow failed to protect them from one insane person armed with an AR-556 assault rifle—today during his current trip to South Korea, responding to a question about tightening U.S. gun controls with, “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 in his truck and shoot him, and hit him and neutralize him.”
Trump then embarked on a medley of classic NRA-friendly deflections, including, “This is a mental health issue,” “gun control laws don’t work,” and even his old signature closer, “What about the murders in Chicago?” At no point, meanwhile, did he acknowledge the idea that stronger gun legislation—the kind in place in most other countries on the planet, which suffer mass shootings at a fraction of the rate of the U.S.—might have stopped the shooter himself from getting his hands on a rifle, an act that would presumably have dropped Sunday’s death count down to “0,” instead of the “26" we’re apparently supposed to count ourselves lucky for having gotten away with.
[via CNN]