Donald Trump: Stricter Gun Laws Will Not Prevent Mass Shootings
Republican frontrunner Donald Trump has expressed his stand in the gun control debate in the wake of the latest rampage shooting in Oregon on Thursday.
Last Saturday, Donald Trump spoke in front of a crowd gathered in Franklin, Tennessee to express his opinion regarding the hot debate on gun control. The Republican presidential candidate said he supports the Second Amendment and that lawmakers should focus on dealing with mental health when they make new gun policies in connection with the mass shootings, according to CBS News.
For Trump, the situation would have ended better if the teachers at Umpqua Community College in Oregon were armed. The mass shooting on Thursday left nine people dead. Instead of supporting U.S. President Barack Obama's call to implement stricter gun policies, Trump said that move will not help stop gun attacks, the National Post reports.
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"Every time something happens, they don't blame mental illness — that our mental healthcare is out of whack and all of the other problems. And by the way, it was a gun-free zone," CBS quotes Trump's statement on Saturday. "I will tell you — if you had a couple of the teachers or somebody with guns in that room, you would have been a hell of a lot better off."
Trump's statement comes at a time when the candidates in the 2016 presidential race are being scrutinized based on their response to the Oregon mass shooting. The billionaire slammed Jeb Bush for telling a crowd in South Carolina that "stuff happens" and that there will always be a crisis. Bush was talking about the government's response to national crises, the report relays.
Despite his critical comments against Bush, Trump later on echoed a similar thought when he was asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" on how to put a stop to shooting rampages. The real estate mogul said problems will always crop up "no matter what you do." But he emphasized the move to address mental health problems as part of the solution.
The gun rights stipulated in the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment remain a major issue among Republicans. Most of the GOP candidates, including Donald Trump, believe passing stricter gun laws will not help stop mass shootings in the country.
