As the United States experiences more than one mass shooting per day, the issue of gun regulation is emerging as a hot topic on the 2016 presidential campaign trail. As Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has vowed to curb gun violence, Republican presidential candidates have refused calls for gun control in the wake of last week’s massacre at Umpqua Community College. Donald Trump told NBC’s Meet the Press that mass shooters are “geniuses in a certain way. They are going to be able to break the system.” John Kasich told the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, “I don’t think gun control would solve this problem. The deeper issue is alienation. The deeper issue is loneliness.” Ben Carson implied that the Oregon shooting victims didn’t do enough to save themselves, saying, “I would not just stand there and let him shoot me.” And Jeb Bush seemed to shrug off last week’s mass shooting, saying on Friday afternoon, “stuff happens.” We’re joined by Andy Parker, the father of 24-year-old broadcast journalist Alison Parker, who was shot dead on live television in August, and by Arkadi Gerney, senior vice president at the Center for American Progress who formerly worked with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on the national coalition, Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: The issue of gun regulation is emerging as a hot topic in the presidential—on the presidential campaign trail. On Monday, Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton vowed to curb gun violence.
HILLARY CLINTON: It’s the leading cause of death for young African-American men, the second leading cause for young Hispanic men, the fourth leading cause for young white men. This epidemic of gun violence knows no boundaries, knows no limits of any kind. And when this happens, people are quick to say that they offer their thoughts and prayers. That’s not enough. How many people have to die before we actually act, before we come together as a nation? I mean, ideally, what I would love to see is gun owners, responsible gun owners, hunters, form a different organization and take back the Second Amendment from these extremists.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidates have avoided any discussion of gun control in the wake of last week’s massacre at Umpqua Community College. Donald Trump told NBC’s Meet the Press that mass shooters are, quote, “geniuses in a certain way. They are going to be able to break the system.” Meanwhile, John Kasich told the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, quote, “I don’t think gun control would solve this problem. The deeper issue is alienation. The deeper issue is loneliness.” And Ben Carson implied that the Oregon shooting victims didn’t do enough to save themselves, and suggested he would have been more aggressive in confronting the attacker. And Jeb Bush seemed to shrug off last week’s mass shooting, saying on Friday afternoon, quote, “stuff happens.”
JEB BUSH: We’re in a difficult time in our country, and I don’t think more government is necessarily the answer to this. I think we need to reconnect ourselves with everybody else. 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 necessarily the right thing to do.
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