Speaking from the White House on Monday, Press Secretary Josh Earnest argued that common sense gun control measures should be implemented to "make the country a little safer" only days after nine black churchgoers were murdered in Charleston by a white racist.
When asked by ABC's Jonathan Karl if any of the gun control proposals the president had issued in the past would have prevented the massacre last week, Earnest couldn't give a direct answer — and admitted it was too early to tell.
"No Jon, we are obviously in the very early hours of what was an ongoing investigation that continues to this hour as well. The point that the president is making is that we all know there are some common sense steps that can be taken that don't undermine critically important Second Amendment rights, but would make our country safer, would make our kids a little safe and would make it hard for criminals and those with mental problems to get their hands on a weapon," Earnest said. "There is no piece of legislation that Congress can pass and that the president can sign into law that will eliminate every instance of gun violence in this country. But if there is legislation that Congress can pass that would even slightly reduce the number of incidents of gun violence in this country, then why on earth wouldn't they sign it? Why on earth wouldn't they pass it so the president could sign it?"
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"It's too early to say what kind of impact any kind of Congressional legislation would have had on this particular incident," Earnest continued.
The direct answer is no, none of the "common sense" proposals President Obama and his allies in Congress have put forward on gun control would have prevented Charleston.
And yet, Earnest stressed that President Obama is not giving up on the gun control issue, adding it's up to the American people to make clear to Congress that gun control should be a priority. He also acknowledged lawmakers are unlikely to act on what "the president believes is the best interest of the country."
"This is something that he is passionate about," Earnest said.
"It's the president's view that the only way this will change is when the American people make clear, not just what their position is on this issue, but that their position on this issue is a priority."
A recent Pew Poll shows the majority of Americans believe it should be a priority to protect gun rights, not to implement more gun control.
The bottom line is that the left, with the White House leading the way, is using what happened in Charleston as a way to push their gun control agenda forward, regardless of its relevance to what happened last week.
I'll leave you with this: according to the Charleston murderer's friend, the racist killer specifically chose the Emanuel A.M.E. Church because there was no security. It should also be noted that worshippers were unarmed due to a gun free zone church policy (bolding is mine).
Last week, while they were drinking in the back of Scriven’s house, Roof blurted out his plan about carrying out a mass shooting at the College of Charleston.
“I don’t think the church was his primary target because he told us he was going for the school,” Scriven said Friday. “But I think he couldn’t get into the school because of the security … so I think he just settled for the church.”
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