After Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, reporters caught up with Gov. Tim Walz to get his thoughts on the showdown and clarify what he meant when he said he has befriended school shooters.
The comment came after CBS's Norah O'Donnell asked Walz to explain why he "previously opposed an assault weapons ban" but changed his position later in his political career.
TW: Yeah. I sat in that office with those Sandy Hook parents. I've become friends with school shooters. I've seen it. Look, the NRA. I was the NRA guy for a long time. They used to teach gun safety. I'm of an age where my shotgun was in my car so I could pheasant hunt after football practice. That's not where we live today. And several things I want to mention on this is talking about cities and where it's at. The number one, where the most firearm deaths happen in Minnesota are rural suicides. And we have an epidemic of children getting guns and shooting themselves. And so we have, and we should look at all of the issues, making sure folks have healthcare and all that. But I want to be very careful. This idea of stigmatizing mental health, just because you have a mental health issue doesn't mean you're violent. And I think what we end up doing is we start looking for a scapegoat. Sometimes it just is the guns. It's just the guns. And there are things that you can do about it. But I do think that this is one, and I think this is a healthy conversation. I think there's a capacity to find solutions on this that work, protect Second Amendment, protect our children. That's our priority.
"I've become friends with school shooters."
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 2, 2024
- Tim Walz pic.twitter.com/qPOuSUVXLn
While the Democratic vice presidential nominee responded to a reporter who asked what his strongest moment from the night was, he ignored the opportunity to explain the gaffe.
“I think it was a good debate, the public got to see a contrast and I think the ending sums it up, the democracy issue is important,” he said.
“Can you clarify what you meant when you said you befriended school shooters?” a reporter followed up.
But Walz kept his back turned to the reporters while looking at which pizza to order with his wife, missing the opportunity to say that he misspoke.
Gov. Tim Walz told reporters he thinks "it was a good debate" while ordering pizza with his wife at Justino's Pizzeria in New York.
— Ebony Davis (@ebonyjdavis) October 2, 2024
“I think it was a good debate. The public got to see a contrast, and I think the ending sums it up. The democracy issue is important." @Tim_Walz… pic.twitter.com/DzMHFgqoAb