San Bernardino, CA – Doubling down on statements made following the community college shooting in Roseburg, Oregon, GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson said in a Fox and Friends interview Thursday that more people in the San Bernardino mass shooting should have rushed the gunmen.
“I’m trying to educate people on what to do during shootings.” Carson appeared frustrated that more victims are not heeding his advice. “There were more people killed in San Bernardino, which is good because that means more people got close to the gunmen, but not enough to subdue the assailants. Fifty, sixty, maybe even one hundred people need to rush at an armed person with an assault rifle to stop them. Will the majority of those people die? Absolutely, but it will stop the shooter.”
When told during a press conference about Carson’s advice, FBI Special Agent in Charge David Bowditch removed his iPhone and started tapping quickly, “I’m calculating if I can retire before that idiot becomes my boss.” Appearing disappointed in the math, SAC Bowditch said, “Yep, if Ben Carson becomes President, official policy will be to run toward the bullets.”
Other republican candidates weighed in on the tragedy. Frontrunner Donald Trump said, “every white American should own and carry an assault rifle, that’s the only way we end these types of killings.” When asked if African Americans should carry rifles, Trump said “the Blacks? What are you nuts? You can’t give the blacks guns.”
Trump’s statements offended NAACP president Cornell Williams, but he also agreed in part. “The police shoot us when we are unarmed, imagine if we all had guns.” Trump responded, “see, the blacks love me, I’m huge with the blacks.”
Ben Carson also supports the idea of arming more Americans. “If the Jews all had guns, things would have ended different for Hitler.” Bernie Sanders tweeted, “Again with the Hitler?” Trump tweeted back, “the Jews love me, I’m huge with the Jews.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) introduced law today that would have added known terrorists to the list of individuals prohibited from buying firearms. Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said that legislation prohibiting known terrorists from buying firearms was dead on arrival.
In a statement, NRA president Allan Cors was quick to applaud McConnell. We will never support any infringement on our second amendment rights. Asked if he feared political pressure following the San Bernardino shooting would force change to gun laws, Cors said, “Nothing changed after a bunch of white children from Connecticut were killed. The Inland Empire? No, I’m not worried.”
