For one shining moment during Thursday night’s GOP debate, Republican candidates were a united front: in no way would they consider restricting access to guns.
Donald Trump was the first to weigh in, being asked outright if there were “any circumstances” in which he would restrict access to guns. “No,” he said flatly. Trump, like so many others, buys into the idea of a “good guy with a gun” who can stand against violent criminals.
“If we had another gun in California on the other side, where the bullets were going in the opposite direction, we wouldn’t have 14 or 15 people dead right now,” he said, in reference to last month’s San Bernardino shooting. “It’s not the guns that pull the trigger, it’s the people that pull the trigger.”
Marco Rubio, next up, concurred. “The Second Amendment is not an option,” he said, speaking of Obama’s efforts towards gun control. “None of these incidents that the president points to as the reason why he’s doing these things would have been prevented. You know why? Because criminals don’t buy their guns at a gun show.” He continued, “Terrorists do not get their guns from a gun show.”
“So, what is the answer to stop mass shootings?” the moderators asked Cruz.
“The answer is simple. You prosecute criminals. You go after the bad guys.” A very simple answer, clearly.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT