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About four percent of the population of the tiny town of Sutherland Springs, Texas, was killed on Sunday in a mass shooting at First Baptist Church. (Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Trump Slammed for Claiming Gun Control Would Have Left 'Hundreds More' Dead in Texas
"This myth must end," say critics following president's outlandish use of debunked NRA talking point
Nov 07, 2017
Gun control advocates pushed back on Tuesday against President Donald Trump's claim that stricter gun regulations would have led to "hundreds more dead" in Sunday's shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
On Sunday, Devin Patrick Kelley massacred 26 people--half of them children--using an AR-15 assault rifle while they worshiped at the local First Baptist Church. After Kelley went outside he exchanged gunfire with a neighbor, who then chased him from the scene.
In a press conference in Seoul, South Korea, the president chastised a reporter for daring to bring up the shooting before reluctantly answering her question about whether he would consider any legislation to make it harder for people to buy guns, in light of two of the nation's deadliest mass shootings taking place in a span of five weeks.
"If [the neighbor] didn't have a gun, instead of having 26 dead," Trump claimed, "you would have had hundreds more dead."
But as journalist John Ladarola said in response, "There is absolutely no evidence for that statement."
The notion that "good guys with guns" are a necessary feature of society in order to keep citizens safe has been aggressively pushed by the National Rifle Association and parroted by Trump and other Republicans for years, despite a mountain of evidence that countries with less gun ownership experience far fewer shootings.
As has become customary after a mass killing, news outlets including the New York Times have published reports this week showing the clear correlation between the prevalence of firearms in the U.S. and that of shootings in churches, schools, and other public places. With six times as many guns as any other nation, the U.S. has experienced more than 90 mass shootings in the past five decades, while no other country has had more than 18.
On social media, a number of critics expressed a lack of patience with Trump's perfunctory use of the NRA's talking point--one that has become as predictable as mass shootings themselves.
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Gun control advocates pushed back on Tuesday against President Donald Trump's claim that stricter gun regulations would have led to "hundreds more dead" in Sunday's shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
On Sunday, Devin Patrick Kelley massacred 26 people--half of them children--using an AR-15 assault rifle while they worshiped at the local First Baptist Church. After Kelley went outside he exchanged gunfire with a neighbor, who then chased him from the scene.
In a press conference in Seoul, South Korea, the president chastised a reporter for daring to bring up the shooting before reluctantly answering her question about whether he would consider any legislation to make it harder for people to buy guns, in light of two of the nation's deadliest mass shootings taking place in a span of five weeks.
"If [the neighbor] didn't have a gun, instead of having 26 dead," Trump claimed, "you would have had hundreds more dead."
But as journalist John Ladarola said in response, "There is absolutely no evidence for that statement."
The notion that "good guys with guns" are a necessary feature of society in order to keep citizens safe has been aggressively pushed by the National Rifle Association and parroted by Trump and other Republicans for years, despite a mountain of evidence that countries with less gun ownership experience far fewer shootings.
As has become customary after a mass killing, news outlets including the New York Times have published reports this week showing the clear correlation between the prevalence of firearms in the U.S. and that of shootings in churches, schools, and other public places. With six times as many guns as any other nation, the U.S. has experienced more than 90 mass shootings in the past five decades, while no other country has had more than 18.
On social media, a number of critics expressed a lack of patience with Trump's perfunctory use of the NRA's talking point--one that has become as predictable as mass shootings themselves.
Gun control advocates pushed back on Tuesday against President Donald Trump's claim that stricter gun regulations would have led to "hundreds more dead" in Sunday's shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
On Sunday, Devin Patrick Kelley massacred 26 people--half of them children--using an AR-15 assault rifle while they worshiped at the local First Baptist Church. After Kelley went outside he exchanged gunfire with a neighbor, who then chased him from the scene.
In a press conference in Seoul, South Korea, the president chastised a reporter for daring to bring up the shooting before reluctantly answering her question about whether he would consider any legislation to make it harder for people to buy guns, in light of two of the nation's deadliest mass shootings taking place in a span of five weeks.
"If [the neighbor] didn't have a gun, instead of having 26 dead," Trump claimed, "you would have had hundreds more dead."
But as journalist John Ladarola said in response, "There is absolutely no evidence for that statement."
The notion that "good guys with guns" are a necessary feature of society in order to keep citizens safe has been aggressively pushed by the National Rifle Association and parroted by Trump and other Republicans for years, despite a mountain of evidence that countries with less gun ownership experience far fewer shootings.
As has become customary after a mass killing, news outlets including the New York Times have published reports this week showing the clear correlation between the prevalence of firearms in the U.S. and that of shootings in churches, schools, and other public places. With six times as many guns as any other nation, the U.S. has experienced more than 90 mass shootings in the past five decades, while no other country has had more than 18.
On social media, a number of critics expressed a lack of patience with Trump's perfunctory use of the NRA's talking point--one that has become as predictable as mass shootings themselves.
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