Gohmert Defends Access To Assault Weapons

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Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) defended the right to purchase assault weapons, saying it is a right enshrined in the Second Amendment, during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.” Gohmert said the country needs an “open-minded conversation” about gun violence because people’s emotional reaction to tragedies like the shooting in Newtown, Conn., is to call for stricter gun laws.

“Well, for the reason George Washington said a free people should be an armed people,” Gohmert said, responding to a question on why people need assault weapons. “It ensures against the tyranny of the government. If they know that the biggest army is the American people, then you don’t have the tyranny that came from King George. That is why it was put in there, that’s why once you start drawing the line, where do you stop? And that’s why it is important to not just look emotionally, our reaction, Chris, is to immediately say, ‘let’s get rid of all guns.'” 

Gohmert argued that more guns would lessen gun violence, saying he wished the principle at Sandy Hook Elementary School that was attacked Friday had been armed. “I wish to god she had had an M-4 in her office, locked up so when she heard gunfire, she pulls it out and she didn’t have to lunge heroically with nothing in her hands, but she takes him out, takes his head off before he can kill those precious kids,” he said.

Gohmert said mass killers choose locations where they know there will not be any armed resistance: “Every mass killing of more than three people in recent history has been in a place where guns were prohibited. These — except for one, they choose this place, they know no one ill be armed.”

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