Repbublican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Thursday evening railed against President Obama for attempting to “politicize” the deadly shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon.
“We hardly know any of the details about this horrific tragedy – What kind of gun was used? How did the shooter obtain it? What is the motive? Does the shooter have a history of mental illness? Was this an act of terror?” Huckabee wrote in a Facebook post. “With few facts, Obama is quick to admittedly politicize this tragedy to advance his liberal, anti-gun agenda. For this president to make a political pronouncement is at best premature and at worst ignorantly inflammatory.”
Huckabee instead blamed gun-free zones and “evil people doing evil things” for the shooting.
“Obama can shamelessly try and exploit any tragedy he wants, but it’s clear that gun free zones are sitting duck zones,” the former governor wrote. “His passion is grossly misplaced into destroying the Second Amendment. There were 50 shootings in Chicago the past two weekends and this administration failed to utter a word. Gun violence is a problem in this country, but it’s not the fault of the Second Amendment it’s the fault of evil people doing evil things.”
After the shooting that left at least ten people dead, Obama called on lawmakers to enact gun control reforms, acknowledging that he was politicizing the issue.
“Somebody somewhere will comment and say, Obama politicized this issue,” he said. “Well this is something we should politicize. It is relevant to our common life together, to the body politic.”