Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) cracked a couple gun rights jokes on the campaign trail last week, just a few days after the mass shooting at a historic black church in Charleston that left nine dead.
“You know the great thing about the state of Iowa is, I’m pretty sure you all define gun control the same way we do in Texas — hitting what you aim at,” Cruz said at a town hall event in Iowa, according to the Huffington Post.
He told the audience in Red Oak, Iowa, that he recently went to a New Hampshire gun range that had “incredible full autos” along with his wife, Heidi.
“My wife, Heidi, who’s 5’2, blonde, a petite California blonde, she was standing at the tripod unloading the full machine gun with a pink baseball cap that said ‘armed and fabulous,'” he said.
Following the event, Cruz criticized Democrats for tying the Charleston shooting to gun control reform when asked about the attack.
“It’s sad to see the Democrats take a horrific crime and try to use it as an excuse, not to go after people with serious mental illness or people who are repeat felons or criminals, but rather try to use it as an excuse to take away Second Amendment rights of law abiding citizens,” he said.
And when asked why some Republicans have not said that the attack was motivated by racist views, he said that the shooting “appears to be racially driven.”
During an event at a shooting range on Saturday, Cruz again made a joke about gun rights, according to the Huffington Post.
“There’s a famous saying, praise the Lord and pass the ammunition,” he said. “There is a reason why the Second Amendment is right after the First.”
Cruz was forced to apologize earlier this month for making a joke about Vice President Joe Biden shortly after his son, Beau, passed away following a battle with brain cancer.
“It was a mistake to use an old joke about Joe Biden during his time of grief, and I sincerely apologize,” Cruz said earlier in June. “The loss of his son is heartbreaking and tragic, and our prayers are very much with the Vice President and his family.”
Watch video of his remarks, courtesy of the Huffington Post:
