Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee rebuked President Obama’s comments on gun control as “ignorantly inflammatory” following Thursday’s shooting at Oregon’s Umpqua Community College.
Mr. Obama said during his press conference Thursday that mass shootings are “something we should politicize,” after nine people were killed and several others injured by shooting suspect Chris Harper Mercer.
Mercer was fatally shot by police at the campus.
Making the case for stricter gun control, Mr. Obama said, “We know that other countries, in response to one mass shooting, have been able to craft laws that almost eliminate mass shootings — friends of ours, allies of ours — Great Britain, Australia, countries like ours. So we know there are ways to prevent it.”
Incensed by the president’s conference, Mr. Huckabee took to his Facebook page.
“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?” the former Arkansas governor asked. “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.
“Obama can shamelessly try and exploit any tragedy he wants, but it’s clear that gun free zones are sitting duck zones,” Mr. Huckabee 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.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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