Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe made a pitch for more gun control after a gunman opened fire at a congressional baseball practice Wednesday morning in Alexandria, wounding House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and three others.
“This is not what today is about, but there are too many guns on the street,” the Democratic governor said at a press conference.
Mr. McAuliffe cited background checks and “shutting down gun show loopholes” as needed steps to prevent further attacks, but reiterated that was a discussion for another day. One reporter asked the governor if he would be criticized for bringing up gun control so soon after the attack.
“We worry about this every day for all our citizens,” Mr. McAuliffe responded. “I talk about this every single day. This is a very serious issue.”
The governor gave a false statistic that “93 million” die every day due to gun violence, before he corrected himself to say “93 individuals.”
James T. Hodgkinson, identified as the suspect in Wednesday’s shooting rampage, died in hospital later that morning, President Trump announced during a press conference. Mr. Scalise, the two Capitol Police officers assigned to protect him, and an aide to Rep. Roger Williams were being treated at local hospitals.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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