Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said Sunday that guns are only part of the discussion on how to prevent mass shootings like the ones in Texas and Ohio over the weekend.
“Are we going to talk about the role of guns? Certainly we are. But to think that this is just a gun issue that many people make it out to be is not right,” Mr. Mulvaney said on ABC’s “This Week.” “We’ve had guns in this country for hundreds of years. We haven’t had this until recently and we need to figure out why.”
“If we can agree on one thing as a nation — Democrat, Republican and independent, I don’t care — it is that crazy people like this should not have been able to get guns,” he said.
Dayton, Ohio, Mayor Nan Whaley said the person accused of killing at least nine people overnight near a bar was carrying a .223-caliber rifle and had multiple high-capacity magazines with him.
Mr. Mulvaney said social media should be part of the discussion. Authorities are investigating whether the man accused of killing at least 20 people Saturday in El Paso, Texas, also wrote a manifesto published online in which the author expressed fear that an influx of Hispanic voters into the U.S. could turn Texas blue.
“We’ve given a wide audience to these people. We’ve made them celebrities. We’ve allowed them to spew their hate without any restrictions whatsoever,” Mr. Mulvaney said. “I’m not saying we’re going to regulate social media -—I’m just saying we have to have a broad-based discussion about the causes here.”
He said President Trump has spoken with the governors of Texas and Ohio.
“The first call he made yesterday was to the attorney general to find out what we could do to prevent this type of thing from happening, what we could do to send a message to people, the sick people who would do this kind of stuff,” he said.
⦁ This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.