Trump during the bipartisan meeting. | Photo: YouTube/CNN
Donald Trump is continuing to double down on his belief that more firearms are needed to curb mass shootings, not less.
After the Florida school shooting this month, which killed 17 people, Trump suggested arming teachers. They don’t agree.
Now he’s bringing up the Pulse nightclub shooting of 2016, which resulted in 49 deaths and numerous wounded.
‘You take Pulse nightclub,’ he said in a televised meeting with lawmakers on Wednesday (28 February).
‘If you had one person in that room that could carry a gun and knew how to use it, it wouldn’t have happened, or certainly to the extent that it did.’
This, however, is blatantly untrue.
.@realDonaldTrump is continuing to spread lies about the Pulse nightclub shooting and spouting @NRA talking points instead of fighting for gun reform that would actually protect marginalized communities that are most targeted by gun violence. pic.twitter.com/nFoWcx8tYM
— GLAAD (@glaad) February 28, 2018
Both PolitiFact and FactCheck.org researched his statement and declared it false.
What’s the truth?
On the night of the Pulse nightclub shooting, a 15-year veteran of the Orlando Police Department, Adam Gruler, was working security. He was off-duty, but in uniform.
After the shooter, Omar Mateen, began opening fire, Gruler responded. He exchanged gunshots with Mateen.
A 200-page Justice Department report revealed Gruler also broadcast over his police radio, ‘Shots fired, shots fired, shots fired’. Other officers arrived about a minute after this call.
Mateen ultimately died in a shootout with law enforcement and a SWAT team.
Trump made similar comments at a campaign rally in 2016. When people criticized him, he defended himself on Twitter:
When I said that if, within the Orlando club, you had some people with guns, I was obviously talking about additional guards or employees
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2016
However, this is still false and is drawing ire from gun control activists.
The future of gun control is an abyss
There’s no clear path to gun control at this time.
During the same meeting yesterday, Trump made other bold and seemingly contradictory claims. He supported taking guns away from people deemed dangerous, despite violating due process of the law.
‘Take the guns first, go through due process second,’ he said.
According to CNN, a Democratic aide at the meeting simply emailed: ‘Holy shit.’
Another, in response to what they were witnessing, wrote: ‘I don’t know, man. We’ll see what happens, I guess.’
