Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said she was left “speechless” by Jeb Bush’s comments on getting the federal government out of gun control.
“The federal government shouldn’t be involved in gun laws because the country’s very different,” Bush said at La Progresiva Presbyterian School in Miami when asked if he believed in gun control. “You go to a rural area, where guns are part of the culture, (and) to impose laws from Washington that are going to work in New York City, or work in a rural area, makes no sense.”
Bush spokeswoman Kristy Campbell said after the event he was referring to the creation of new laws, CNN reported. “Governor Bush is a supporter of the Second Amendment. He doesn’t believe new federal gun laws are the answer,” Campbell said.
Bush told the audience that more gun laws “doesn’t necessarily solve the problems of these isolated sad, tragic cases.”
Wasserman Schultz said in a statement released by the DNC that “in claiming that there is no role for the federal government in regulating gun safety, Jeb Bush is insisting that Americans simply must accept future violence and leave a response to the possibility of a state-by-state solution. I am speechless.”
“Republicans like Jeb Bush should put the wishes of the American people, who demand action like universal background checks, ahead of the endorsement of special interest groups,” she said. “They must stop excusing the murders of our neighbors as the inevitable price we pay for constitutional liberties. Geography should not determine whether one has basic protections from gun violence.”
She referenced Sen. Chris Murphy’s (D-Conn.) assertion that Congress is complicit in recent gun violence for not having passed more laws.
“To remain silent or to discourage action is to be complicit in the future shootings that will occur,” Wasserman Schultz said.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member