Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) slammed President Obama for his “completely shameful” reaction to the Charleston church massacre.
“At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn’t happen in other places with this kind of frequency. And it is in our power to do something about it,” Obama said in a gun-control message in the White House briefing room today.
Obama took a dig at Republicans on Capitol Hill, adding “the politics in this town foreclose a lot of those avenues right now.”
“But it would be wrong for us not to acknowledge it,” he said. “And at some point it’s going to be important for the American people to come to grips with it, and for us to be able to shift how we think about the issue of gun violence collectively.”
Jindal told Fox that “today was not the moment” for Obama’s speech.
“Within 24 hours of this awful tragedy, nine people killed at a Bible study in a church, now, let’s stop and think about that. Nine people coming into the church who are saying — to praise God, to study’s God’s scripture, gunned down,” the governor said.
“This monster then says he is going leave some victims alive so they can go tell the world what he has done. Within 24 hours, we have got the president trying to score cheap political points.”
Jindal said Obama can “have this debate next week.”
“His job as commander in chief is to help the country to begin the healing process. Now is the time to be hugging these families. Now is the time to be praying for these families. Now is the time to be coming together. Thank God for law enforcement for capturing this monster, and there’s no other word for him, this monster, so quickly. He has got a job as president to help begin the healing process, to unify us. For whatever reason, he always tries to divide us,” he said.
Jindal acknowledged that he and Obama disagree on the 1st, 2nd and 10th amendments.
“But now is not the time. My point is, whether he and I agree or not, now is the time — look, there are children wondering, why do things like this happen? There are families at home trying to understand, how does it happen in a church?” he continued. “What the commander in chief should have done, he could he emulated what Nikki Haley did. What a great example, a great governor of her state, coming forward and speaking for the people of South Carolina, saying our hearts are broken and literally having that candid moment on TV.”
“You could see the emotion. You could see — that’s beginning the healing process. The president could have asked the country. He could have said, instead of talking about politics today, we’re not Democrats, Republicans, independents, blacks, whites. We’re Americans, and we all need to worship together. We need to — what would have been great sign is to call for people to fill those churches, because don’t let anybody be scared from going to church. We’re not going to deterred from lifting our prayers,” Jindal said.
“…Government is not going to eradicate evil. And that’s why it would be also a good time to call America to prayer. That president doesn’t seem to like to do that, but it’s an important, important part of our country’s tradition.”
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