Condoleezza Rice: ‘I Don’t Understand Why Civilians Need to Have Access to Military Weapons’

On Friday’s “Hugh Hewitt Show,” former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice argued that there should be “a conversation about what the right to bear arms means in the modern world.” She added, ” I don’t understand why civilians need to have access to military weapons.”

Rice said that men around her carrying firearms for protection when she was growing up in Birmingham was “a pure version of the 2nd Amendment, as a matter of fact, the right to bear arms.” She continued, “I will say this, Hugh. I think it is time for us to have a conversation about what the right to bear arms means in the modern world. I don’t understand why civilians need to have access to military weapons. We wouldn’t say you can go out and buy a tank. So, I do think we need to have that conversation. But I believe that the rights that we have in the Constitution are indivisible. We can’t throw away the 2nd Amendment and keep the 1st.”

Rice also discussed allowing teachers to carry guns. She stated she would not be armed as a teacher. Rice continued, “I don’t really like the idea, frankly, of a gun in my classroom. I think that we need to have law enforcement protect us. Look, if people need to train people to protect our schools, and perhaps even communities want to consider whether or not they need guards to protect the schools, it’s a sad thing to think that we might, then that’s something that we should look at. But I don’t think that just arming people in the classroom is going to be the answer. I will say this, Hugh. We also have to get better at intelligence, when it is a domestic issue. Clearly, with this young man, there were all kinds of signs and signals, and all kinds of information that he was a problem.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett