DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson declared, “gun control is part and parcel of homeland security” on Tuesday’s “CBS This Morning.”
Johnson said, “I am not anxious to plunge into yet another difficult, contentious issue like the ones I already have. I do believe, however, that meaningful, responsible gun control is now part and parcel of homeland security. It’s critical to public safety, but we have to face the fact that meaningful, responsible gun control has to be part of homeland security as well, given the prospect of homegrown, home-born, violent extremism in this country. We’ve seen this now with Orlando, tragically, with San Bernardino. And it’s something that I think the American public and the Congress has to face and has to address.”
Johnson added that the ability of people on the no-fly list, or various other government lists to purchase firearms “has to be addressed.” And “I think that we have to face the fact that gun control is part and parcel of homeland security and how things are evolving.”
He further stated that measures to prevent terrorists from getting guns should be done “without infringing on the 2nd Amendment, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, and without infringing on the rights and the ability of responsible gun owners to own a gun.”
Johnson concluded, “I thought frankly, after Sandy Hook, where you have schoolchildren, murdered in a classroom, that maybe finally this was going to be the tipping point, and we were not able to move the needle in Congress, unfortunately. I’d like to see us continue to go at this. I know the president is frustrated. I know the president is determined. And this has become a matter of homeland security we have to address.”
(h/t Washington Free Beacon)
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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