During a July 23 press conference, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-12th) suggested the problem with sanctuary city policies isn’t the sanctuary aspect but the continued the access to guns.
An unidentified reporter asked Pelosi if she supports the current GOP push to force cities to comport with immigration laws, and Pelosi made clear that she does not. She then explained her opposition by making nameless references to the July 1 murder of Kathryn Steinle–allegedly shot to death by illegal alien Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez on San Francisco’s Pier 14–and argued that sanctuary cities are not the problem.
The fact that San Francisco is a sanctuary city–and there are many sanctuary cities; many people live in sanctuary cities across the country–[so] that really has nothing to do with what happened in San Francisco [regarding Steinle’s murder]. Should we take a look, always review what the standard is? For example, in this case, having nothing to do with sanctuary cities, but why did the Bureau of Prisons not hand [Sanchez] over to ICE as it had done in the past?
A course of events unraveled which were unfortunate and poor judgement was used by the Sheriff in the city to not turn him over to ICE.
Pelosi then described why she thinks legislation put forth by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is better than what the GOP has put forth, and at the very end of the presser she said: “What we also have to look at is, how did this person come into possession of a gun in a state where his having a gun as a convicted felon would raise serious questions.”
Then she immediately shifted gears and referenced the Chattanooga attack, saying, “Again a person got a gun online, and that gun online is another reason for us to have a serious background check.”
Pelosi did not mention that the FBI said alleged Chattanooga attacker Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez passed a background check for at least “some” of his guns, nor did she reference the fact that the gun Sanchez allegedly used in San Francisco was stolen.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.