On December 10, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said it is “tragic” that Americans are pouring into gun stores to buy weapons because America is already “awash in guns.”
According to the Washington Times, Earnest was speaking in light of recent high-profile shootings and the San Bernardino terror attack when he said, “The more that we see this kind of violence on our streets, the more people go out and buy guns. That is both ironic and tragic.”
He added:
In some cases these are individuals who believe that they need to buy a gun so that they can better protect themselves. In some cases because it’s Black Friday, they probably are going and purchasing a gift for a friend or a loved one who is a gun enthusiast. I’m just pointing out that there are already an astonishing number of guns on the streets of America and far too many innocent Americans who are being killed by them.
Earnest indicated that he does not know why the American people are so drawn to guns, but he said it is “tragic” that people go out and purchase them in response to incidents like the San Bernardino attack.
He also criticized Americans’ access to guns, saying, “Ready access to guns and [the] proliferation of violent weapons of war has not led to fewer gun deaths. It’s tragic that even in the situation where we have lots of guns on the streets that lead to lots of innocent Americans being killed, that the response to that is that a whole lot more guns end up on the streets.”
Breitbart News previously reported there were 185,345 background checks completed for gun purchasers on Black Friday 2015 alone.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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