Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump says he’s opposed to an assault weapons ban, after the deadly terrorist attack in Orlando, Florida at a gay nightclub.
During an interview with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie, Trump was asked whether he supported the idea of an assault weapons ban.
“I absolutely wouldn’t because people need protection, they have to protect,” Trump said, telling Guthrie that there were already millions of AR-15s in the country.
Trump indicated that he didn’t support the idea of disarming American gun owners amidst the threat of terrorism.
Trump argued that if there was an assault weapons ban, “the bad guys will have the assault rifles and the people trying to protect themselves will be standing there with a BB gun.”
During an interview with Fox News, Trump criticized Barack Obama for calling for more gun control, pointing out that the terrorist passed a background check when he purchased his weapons and even had a statewide firearms license.
“He would have passed the test that the president would have thrown up there,” he said.
During an interview with CBS, anchor Gayle King noted that Trump once favored an assault weapons ban. Trump said that terrorism was part of the reason why he had changed his mind.
“I’ve changed positions because we need protection in this country. We need protection. We have to have protection. People have got to be able to protect themselves,” he said. “And the bad guys have ‘em, so if the bad guys have ‘em we need protection in this country.”
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