Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg lectured Americans on Friday for the level of gun violence in the United States, suggesting that God was judging them for their failures.
“We are the only developed country where the idea of a shootout in a church is even conceivable,” he said. “What do you suppose God thinks of that?”
Buttigieg commented on the issue of gun violence during a campaign town hall event in New Hampshire.
On Sunday, a gunman opened fire in a Texas church but was quickly eliminated after an armed member of the church security team drew his gun and shot him.
But Buttigieg blamed mass shootings on the existence of certain kinds of guns available for sale in America.
“For my dime, any weapons resembling the sorts of things I trained on in the military have no business being sold for profit anywhere near an American school or church or a mall,” he said as the crowd of supporters applauded.
Buttigieg continues to campaign for a ban on so-called “assault” weapons as he runs for president.
In April, Buttigieg released a plan to ban semi-automatic “assault” rifles and magazines holding over ten rounds.
“Enough,” he wrote at the time. “Weapons like the one I carried in Afghanistan have no place on our streets or in our schools — least of all in the hands of white nationalists.”