Senator Cory Booker failed to explain how his plan to expand gun control would have prevented the horrific mass shooting that happened recently in Virginia Beach.
Last Friday, 12 people were killed by a gunman in a Virginia Beach municipal building. As the authorities reported, the killer used a .45-caliber pistol with a “sound suppressor” device and “extended” ammunition magazines. A federal agent reported that the gunman purchased his gun legally.
As previously reported, Cory Booker provided a plan to overhaul gun laws in the country by requiring a license to own a gun and a ban on “military-style” weapons and “high capacity magazines.”
Senator Booker posted on Twitter after the shooting and claimed that he would work to pass these gun control laws to prevent similar shootings from happening in the future.
This Sunday, during an interview on “State of the Union,” host Tapper pushed back on Cory Booker’s claim that any of his proposed laws could have prevented this shooting.
“How would your plan have stopped this tragedy, if at all?” Jake Tapper asked.
Senator Booker explained that his plan is “bold” and “evidence-based,” but failed to tie the plan to the shooting in Virginia Beach.
“This idea that we are helpless to stop this, the evidence points differently. We know that everything like licensing like Connecticut dropped gun violence in their state by 40%, suicides by 15%. We know there are communities like Oakland that did things, by treating gun violence like a public health problem and investing in communities and empowering them, they were able to lower gun violence. I have a comprehensive plan that people say is bold. But I’ll tell you what, it’s not bold. It’s common sense evidence-based things we can do to lower gun violence.” He said.
Host Tapper cut Senator Booker off and asked, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but you keep saying we’re not helpless. So I’m saying: What would have prevented this tragedy? I mean, I think that’s one of the issues that people wonder about when there are these horrible tragedies. What steps specifically would have stopped the massacre in Virginia Beach?”
The senator struggled to answer Tapper’s question, instead opting to bash the “corporate gun lobby” and noting that his policies could cut gun violence overall.
Tapper gave up on trying to get Senator Booker to explain how his policy could have stopped the Virginia Beach shooting, telling the him, “I hear you not talking about this specific massacre, but talking about gun violence in general.”
