Rick Perry thinks allowing guns in movie theaters would stop shootings

(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Presidential hopeful and former Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas) has a solution for movie theater shootings like the one Thursday night in Lafayette, Louisiana: Allow guns inside.

"I think that it makes a lot of sense to send a message across this country," Perry told Jake Tapper on CNN's State of the Union. "If we believe in the Second Amendment, and we believe in people's right to protect themselves and defend themselves, and their families."

In Louisiana, it's legal to carry a firearm without a permit, but the site of the shooting, like many theaters, enforces a ban on guns.

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"I believe, with all my heart, that if you have the citizens who are well trained, and particularly in these places that are considered to be gun-free zones, that we can stop that type of activity, or stop it before there’s as many people that are impacted as what we saw in Lafayette," Perry said.

Watch his full interview here.

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Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.