Ben Carson: No shooting death is 'more devastating than taking the right to arm ourselves away'

Ben Carson talks about gun violence — (Image credit: Fox News/Crooks & Liars)

Earlier this week on Facebook, Republican presidential candidate answered some questions from regular people. He told Michael, for example that he drives an electric Tesla sedan ("I am sure some left-wing environmentalists' heads are exploding"), and Anne that he lives in West Palm Beach, Florida. Dan asked if Carson's views on the Second Amendment have changed since last week's mass shooting in Roseburg, Oregon. Carson replied that he has cousins who were killed by gun violence in Detroit, and that "as a doctor, I spent many a night pulling bullets out of bodies." Then he added:

There is no doubt that this senseless violence is breathtaking — but I never saw a body with bullet holes that was more devastating than taking the right to arm ourselves away. Serious people seek serious solutions. [Carson, Facebook]

Carson followed up Monday night's comments with an interview Tuesday morning on Fox News, where he suggested, as The New York Times puts it, that the students at Umpqua Community College "were overly passive." If an assailant pointed a gun at him, Carson told Fox and Friends, "I would not just stand there and let him shoot me. I would say: 'Hey, guys, everybody attack him! He may shoot me, but he can't get us all.'"

Carson also said Tuesday that President Obama is wrong to visit the families of the victims in Oregon this week. If he were president, he said, "I mean, I would probably have so many things on my agenda that I would go to the next one." But hey, at least he didn't mention Hilter.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.