Donald Trump says he didn't really mean Orlando nightclub victims should have carried guns
Last week in Houston, and over the weekend in Phoenix, Donald Trump seemed to suggest that the slain revelers in the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, should have been armed. "If some of those wonderful people had guns strapped right here — right to their waist or right to their ankle — and one of the people in that room happened to have it and goes 'boom, boom,' you know, that would have been a beautiful sight, folks," Trump said in Houston. Here's how he put it in Phoenix:
On Monday, he issued a clarification on Twitter, saying he "obviously" was referring to "additional guards or employees."
Coincidentally, the NRA's top officials had disagreed with Trump's perceived earlier meaning on the Sunday talk shows. "No one thinks that people should go into a nightclub drinking and carrying firearms," Chris Cox, the NRA's top lobbyist, said on CBS' Face the Nation. "That defies common sense. It also defies the law." Wayne LaPierre, the NRA executive vice president, agreed on ABC's This Week: "I don't think you should have firearms where people are drinking."
Article continues belowThe Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
