CNN's Chris Cuomo brutally rails on Rick Santorum for his 'both sides' argument on guns

(Image credit: Screenshot/Dailymotion/RawStory)

published 28 March 2018

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (R) totally didn't mean it when he suggested that students should learn CPR to respond to school shootings, rather than "looking to someone else to solve their problem."

"The fact of the matter is I did misspeak in using the term CPR," Santorum said Wednesday on CNN's New Day. The former senator added that the point of his comment was to highlight other, more "unifying" ways to prevent school shootings, instead of gun control.

Host Chris Cuomo was quick to slam Santorum's views, calling the comment a "distraction from the single metric that distinguishes the United States of America from all other countries when it comes to gun violence: We have more guns." The two launched into a debate over whether access to firearms should be the center of the conversation in preventing school shootings: Santorum claimed that methods other than gun control have proven more effective in reducing violence, while a visibly frustrated Cuomo railed on Santorum for focusing on anything other than the "fundamental question."

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"You've got people putting up Nazi effigies of these kids who survived a murderous shooting, you have them lying about a young woman ripping up the Constitution," Cuomo exclaimed, demanding to know what Santorum thought of the people who had demonized the survivors of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. When Santorum condemned "both sides" of the debate, Cuomo shook his head in disappointment. "You sound like [President] Trump after Charlottesville," Cuomo said.

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Summer Meza has worked at The Week since 2018, serving as a staff writer, a news writer and currently the deputy editor. As a proud news generalist, she edits everything from political punditry and science news to personal finance advice and film reviews. Summer has previously written for Newsweek and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, covering national politics, transportation and the cannabis industry.

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