Source: The Washington Post / Getty
The recent shooting tragedies in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio that left a total of 31 people have revived the years-long debate on gun control and violence. Issuing a statement via social media, Barack Obama called out the nation’s approach to gun violence and President Donald Trump’s dangerous rhetoric, seemingly prompting a response from the NRA.
NPR reports:
Former President Barack Obama weighed in on the mass shootings this past weekend in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, saying on Monday that Americans “should soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments.”
In a statement released on Twitter, Obama did not mention President Trump by name, but his reference seemed clear.
Obama denounced language from “leaders who demonize those who don’t look like us, or suggest that other people, including immigrants, threaten our way of life, or refer to other people as sub-human, or imply that America belongs to just one certain type of people.”
Such language, Obama said, “has no place in our politics and our public life.”
The NRA responded shortly after Obama’s statment, writing, “It has been the NRA’s long-standing position that those who have been adjudicated as a danger to themselves or others should not have access to firearms and should be admitted for treatment.”
—
Photo: Getty
