Trump: Gun control could have caused more deaths at Texas church
US president opposes applying to gun purchases ‘extreme vetting’ measures similar to those he seeks for immigrants
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SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas — US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that stricter gun control measures might have led to additional casualties during a mass shooting at a south Texas church on Sunday.
At a news conference in South Korea, Trump was asked whether he would support “extreme vetting” for gun purchases like he’s called for for people entering the country.
He replied, “If you did what you’re suggesting, there would have been no difference three days ago and you might not have had that very brave person who happens to have a gun or a rifle in his trunk.”
Trump says if that “Good Samaritan” didn’t have a gun, “instead of having 26 dead, you would have had hundreds more dead.”
Authorities say Devin Patrick Kelley fired at least 450 rounds of ammunition at worshipers in Sunday’s attack at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs. The dead ranged in age from 18 months to 77 years old.
On Monday, the US Air Force revealed that the gunman was able to buy weapons because the Air Force had failed to submit his criminal history to the FBI as required by military rules.
The Air Force acknowledged Monday that if the past offenses by Devin Patrick Kelley had been properly shared, they would have prevented him from buying a gun.
In 2014, Kelley was formally ousted from the Air Force for a 2012 assault on his ex-wife in which he choked her and struck her son hard enough to fracture his skull.
The Times of Israel Community.