Andrea Mitchell: Will S. Carolina’s Tradition of Gun Rights ‘Ever Be Rethought After This?’

‘How does a crazy person getting access to guns and what about background checks?’

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:

MITCHELL: "What about what the president said about gun violence, that all too often he has had to speak out in the aftermath of this kind of gun violence? I know there's a very strong gun ownership and gun sales tradition in South Carolina and much of the country. But will that ever be rethought after this kind of tragedy?" 
SANFORD: "You know, Andrea, I don't know. I think that both sides take any incident and pull it in their direction. This one is curtailing the number of guns. You're going to use this as a case in point. If you've got another vantage point you take something else from it. I think every -- advocates are advocates. But I think that what you would have to say is this is highly weird, highly unusual, incredibly tragic, that come sid gets in his car, drives 100 miles down the road, goes to a little local church, is accepted into that church, though he is of a different racial origin, is in that service for about an hour and then decides to shoot everybody. I mean, that's like crazy. So, you know, irregardless of the debate on guns, no gun, et cetera, I think what we're dealing with here is a crazy person and I cannot imagine this level of malice but we saw it displayed last night." 
MITCHELL: "The question always occurs, how does a crazy person getting access to guns and what about background checks and the questions that need to be asked before people have lethal weapons. But I take your point. I know there's going to be a lot of political disagreement about this. Thank you, congressman." 
SANFORD: "My pleasure."

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