Rep. Himes on Shootings: We Need to Have More Rational Conversation on Guns
SCARBOROUGH: “You know, it’s so interesting even in the Republican primary, you have Ted Cruz, who a couple of years ago, took a position — that’s seem to be a safe position at the Republican Party, being against some of the more aggressive aspects of the patriot act. And now being attacked by just about everybody in the Republican Party because it appears things have changed so dramatically over the past two to three years.”
HIMES: “Yeah. You know, and I guess that’s a natural thing. You know, again, post 9/11 —“
SCARBOROUGH: “Right.”
HIMES: “— people get really scared and they do things which is five, ten years later they regret. And so, one of the things we need to do here, both with respect to our national security and our privacy, both with respect — and you said we’re going to talk a little bit about guns. You know, on that conversation — is we need to resist the temptation to act rationally. But we also need to focus on the real problems. You know, we — we again, if you look at what happened after 9/11, two invasions, neither of which came out particularly well. The patriot act, you know, it’s — we would all be better off if this institution and all of us responded more rationally. And of course, responding rationally to mass shootings means frankly not putting off the conversation about guns, having that conversation about why we wake up almost every single day to yet another event. And we have to be sort of [indecipherable] around this, or this institution, this institution which as you know, Joe, said 20 years ago, no, we’re not — we’re going to prohibit. We’re going to prohibit the study of gun violence which as you know, kills 90 people every single day. That, my friend, is the definition of insanity and responding poorly to something that is a, you know needless to say, pretty intense interest for the American public.”