Scalise blasts Dems for rushing to call for gun control after shootings, blames liberal DAs for rising crime

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Rep. Scalise: 'We need to be focused more on stopping things before they happen'

House Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., weighs in on President Biden's recent efforts to tighten gun control on 'Fox News Sunday.'

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-LA, went after Democrats over their response to recent mass shootings, arguing that politicians on the left are "quick" to go after guns. 

"Well, John, the best way forward is first of all, when you have a shooting, instead of sitting down and going okay, what is really causing this?" Scalise said to "Fox News Sunday" host John Roberts. "Why do we see these happening more and more in the last few years, it immediately becomes a debate about taking away guns and you see Democrats quickly run in the day of the shooting."

President Biden gave an impassioned speech Thursday following shootings across the country, such as in Uvalde, Texas; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Buffalo, New York, among others. The president called for more "commonsense" gun control legislation, including reinstating an assault weapon ban, requiring background checks and limiting magazine capacity. 

Scalise claimed that such efforts as pushing "everybody in a corner" instead of trying to find "common ground" on the topic. 

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"Why don’t we look and see if we can find some telltale signs so that there can be interventions?" Scalise asked, stressing that people "every day in America" use guns to defend themselves. 

"Instead of talking about Democrats always wanting to take away the rights of gun owners, law-abiding citizens, especially, why don’t we talk about the root causes of these problems?" he added. "And there is some common ground to be found there, John." 

Roberts countered Scalise’s claims by citing recent Quinnipiac poll data that indicated the majority of Americans support stricter measures, such as required background checks and red flag laws, than what some Republicans seem to indicate. 

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Scalise insists that Americans aren’t fully aware of the components of the red flag laws – put forth by Democrats – insisting that the laws "take away due process." 

"The immediate visceral reaction of Democrats in Washington is to go after the rights of gun owners in America, the law abiding citizens who were using guns to defend themselves," Scalise said. 

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He went on to argue that Americans bought more guns over the past two years in the wake of the "Defund the Police" movement and efforts by district attorneys in more liberal cities to enact law reform, which has caused a near-term spike in crime. 

Scalise believes the spike in crime is driving the gun violence currently rocking the United States, and that guns serve as the "only line of defense" for some people. 

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"If you look at what happened in those cities, you see a lot of the things with the defund the police movement, with letting people out no cash bail, where they're making it easier for people to commit crimes, look at the smash and grab crimes," he said. "Do you think it's going to end there if they think they can get away with a crime?"

"They're not going to be charged, they will go on to commit more crimes and worse crimes. It's happened in other places. Let's get back to regular policing."