House GOP Congresswoman Argues Guns Have Nothing to Do With School Shootings

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Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 02:19 am

House Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn claimed that guns aren’t part of the root problem of school shootings. Rep. Blackburn tried to argue that guns have nothing to do with school shootings.

Video:

Transcript from CBS News:

BLACKBURN: My take is first of all, we need to make certain we keep children safe. And that’s what we want to do. But I’ve got to tell you, when I hear some of this conversation, I think that we’re looking at symptoms, we’re not looking at the root causes. And I’ve talked with a lot of teachers, classroom teachers after the Sandy Hook situation, and they say, look, we need to be looking at mental health. We need to be looking at the root causes, some of these psychotropic drugs, and not let this be about the weapon, but let’s talk about some of the root causes in these issues. And I understand the senator’s passion for this, but I got to tell you, an assault ban is not the answer to helping keep people safe.

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SCHIEFFER: I agree with you, Miss Blackburn, that I think mental health needs to be a part of this. I think it’s got to be a comprehensive plan of some sort. But I also wonder — I mean, don’t we have to find some way just to reduce this access to guns that some of these people have? I mean, you know, if the guy had walked into the Connecticut school with a baseball bat, he could have put some bumps on a couple of people’s head, but I don’t think that many people would have been killed.

BLACKBURN: Well, you know, I think that there, again, you look at the safety issue. Some of the school districts in my congressional district are looking at resource officers, and how they secure that environment. But, you know, the speaker is right. You look at what is actually causing the problem. This means you look at the weapons that are there. You do some hearings that are on, that have occurred in some of these areas like Chicago, where they have a problem. You look at the mental health issues. You look at the psychotropic and psychiatric drugs that a lot of the youth are taking that individuals that have committed these crimes are taking. You look at the violence that is there in entertainment, in video games, and don’t just go say, “we’re going to do an assault weapons ban, and that’s going to solve the problem,” because it is not going to get to the root of the problem.

Bob Schieffer brought up the completely rational point that the shooter in Newtown would have done a lot less damage with a baseball bat, and was met with the rare combination of insanity and NRA talking points that can only come from a House tea partier. From the point of view of the paid through campaign contributions NRA congressional stooge, the problem with school shootings isn’t the gun, or even easy access to guns. The problem is mental illness. It’s not the gun’s fault that people are crazy. Why are we blaming the poor innocent gun for SHOOTINGS? This is part of the Republican talking point that we need to meet in the middle, and have a discussion about keeping our children safe. However, guns have nothing to do with the problem. This type of absolutism mixed with irrationality is why this nation can’t have a sensible conversation about the role of guns in gun violence.

No one wants to take guns away from anyone, but the moment guns are brought up the far right immediately refuses to discuss the role that access to guns plays in our culture of violence. Video games and television shows don’t kill people, but mentally ill individuals who have easy access to guns and hear politicians fearmongering about threats to their Second Amendment rights might.

The idea that easy access to guns isn’t part of the root cause of school shootings is flat out insane. Mental illness is an issue that needs to be dealt with, but a mentally ill person without a gun is a lot less dangerous to society. If we want to do something about the mental illness problem in our society, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) would be a great place to start.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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