White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday that it isn’t the right time to discuss gun control following a mass shooting in Las Vegas that left at least 58 dead.
Democratic lawmakers have called for gun control legislation following Sunday night’s shooting. “The thoughts and prayers of politicians are cruelly hollow if they are paired with continued legislative indifference,” Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy said in a statement.
“There’s a time and place for a political debate, but now is the time to unite as a country,” Sanders said during the White House press briefing when asked about the demand for gun control.
She was later asked specifically about Murphy’s statement and said, “I actually agree with him that Congress should get up and do something. I‘m not sure that it’s specific to that, but i think Congress has had several months of doing very little and we’d like to see legislation come through.”
When asked further what policy the White House would support, Sanders replied, “We haven’t had the moment to have a deep dive on the policy part of that. We’ve been focused on the fact that we’ve had a severe tragedy in our country. This is a day of mourning and a time of bringing the country together and that’s been the focus this morning.”
President Trump used to support a ban on assault weapons, the type of firearm reportedly used by the Las Vegas shooter, and Sanders was asked whether the president is open to leading a bipartisan effort on gun control.
“I think that’s something that we can talk about in the coming days and see what that looks like moving forward. I think one of the things that we don’t want to do is try to create laws that won’t stop these types of things from happening,” Sanders replied.
She pointed to Chicago, which has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation, yet has a high amount of gun crime.