Does House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) support gun control now that he almost lost his life to a firearm? He answered that question on Sunday.
Despite nearly losing his life to a terrorist who hated Republicans, Scalise, who is still recovering from injuries sustained during the June 14 ambush, told NBC's Chuck Todd on "Meet the Press" Sunday that he will forever support the Second Amendment.
And instead of implementing stricter gun control after a highly publicized gun crime, Scalise suggested existing laws need to be better enforced.
"Our Founding Fathers believed strongly in gun rights for citizens," he said. "Don't try to put new laws in place that don't fix these problems. They only make it harder for law-abiding citizens to own a gun."
Scalise further explained that he believes the Founding Fathers intended the Second Amendment to be "unlimited." However, the Supreme Court has said "reasonable" restrictions are constitutional.
WATCH: @SteveScalise on #MTP says, "It is a long history in our country to make sure that you protect the rights of citizens to bear arms." pic.twitter.com/J3L7h6W0NT
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) October 8, 2017
It was revealed this week that the Las Vegas shooter modified legal semi-automatic rifles with bump stocks, devices that allow a semi-automatic rifle to fire at a fully automatic rate with just one depress of the trigger.
Republican politicians, conservative activists and even the NRA have come out after the Vegas massacre to advocate for restrictions on bump stocks, even making them completely illegal to purchase or possess. But Scalise disagrees with that push. He said:
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi already said she wants it to be a slippery slope. She doesn't want to stop at bump stocks. They want to go out and limit the rights of gun owners.A week ago… most people didn't know what a bump stock was. So to think that we're now all experts and know how to write some ... panacea law — it's fallacy. Let's focus on the facts. Let's get the facts and let's go focus on some of the problems.
Scalise referred to comments House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) made last week when she said she hopes a bump stock ban leads to further gun control restrictions down the road.
When asked about other forms of gun control, Scalise maintained his belief that further restrictions won't prevent another mass shooting and they would only hurt law-abiding gun owners. He also said many existing laws haven't curbed gun violence and said it would be a "dangerous concept" for the federal government to track who buys guns, the number they buy and which type of firearm.
