Former President Clinton’s message to President Trump after deadly California school shooting
Former President Bill Clinton said the impeachment probe should not prevent President Donald Trump from working with Democrats on issues such as gun violence.
Clinton’s comments came on Thursday hours after a student gunman opened fire at a Southern California high school, killing two students and wounding three others.
The gunman was captured in grave condition after shooting himself in the head on his 16th birthday, authorities said.
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Clinton said lawmakers need to “think these kids’ lives” instead of politics when considering gun safety regulation.
“It’s a terrible — inappropriate — I mean we haven’t really passed any meaningful gun safety regulation in 25 years,” Clinton said.
“I think they should do the same thing with the assault weapons ban and the ammunition limit. If you look at it, we had, if you define a mass shooting as eight or more killed, there were two during the time the assault weapons ban was in place. Seven in the 10 years before, 13 in the 10 years after it expired and 13 in the last five years when the mass marketing of these things has taken off. So, you know, we ought to try to put this beyond politics and think about these kids’ lives.”
Former President Bill Clinton
The gunfire began around 7:30 a.m. at Saugus High School in suburban Santa Clarita, where Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies responding to a torrent of 911 calls found all six students in a quad area.
Security video showed the last thing the attacker did was shoot himself with the final bullet in the .45-caliber handgun, sheriff’s homicide Capt. Kent Wegener said.
A 16-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy died. Two girls, ages 14 and 15, and a 14-year-old boy were hospitalized, officials said.
Clinton said Trump and Congress have an opportunity to do something to save lives.
“I mean, you know, we can all talk about sympathy and talk about mental health, although mental health in Americans is no worse than other major countries, but this is an opportunity for us to do something responsible, and to do it together,” Clinton said.