Rep. Louie Gohmert, a Republican from Texas, said on Fox News that the way to prevent mass shootings in the United States is by making sure there are more guns, not fewer. Gohmert said that considering Sandy Hook principal Dawn Hochsprung was killed while lunging at the shooter, the situation might have turned out differently if she had kept a gun in her office, reports the Hill. “I wish to God she had had an M-4 in her office, locked up so when she heard gunfire, she pulls it out and she didn’t have to lunge heroically with nothing in her hands and takes him out and takes his head off before he can kill those precious kids,” Gohmert said. The lawmaker said that it’s time for an “open-minded” conversation about guns, noting that “every mass killing of more than three people in recent history has been in a place where guns were prohibited.” Watch footage of the interview after the jump.
Considering Gohmert has proposed a bill that would allow lawmakers to arm themselves in Washington, D.C.—“We’re sitting ducks,” he told Fox News on Friday—his views are hardly surprising. But he isn’t alone. Former education secretary William Bennett told NBC that schools should consider giving weapons to employees to prevent shootings. “It has to be someone who is trained, it has to be someone who is responsible,” he said, according to Politico. “But my God, if you can prevent this kind of thing.”
