GOP Sen. Ron Johnson on Sunday defended Americans’ rights to own guns following the Colorado massacre and calls for tougher weapons laws, saying the real issues are the shooter is a “sick, demented, evil individual” and how the country deals with such people.
“This isn’t an issue about guns,” Johnson, R-Wis., said on "Fox News Sunday." “It’s about a sick, demented, evil individual. I don’t think there’s a solution for that in Washington. We need to look at families and the education system.”
Johnson faced off on the gun-control issue with Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, following the mass shooting early Friday in Colorado in which a gunman allegedly used an AR-15 rifle with a large magazine to kill 12 people and injure dozens of others in a movie theater.
Feinstein, D-Calif., argued the federal government should put a ban on rapid-fire weapons and large magazines, which can hold as many as 100 rounds.
“Weapons of war don’t belong on the streets,” Feinstein said on the show. “We’ve got to sit down and really come to grips on what is sold to average citizens.”
Feinstein, who has long supported tougher gun laws, said she has no problem with somebody owning a registered gun and that gun-rights groups have become so powerful that lawmakers are reluctant to push and vote for more gun control for fear of political backlash.
