During a stop in Seoul, South Korea, President Donald Trump claimed that no amount of gun control would have stopped Devin Kelley from killing 26 people in a Texas church Sunday.
"If you did what you are suggesting, there would have been no difference three days ago," Trump said during a press conference with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Seoul.
Trump went on to say that the men that chased after the gunman wouldn't have stopped Kelley if they didn't also have guns.
"I can only say this, if he didn't have a gun, instead of having 26 dead you would have had hundreds more dead... so that's the way I feel about it," Trump claimed.
CNN's Chris Cuomo specifically cited the Pentagon revelation that their own lapse in updating the background check database in Texas allowed Kelley to purchase the guns despite his criminal past and mental health issues.
"It is hard to justify what the president is saying here," Cuomo noted. "Forget about extreme vetting, whatever that means in any context. Just the ordinary vetting, had it been done properly, may well have kept him from getting the gun."
Similarly, co-host Alisyn Camerota went off on Trump's claim, saying that he was essentially repeating the National Rifle Association talking point that "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." The claim that has been debunked by police in past shootings.
She pointed out that it was Trump who also alleged Monday that this man was clearly mentally ill and that the problem didn't have anything to do with guns. However, Trump gutted Obama's gun-check rules that made it harder for people with mental illnesses to obtain weapons. The House then voted to rescind the rule in February.
"This is just so absurd," Camerota said. "It's just so absurd, Chris. The idea that -- I mean, the president is sticking to the tired NRA talking point of the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. That's it. That's how to stop bad guys from getting guns. That is not true. That is not how other developed countries stop bad guys from getting guns. That's not how they do it. The idea that this guy, to be clear about his background, he choked, he punched, he hit, he pulled the hair of his wife and then cracked the skull of her infant child. That's the guy that then was able to get at least four guns that we know of."
Domestic violence continues to be a predictor for those who also commit mass shootings.
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