Trey Gowdy gave an impassioned plea on Fox News on Sunday for lawmakers to come up with some law to stop mass shootings in the United States.
“The right-to-life is the most fundamental, basic, primary right that we have. It is the right from which all other rights emanate,” said Gowdy. “It doesn’t matter if you are have the right to a lawyer if you are dead. It doesn’t matter if you have the right to free speech if you are dead. Doesn’t matter if you have the right to keep and bear arms if you are dead.
“So, on a personal level, I’m willing to subrogate any of my other rights to avoid another Sandy Hook, another pulse nightclub, another day like we had yesterday. But I’m out of politics and I’m not going back. So the legislators need to look at the laws on the book, are they being enforced?”
The former congressman emphasized that every right has some sort of restriction attached to it, before stating he would be willing to get behind gun laws that could be demonstrated to decrease gun violence.
“Just more laws that are not going to be enforced is a panacea and is not going to work. Show me a law to prevent the next Sandy Hook and sign me up as a husband and father. Show me the law and sign me up and I will give up any other right I have,” Gowdy ended his plea.
The South Carolina Republican’s call for action followed a weekend with mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, which killed over two dozen and injured dozens more.
President Trump weighed in Monday, urging lawmakers to pass background checks. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Democratic lawmakers to focus on background checks. too, in order to put pressure on Republican lawmakers to pass some form of legislation after the shootings.
