Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker said there need to be leaders willing to stand up to the National Rifle Association in the aftermath of a deadly shooting Saturday at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.
Asked about the incident at a campaign event in Las Vegas, the New Jersey senator expressed that he’s “had enough” of these tragedies and criticized leaders around the U.S. for failing to stand up to the “corporate gun lobby” and the NRA.
“In this election, we have to have leaders who are willing to stand up and say, ‘I’m not going to let this issue be determined by what the interests of the corporate gun lobby are and the NRA,'” he said. “Because this is a uniquely American problem, a uniquely American problem that we have such mass slaughter in our communities like this, that happens regularly.”
Booker then jumped into a defense of his gun control proposal, calling it “common sense.”
“If you have more Americans dying in the last 50 years to gun violence than all of our wars combined … that should raise alarms for everybody,” he said. “Stand up right now. Let’s not even wait for election day. Let’s start demanding right now that kind change. Because most Americans agree with me.”
Booker’s comments follow a deadly shooting earlier in the day in which at least 18 people were reportedly killed with dozens of others injured. Wounded victims are being treated at nearby hospitals.
A law enforcement source told the Washington Examiner that police took 21-year-old Patrick Crusius into custody, but police have not officially confirmed the suspect’s identity.
