Buttigieg sees ‘insanity’ in reaction to gun violence
“Will we actually acknowledge the reasons why we are the only country, the only developed country, where this happens on a routine basis?”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Sunday criticized those who blame America’s gun violence on factors other than guns.
“The idea that us, being the only developed country where this happens routinely, especially in terms of the mass shootings, is somehow a result of the design of the doorways on our school buildings is the definition of insanity, if not the definition of denial,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Buttigieg was responding to those who blamed last month’s horrific school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two teachers dead on American schools having too many entrances and exits. “Every building should have a single point of entry,” former President Donald Trump said in a speech to the NRA. “Have one door into and out of the school,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) urged.
Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., also said local leaders are looking to Washington for leadership on gun violence, but not necessarily waiting for federal action.
“As every mayor is doing around the country,” he told host George Stephanopoulos, “you take the steps that you can to reduce community violence, to invest in partnerships, to make sure that you’re taking the steps that you can locally, but you’re also looking at Washington to say will anything be different this time?”
He added: “Will we actually acknowledge the reasons why we are the only country, the only developed country, where this happens on a routine basis?”
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said there are lots of potential solutions, both local and federal, that could be tried, but said that he didn’t want to revive old ideas that don’t work.
“What we do not need are solutions that have already been tried and done,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation. “I visit schools every day in Kansas City. Almost all of them are fortified. Most of them have armed guards these days, at least one. So these types of solutions they keep saying have been done.”
Missouri is a state that allows staff members in schools to carry weapons, but Lucas didn’t see much benefit from arming more teachers to defend against gunmen with AR-15s.
“Just having someone in the classroom with a firearm is not a simple solution,” he said. “And what’s more, and I say this as a parent, I don’t want a first grade teacher necessarily worrying about a classroom of 20 students and also worrying about how she can get the faster draw on a mass shooter with this amazing, high-capacity firearm. That is wholly unreasonable. Red-flag laws, background checks are very clear solutions.”