‘We’re Going to Do Certain Other Things’
Australia hasn’t had a mass shooting since 1996 – 22 years ago. After a horrific mass shooting in which 35 people were killed, semi-automatic weapons were banned and the government initiated a gun buy-back program.
On Friday afternoon President Donald Trump held a joint press conference with Malcolm Turnbull, the prime minister of Australia.
The first question on guns came from a reporter from a hard-right news outlet.
Trey Yingst, the chief White House correspondent for One America News Network, asked President Trump what – specifically – he will do to solve America’s mass shooting pandemic.
President Trump offered gibberish.
“We want to be very powerful and very strong on background checks, especially as it pertains to the mentally ill,” Trump responded. “We’re going to get rid of the bump stocks and we’re going to do certain other things.”
The president then patted himself in the back.
Another reporter later followed up, asking the Prime Minister to explain what Australia did to solve their gun crisis.
Turnbull refused to offer advice, falsely insisting the problems of the two countries were different.
“It is a completely different context historically, legally, and so forth. We are very satisfied with our laws. We maintain them. They are there and they’re well known but we certainly don’t presume to provide policy or political advice on that matter,” Turnbull, refusing to draw Trump’s ire, claimed.
President Trump quickly interjected, repeating the false claim that Australia and the United States can’t be compared because the problems – people committing killing large numbers of people with guns – are different.
He then ended the press conference.
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