GOP U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia is using Tuesday’s mass shooting that left 16 New Yorkers wounded, ten with gunshots, including five in critical condition, by calling for an end to gun laws. The Brooklyn, New York attack is tied for sixth with the most injuries this year.
“With New York’s strict gun control laws, how many innocent people were carrying a gun when the bad guy with a gun broke the existing laws and started shooting people?” Greene said, implying New Yorkers should have shot into a crowded subway car that was also under attack by a smoke device, making visibility poor.
“Bad guys don’t care about gun control and gun control only stops people from being able to protect themselves,” she added.
This was the scene inside the subway car, some time after the shooting. This is the environment Rep. Greene thinks New Yorkers should have been shooting into:
Greene of course is wrong on all counts. Gun laws make it harder for criminals to illegally obtain guns, thereby reducing the number of illegal guns on the streets. They also reduce the number of people who, for reasons of emotional or mental illness, should not be able to acquire deadly weapons.