A CNN Sunday anchor tried to pin Representative Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, to the mat over controlling guns through legislation.
Dana Bash, host of the network’s “State of the Union” show, pressed Crenshaw about what gun laws he would be willing to support. The Texas Republican has previously spoken against so called “red flag” laws and reportedly opposes universal background checks.
“Truthfully, I think there is a lot of problems with red flag laws, especially at a national level,” he said Sunday, according to a report by The Hill.
When Bash asked if he would support a red flag law at the state level, Crenshaw replied he would not. He raised due process concerns over the proposal. Red flag laws let people petition a court to prohibit people deemed dangerous to themselves or others from owning firearms.
“What you’re essentially trying to do with a red flag law is enforce the law before the law has been broken, and it’s a really difficult thing to do,” the Texan said. “It’s difficult to assess whether somebody is a threat.”
Bash said she and other people want to know what is the solution. She asked him what legislation he would agree with, adding nothing will change without new laws.
“And I don’t think people in this community and across the country want to hear that after their babies were being massacred by these guns,” she declared.
Crenshaw said the most effective thing that could be done to prevent school shootings is to have actual security at schools. He noted Republicans have advanced laws such as Fix NICS and the Stop Violence at Schools Act to increase security resources.
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The network host questioned why school security and gun laws are mutually exclusive. “Why not do both?” she asked him.
“None of those things are mutually exclusive,” Crenshaw responded. “That’s exactly the problem with it because a lot of these policies that the Democrats often propose that are gun control policies, they do two things: One, they infringe on the rights of millions and millions of gun owners, and two: they probably wouldn’t have the outcome that you’re hoping for.”
“So, if you’re not going to get the benefit you want, but it’s going to come at great cost, then generally it means it’s not a very good policy.”
Crenshaw noted that gun ownership and violence rates are unrelated. The congressman said New Hampshire and midwestern states that have high gun ownership but low violence demonstrate that.
The Texas representative added that a 2013 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study determined that nearly 500,000 armed individuals defend themselves and others with a firearm every year.
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