Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe called for stricter gun control after the shooting in Alexandria on Wednesday morning that critically wounded House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and others.
“Let me say this: I think we need to do more to protect all of our citizens. I have long advocated – this is not what today is about – but there are too many guns on the street. We lose 93 million Americans a day to gun violence,” McAuliffe said to reporters. He corrected the number to 93, rather than 93 million, after a reporter pointed out the mistake.
“I’ve long talked about this,” he added, “background checks, shutting down gun show loopholes. That’s not for today’s discussion, but it’s not just about politicians. We worry about this every day for all of our citizens.”
A reporter responded, saying, “If it’s not the day for it, why are you bringing it up?”
“This is a very serious issue. You know, we just buried one of our great state troopers, a special agent with a wife and three children. So we’ve got to look at this,” McAuliffe responded, referencing the death of Virginia State Police Special Agent Michael Timothy Walter, who was shot at a public housing complex in May.
“We have to do a better job,” McAuliffe told CNN. “Obviously, this man should never have been in possession of a firearm. We as a nation … need to come together in a bipartisan way to stop the horrible gun violence we have.”
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