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Following Wednesday’s tragic shooting in Minneapolis, Joe Scarborough sounded off on “Morning Joe.” Two children, an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old, were killed after a shooter opened fire through the windows during a morning Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church. Seventeen other people, including 14 children, were injured.
“It’s just obscene,” Scarborough said Thursday. “And this is what — this is normal? No, there’s nothing normal about this.”
The “Morning Joe” co-host said it wasn’t “a great mystery” why events like Wednesday’s shooting continue to occur in America. Scarborough blamed the lack of comprehensive gun control legislation, which he said allows people to “go into gun stores, get high-powered rifles and go and shoot up schools, go shoot up churches, go shoot up country music concerts.”
Scarborough said lawmakers were “far too comfortable” with letting these tragedies occur time and time again, and called out Republicans in Congress for offering “bulls--- excuses” and “calls for this, that or the other” instead of passing significant reforms.
After tragic events, Scarborough said people often follow a three-step approach, “hope, pray and act,” but Republican lawmakers “won’t do that third part in Congress.”
The former Republican congressman also shared a personal story about the toll mass shootings, especially those that occur at schools, have taken on America's families: “We have a good family friend who was tearing up on the first day about sending their daughter to kindergarten,” he said. Scarborough explained that a lot of the “concern” and “angst” over these events comes from the fact that “something can be done” to prevent them. Despite that, Scarborough said, “one political party” continues to refuse to act.
You can watch Scarborough’s full comments in the clip at the top of the page.