Host Bill O'Reilly addressed gun crime during an episode of his Fox News show
"The O'Reilly Factor."
During the "Talking Points Memo" segment, he said, "There is too much gun crime in the USA and high-powered weaponry is too easy to get. That's the fact. So let's deal with it."
O'Reilly said he believes the Second Amendment does not cover high-powered weapons.
"We all have the right to bear arms, but we don't have the right to buy and maintain mortars even if you feel threatened by gangsters or a new world order," he said, adding, "No bazookas, no Sherman tanks, no hand grenades."
The Fox News host noted that the Second Amendment says the government's role is to regulate militias "in the name of public safety" and laid out his idea for how federal and state governments should handle gun laws.
"Therefore, Congress should debate what kind of weapons should be available for public sale and the states should decide what kind of carry laws are good for their people," O'Reilly said. The FBI and other federal agencies need to have the authority to keep weapons out of the hands of "evil-doers like Mateen," referring to Omar Mateen, the killer in the Orlando gay nightclub massacre.
O'Reilly said he believes that gun dealers should be required to report to the FBI when they sell "heavy weapons." Congress' job would be to outline what is considered to be a heavy weapon, but handguns would not be included.
Such laws and rules "would make it a lot tougher for the Omar Mateens of the world to kill," but he pointed out that ending gun crime is impossible, especially in the U.S. in which "hundreds of millions" of guns are already circulating.
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