Armey: Colorado Shootings Don’t Justify Gun Control

The shooting spree at a theater in Aurora, Colo., last weekend doesn’t point to a need for more gun control, says former House Majority Leader Dick Armey.

If he didn’t have a gun, accused killer James Holmes may simply have found another means to kill people, Armey told CNN’s “Starting Point” program Thursday, Politico reports.

“Apparently, you have some guy who is a bit nutty here,” said Armey, now head of tea party group Freedom Works. “He wanted to wreak havoc on a large number of people for whatever reasons. We don’t understand that yet. Maybe a psychiatrist will understand it. If, in fact, he had not been capable of acquiring a gun, he might just as well have taken a car and driven it into a school bus.”

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There’s a disconnect between the advocacy for more gun control and an advocacy by many of the same people for leniency for criminals who use guns, Armey said. “The fact of the matter is that we have got a culture right now that seems to say: ‘Let’s control the guns and have all kinds of laxities and forgiveness and understanding and so forth for the people who hold the guns,’” he said.

“My own view is, let’s get tough on criminals, have tough penalties for the illegal use of weaponry or any other illegal activity that’s an assailment against another person. Get tough on those folks. Crack down on them.”

People should focus on the “aberrance of the individual,” rather than “the object,” Armey said. “More people are killed in automobiles every year than with guns. I don’t hear anybody talking about banning automobiles.”