France's stringent gun control laws should be blamed for failing to prevent the deadly attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday, said real estate tycoon Donald Trump.
Trump was making reference to the fact that the French police are generally unarmed. The two officers who were caught up in the terrorist attack were forced to retreat in the face of the armed terrorists.
"If the people so violently shot down in Paris had guns, at least they would have had a fighting chance," Trump said on Twitter. "Isn't it interesting that the tragedy in Paris took place in one of the toughest gun control countries in the world? Remember, when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns!"
One of the radical Islamist shooters killed a policeman at close range after the officer begged for his life. Eleven other people also were killed in the attack.
Trump's comments have sparked a mix of outrage and support on social media.
"[W]hat a complete idiot. More people would have f***ing died!!! Heaps of crossfire!!!" said the first person to respond on Twitter,
according to the Daily Mail.
Trump had been labeled a "moron" in at least 38 of the replies to his first tweet, while a further 44 responses as of Thursday morning had labeled him "stupid," according to the Mail. About 80 responses mentioned the word "idiot," although not all were directly critical of Trump, the Mail said.
Nevertheless, it appeared there was also significant support on social media for Trump's comments. His tweets were marked as a "favorite" by over 900 people, and were re-tweeted over 1,475 times. In addition, a number of responses were supportive of his view, the Mail noted.
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