Terry McAuliffe: ‘We Lose 93 Million Americans a Day to Gun Violence’
COMMENTS
Democratic Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe vastly overstated the number of Americans killed by firearms on a daily basis in his call for gun control shortly after Wednesday’s shooting at a congressional Republican event.
McAuliffe was asked by a reporter at a press conference on the scene of the shooting in Alexandria, Virginia, what more could be done to protect congressmen after Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise and others were wounded by a gunman.
“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,” the governor began his response.
“We lose 93 million Americans a day to gun violence,” he confidently asserted, without immediate correction by staff. “I have long talked about this.”
McAuliffe then gave examples of the kinds of gun restrictions he would like to see put in place.
“Background checks, shutting down gunshow loopholes,” he said. “That’s not for today’s discussion, but it’s not just about politicians. We worry about this every day for for all of our citizens.”
McAuliffe was trying to say before adding in “million” that 93 Americans are killed every day by firearms. That far smaller figure is promoted by the gun control group Everytown and comes from U.S. government research.
He later corrected himself to say “93 individuals” after being asked by another reporter on the first number he gave.