GOP congressman booed for blaming mass shootings on single mothers
Republicans keep coming up with excuses to avoid addressing the problems guns have created in America.
Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) was loudly booed by an audience of his constituents at a town hall Wednesday night after he tried to blame gun violence on single parents.
“We have too many kids growing up in single parent households,” Womack said in a discussion of gun violence.
The crowd immediately started booing and shouting at him.
“It’s the guns!” one woman said.
“That is bull,” said a man, rising to his feet.
“I am a single mother and that is so disrespectful,” said another woman. “Shame on you.”
At Congressman Steve Womack’s town hall in Rogers, AR tonight he was asked a question about gun violence. He blamed single parents and the room was not having it. @MomsDemand #ExpectUs #ARLeg pic.twitter.com/xORi7o23az
— Amy Votes for Gun Sense Candidates (@EVELYNNGSMOMMY) August 29, 2019
Womack was undeterred and asserted that the problem with guns stems from the fact that “we took God” out of schools. Voters replied with shouts of “shame on you!”
Womack was one of the 188 Republicans who voted against the popular bill to enhance background checks that passed in the House earlier this year. Despite the bill’s passage, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to allow a vote on the measure.
In response to mass shootings, Republicans have refused to address the role of guns and their easy availability.
After the shootings in El Paso and Dayton earlier this month, Republicans sought to blame a host of issues — video games, social media, mental health, lack of school prayer, “screens” — for gun violence instead.
Womack’s litany of excuses while avoiding the problem echoes the Republican stance on a problem with a rising death toll.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
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