Trump: Assassination Attempt Didn't Alter Gun Rights View

Former President Donald Trump said Thursday during a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida the assassination attempt against him in July has not changed his stance on gun rights.

The news conference, broadcast by Newsmax, was Trump's first since Vice President Kamala Harris named Tim Walz as her Democrat running mate.

Trump was asked because the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, used an AR-15-style rifle to shoot at him – wounding him in the right ear, killing a spectator, and seriously injuring two others at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania – whether it changed his outlook on people having access to such a weapon.

"No, it didn't," he said. "Look, if you take away guns – [Harris] wants to take away everyone's gun. If you take away guns, [you] can't do it because people need guns for protection. Now, entertainment, they want it [for] hunting, different things. But they need weapons for protection in this country. People live out in the woods, and they're not going to have a gun.

"If you look at some countries, I don't want to get them in trouble. But some countries have actually gone the opposite way. They had very strong gun laws, and now they have gone the opposite way where they allowed people to have guns, where, in one case, they encouraged people to go out and get guns and crime is down 29%."

Trump, who angered many gun rights supporters when he ordered a ban on bump stocks following the mass shooting at a Las Vegas concert in 2017 – a decision that was overturned by the Supreme Court in June – said the most violent crime happens in U.S. cities with strict gun laws.

"Remember this, [which city has] the toughest gun laws in the United States? Chicago," he said. "On July 4, 117 people were shot and 17 died. The toughest gun laws in the United States are in the city of Chicago."

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