June 20, 2016: On guns preventing the Orlando shooting
As Democrats mounted efforts to pass gun control legislation in the wake of the Orlando shooting, Trump brought up the proverbial "good guy with a gun" argument, which goes that mass casualties could have been avoided if one civilian in the club were armed.
Under scrutiny for his comment, Trump insisted he meant armed security, not clubgoers.
When I said that if, within the Orlando club, you had some people with guns, I was obviously talking about additional guards or employees
Obviously, he was not. In an interview on CNN, Trump said armed "people" in general, possibly exercising concealed carry, could have prevented the tragedy, and he ignored a reporter when she pointed out that there was an armed security guard in the club. Here’s the exchange:
Trump: "If you had guns on the other side, you wouldn’t have had the tragedy you had. If people in that room …"
Reporter: "But there was …"
Trump: "...had guns with the bullets flying in the opposite direction …"
Reporter: "But Mr. Trump, there was an armed security guard."
Trump: " ...right at him, right at his head, you wouldn't have had the same tragedy that you ended up having. ...But if you had guns in that room, even if you had a number of people having them strapped to their ankle or strapped to their waists, where bullets could have flown in the other direction, you wouldn’t have had the same kind of tragedy."