Congressman Blames Gun Violence On ‘Diversity In America’
Rather than acknowledging the clear link between lax gun laws and deadly shootings, a Texas congressman has found a new culprit: multiculturalism.
On
the Chris Salcedo Show last week, the radio host asked Rep. Pete
Sessions (R-TX) to weigh in on the horrific shooting on live TV of two
journalists in Virginia. After acknowledging that widespread gun
violence is a daily occurrence in the United States, Sessions zeroed in on what he viewed as the real cause.
“It
has a lot to do with distrust of people. Chris, I have been in lots of
societies, we could say like Japan, where they have a homogeneous
society, where people are more alike,” Sessions said. He went on to
discuss “this thought process that we have to have diversity in
America.”
Although
Sessions did acknowledge that “we should and we need to work for” a
kind of mutual respect across diverse groups, the thrust of his remarks
was that diversity breeds a kind of mistrust that sparks gun violence.
“We have a group of people that are in our country that we’re afraid of,
that have created chaos and confusion. And now our country is confused”
he told Salcedo, without elaborating on precisely who that group of
people is.
Listen to it (relevant section begins at 1:23):
Immediately
after this effort to lay the blame for gun violence at the feet of
diversity, Salcedo steered the conversation to legislation Sessions is
introducing to crack down on many immigrants. “We have repeatedly seen,
not just as the murder in Virginia,” Sessions said in making the case
for his bill, “we have repeatedly heard stories as they have occurred
across our countries [sic] … about criminal aliens — people who have
come to this country, people who are not legal, people who have created
or come here after creating chaos.”
Vester Flanagan, the man reportedly behind the “murder in Virginia” that Sessions refers to, is not an immigrant. He was born in Oakland, California. A 2013 study determined that first generation immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans.
Sessions
is no back-bencher among congressional Republicans. He currently chairs
the powerful House Rules Committee and chaired the National Republican
Congressional Committee during the GOP’s massive gains in 2010. He is
currently serving his 10th term in Congress.
Still, Sessions isn’t the only conservative to offer unlikely explanations for gun violence. Others have blamed “welfare moms,” gun-free zones, not enough guns, overmedicating kids, absent fathers, and video games.
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