Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz accused President Barack Obama on Sunday of exploiting the shooting in Newtown, Conn., for political gain.
“There is a point of hypocrisy when it comes to gun control, that many of the proponents of gun control are very wealthy, live in communities where they can outsource police protection,” Cruz said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
His comments followed a clip of a controversial television advertisement that questions why Obama opposes security in schools while his two daughters are protected by armed guards. Cruz said the ad raises a fundamental point about the Second Amendment. Further, he said he doesn’t think the president’s push for gun-control legislation will prevent mass killings like the one at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
“What I don’t think is constructive is what the president is doing right now,” Cruz said. “Within minutes of that horrible tragedy in Newtown, the president began trying to exploit that tragedy to push a gun-control agenda that is designed to appeal to partisans, designed to appeal to his political partisans.
“It would have done zero to prevent the crime in Newtown,” Cruz said of proposals to limit clip sizes, require background checks, and ban assault weapons. “This is designed to assuage liberal partisans who want to push control.”
Regarding the debt-ceiling debate, Cruz told host David Gregory about the Full Faith and Credit Act, which the newly elected senator is sponsoring, and asked Sen. Chuck Schumer, also a guest on the program, for support.
“Chuck, you know, you and I, we could make news right now on national television,” Cruz said, asking the New York Democrat to commit to the bill. “Regardless of what happens with the debt ceiling, the United States will always, always, always need its debt. We will never default on its debt.”
“I support the concept,” Schumer said. “I’d have to look at the bill.”
“We may have just made news,” Cruz responded.
Finally, Cruz said he is “disappointed” in remarks made by Colin Powell one week ago, in which the former Secretary of State said there is a “dark vein of intolerance” running through the Republican Party, and said Powell is “buying in to some of the partisan attacks.”
© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.