Republican Sen. John Cornyn accused President Barack Obama of “taking the low road” in his reaction Wednesday to the defeat in the Senate of the background check gun bill.
“I say this more with sadness than anger,” the Texan said on the Senate floor Thursday, according to the The
Huffington Post.
“I watched the president of the United States say it was a pretty shameful day on the national news. I agree — for different reasons than the president himself articulated.”
Cornyn, who voted against the bill, took issue with Obama's claim that Republican and Democratic opponents of the measure were intimidated by the National Rifle Association and other gun lobby groups. He said he answered to the “26 million Texans” he represents during the Senate vote Wednesday.
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“The president could have taken the high road,” Cornyn said. “Instead, he chose to take the low road, and I agree with him — it was a truly shameful day.”
The senator said the president should have focused his efforts on trying to get a gun safety-related mental health measure through the Senate that's still pending.
The senator also said he met with families victimized by the Dec. 14 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. But rather than changing his mind on gun control measures, he said the meetings convinced him not to support what he called “symbolic” laws that would not have stopped the Newtown shootings or any other gun massacres.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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