Washington: As President Barack Obama makes an aggressive push to curb gun violence, Donald Trump said he disagrees with the president on his gun control measures, but his tears were real.
“I think he probably means well,” the frontrunner Republican presidential candidate said on Fox News Wednesday when asked about an emotional Obama tearing up as he talked about the first graders massacred at a Sandy Hook elementary school in 2012.
Obama Tuesday announced new executive actions on guns, including narrowing the so-called “gun-show loophole” on background checks.
What the president gets wrong is “the concept” behind his efforts, not his emotion, said Trump reiterating his position that the answer to mass shootings is having more people with guns in the room, not fewer.
“I actually think he was sincere, I’ll probably go down about 5 points in the polls by saying that, but I think he was sincere,” Trump said.
Looking ahead to the presidential race, Trump also attacked other Democrats and front-runnner Hillary Clinton alongside Obama.
“His idea is just taking chunks and chunks out of the Second Amendment (right to bear arms) until we don’t have a Second Amendment anymore, and people need protection,” Trump said.
“Hillary Clinton is, I think, worse than Obama on the issue, frankly, she wants to take everyone’s gun away.”
Later Wednesday, Trump told CNN that Obama should take action to protect Americans, but through legislation, not executive action.
“We have to protect the Second Amendment,” Trump told CNN. “We have no choice. We have to do that.”