Today is the fifth anniversary of the Sandy Hook mass shooting tragedy, which resulted in the deaths of 20 deaths of children between the ages of six and seven years old, as well as six adults. During the Thursday White House press briefing, Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked by Margaret Brennan of CBS News that since Sandy Hook has now been eclipsed by the Las Vegas massacre, what has President Trump done or what does he plan to do to protect the American people against a similar type of tragedy. Since, it seems, there’s always one around the corner these days.
Huckabee Sanders quickly deflected the question, turning the topic broadly towards Trump’s favorite talking points, border security and vetting processes — despite the fact that both of the aforementioned tragedies were committed by U.S. citizens with legally obtained weapons.
Brennan continued to press Huckabee Sanders, asking her point blank if the administration is looking for ways to prevent domestic shooters on U.S. soil. “Absolutely, I know that’s something that the Department of Homeland Security looks at and talks about and works on every single day,” she said. “I don’t think there’s a person in this country that wouldn’t like us to find ways to protect people.”
When Brennan interjected, Huckabee Sanders snapped, “Well I don’t think there’s any one thing you could to that would have prevented either one of those, ah, instances, those horrible, horrible tragedies.”
Brennan continued to press, reminding Huckabee Sanders of the president’s speedy response to the failed terror attack in New York City earlier this week, which killed no one. “That’s why I think you have to take these matters obviously very seriously,” she continued. “But if you could name a single thing that could have prevented both of these things I’d love to hear it, because I don’t know what that would look like.”
Her answers were par for the course, in other words, from the Trump administration.