GOP lawmaker and Trump ally says he ‘will now be carrying a gun’ in the wake of the baseball match shooting that injured Majority Whip Steve Scalise
New York Rep. Chris Collins said he will carry a gun ‘from this day forward’
Comes after anti-Trump activist James Hodgkinson shot Republicans in Virginia
Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia said Hodgkinson ‘wouldn’t have gotten too far’ in his home state
By IAIN BURNS
DailyMail.com
15 June 2017
A Republican congressman has said he will carry a gun whenever he’s ‘out and about’ after a man critically wounded Majority Whip Steve Scalise in a shooting yesterday.
New York’s Rep. Chris Collins, a strong backer of President Trump, said carrying a gun is not normal for him – but the attack in Alexandria, VA has forced him to change his mind.
Anti-Trump activist James T. Hodgkinson, 66, wounded Scalise and shot several others before he was killed by police who were guarding him at a baseball practice.
Speaking to WKBW, Collins said: ‘You look at the vulnerability – I can assure you from this day forward, I have a carry permit, I will be carrying when I’m out and about.
‘On a rare occasion I’d have my gun in the glove box or something, but it’s going to be in my pocket from this day forward’.
He added: ‘It’s got all the punch you need.’
Collins – who represents New York’s 27th Congressional District which is on the border with Canada and contains parts of Buffalo and Rochester – also said he would be requesting an armed police officer at all events, including small ones.
Meanwhile Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk, who was present at the shooting, said if the attack had happened in his home state, the shooter ‘wouldn’t have gotten too far’.
The Rest…HERE
