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Oregon Dem slams Ben Carson on gun control

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An Oregon Democrat accused GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson of being insensitive to the victims of the shooting at a community college in his state last week.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) took to the House floor on Wednesday to blast Carson’s comments criticizing President Obama for meeting Friday with the families of the victims who died in the shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore.

“When do we get to the point where we have people who actually want to solve our problems, rather than just politicize everything?” Carson said Tuesday on “Fox & Friends.” “I think that’s what the American people are so sick and tired of.”

{mosads}When asked if he would make the trip to Oregon like Obama if he were president, Carson said he wouldn’t if the community didn’t want him to come.

“Probably not. I mean, I would probably have so many things on my agenda that I’d go to the next one,” Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, replied.

A visibly exasperated Blumenauer compared Obama’s visit to that of President Clinton meeting with victims of the 1998 shooting at a high school in Springfield, Ore., which he described as “a sign of respect and was moving to all who witnessed it.”

“When comments like Republican candidate Ben Carson condemning President Obama’s decision to visit and console the families in Roseburg in a private meeting, that somehow he would wait for the next one? It’s stunning,” Blumenauer said.

“I can’t imagine a more callous, heartless remark than that of Dr. Carson who would wait until ‘the next one,’” Blumenauer continued.

During the same interview on Tuesday, Carson claimed he would have confronted the shooter at Umpqua Community College if he were present.

“Not only would I probably not cooperate with him, I would not just stand there and let him shoot me. I would say, ‘Hey, guys, everybody attack him! He may shoot me but he can’t get us all,’“ Carson said.

 

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