dumb things

Rick Perry Wants to Make Sure That America’s Moviegoers Are Armed to the Teeth

Republican presidential candidate and accused felon Rick Perry has a solution to the United States’ mass-shooting problem, and it’s exactly what you’d expect. In a Sunday interview with Jake Tapper, the former Texas governor suggested that last week’s Lafayette, Louisiana, movie-theater attack might have been prevented — or somehow improved? — by the presence of more firearms.

“I will suggest to you that these concepts of gun-free zones are a bad idea. I think that you allow the citizens of this county, who have been appropriately trained and appropriately backgrounded, who know how to handle and use firearms, to carry them,” said Perry. “I believe that, with all my heart, that if you have the citizens who are well trained, and particularly in these places that are considered to be gun-free zones, that we can stop that type of activity, or stop it before there’s as many people that are impacted as what we saw in Lafayette.” To be fair, Perry also acknowledged that background-check laws for gun buyers need better enforcement. But in the meantime, he’s comfortable letting American moviegoers settle things Old West saloon–style.

Perry Wants More Guns in Movie Theaters