Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) reacted to the horrific Nashville school shooting on Monday by essentially saying there’s nothing that can be done.
At the same time, he also offered up a perplexing and tone-deaf response when asked what he would do to protect young children, simply noting that he homeschools his daughter.
Speaking to reporters hours after a 28-year-old former student shot and killed six people at a private Christian school, Burchett contended that there were no solutions to the ongoing—and uniquely American—plague of mass shootings.
“Three precious little kids lost their lives, and I believe three adults, I believe, and the shooter of course, lost their life too,” he declared. “So, it’s a horrible, horrible situation. And, we’re not gonna fix it.”
Burchett continued: “Criminals are gonna be criminals. And my daddy fought in the Second World War, fought in the Pacific, fought the Japanese, and he told me, he said, ‘Buddy,’ he said, ‘if somebody wants to take you out, and doesn’t mind losing their life, there’s not a whole heck of a lot you can do about it.’”
The Tennessee lawmaker was then asked if Congress had any responsibility in the wake of this latest school shooting, prompting Burchett to claim that he and his fellow representatives would only make things worse.
“I don’t see any real role that we could do other than mess things up, honestly, because of the situation,” he replied. “Like I said, I don’t think a criminal is going to stop from guns, you know, you can print them out on the computer now, 3-D printing, and, there’s really, I don’t think you’re going to stop the gun violence.”
Rather than pass any gun regulations or restrictions, Burchett suggested that a better solution may be to pray the murders away.
“I think you got to change people’s hearts,” the congressman said. “You know, as a Christian, as we talk about in the church, and I’ve said this many times, I think we really need a revival in this country.”
At one point, a reporter asked the GOP lawmaker: “What else should be done to protect people like your little girl from being safe in school?”
Burchett replied that it wasn’t a personal concern of his.
“Well, we homeschool her,” he responded with a shrug. “But you know, that’s our decision. Some people don’t have that option and frankly, some people don’t need to do it. I mean, they don’t have to. It just suited our needs much better.”
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