SAF: SCALISE SHOOTING IS RESULT OF DEMOCRATIC HATE SPEECH

BELLEVUE, WA – Today’s shooting of Congressman Steve Scalise (R-LA), and others including an aide and two Capitol Police officers is the result of Democratic hate speech toward President Donald Trump and majority Republicans, the Second Amendment Foundation said today.

“This hate speech that has been going on since Donald Trump was elected,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “It gets their voter base agitated and this is what happens as a result. Is this just a coincidence this happened on the president’s birthday?”

The gunman has been identified as James Hodgkinson of Illinois. A Facebook page belonging to the fatally-wounded suspect suggests that he was a socialist Democrat, and was a follower of Sen. Bernie Sanders. Sanders confirmed that Hodgkinson was apparently a volunteer in his 2016 presidential campaign.

“When liberal leftists support the assassination of President Trump on stage what do you expect to happen,” Gottlieb stated. “Hate speech and actions incite this kind of violence. It is time for Democrats like Reps. Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton and many of the talking heads at CNN and MSNBC to shut up.”

“Congressman Scalise and others at the field this morning were lucky to have the protection of courageous Capitol police officers, the good guys with guns who took down a bad guy with a gun,” he continued. “But what if they hadn’t been present?”

Congressman Mike Bishop of Michigan, who was at the baseball field, told a reporter, “The only reason why any of us walked out of this thing, by the grace of God, one of the folks here had a weapon to fire back and give us a moment to find cover.”

“Maybe now the anti-gun rights Democrats will support everyone’s right to carry a firearm for self-defense,” Gottlieb said. “We are the first line of defense when it comes to personal protection from crazed individuals.”

“I can only concur with what President Trump said this morning,” he concluded. “We are blessed to be Americans, and we are strongest when we are unified and when we work together. Those responsible for this campaign of hate have no place in our society. You own this.”