GUNS/NONTRUTHS: “Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), offering no evidence, told a New York radio host that many mass shooters are Democrats and that the media are overlooking the story.
Tenney, a gun rights advocate, made the comments during a discussion Wednesday [2-21-18] with WGDJ host Fred Dicker about the Parkland, Florida, high school shooting, which left 17 people dead.
‘Obviously, there’s a lot of politics in it. It’s interesting that so many of these people that commit the mass murders end up being Democrats,’ Tenney said. ‘But the media doesn’t talk about that.’
Tenney said she fears legal gun owners will be ‘targeted’ following the shooting, even though she claimed their demographic had ‘the least amount of crimes than virtually any other demographic.’ Dicker replied that ‘they tend to vote Republican’ and ‘tend to be white.’ Tenney laughed and agreed.
Police say the suspect in the Florida shooting, Nikolas Cruz, 19, bought the AR-15-style rifle used in the attack legally a year ago. Though a conservative website portrayed him as holding extreme leftist views, there is no evidence that’s true.
The interview drew backlash from numerous Democratic lawmakers.
State Rep. Anthony Brindisi, who is looking to unseat Tenney, said her comments were ‘a new low.’… Tenney defended her comments, claiming the media and liberals are trying to ‘demonize’ gun owners… The National Rifle Association endorsed Tenney in 2016, even though she had blasted the organization two years prior for putting ‘politics over principles.’ “
-Anyanna Alexander, “GOP congresswoman, without evidence, says mass shooters ‘end up being Democrats’,” Politico, Feb. 22, 2018 10:09am