The daughter of a Sandy Hook victim is joining the long list of individuals expressing outrage over Dr. Ben Carson‘s comments about the recent shooting at a community college in Oregon that left nine victims dead and nine others injured before the shooter allegedly killed himself.
The outspoken Republican presidential hopeful told “Fox and Friends” on Tuesday that arming teachers could help prevent shootings.
“Whether it’s a kindergarten teacher who is well trained or a retired policeman or someone who can stop the carnage, I think it makes sense,” he said.
Carson elaborated on that idea in a wide-ranging interview with Capital Download. “If I had a little kid in kindergarten somewhere I would feel much more comfortable if I knew on that campus there was a police officer or somebody who was trained with a weapon,” he says. Including the teacher? “If the teacher was trained in the use of that weapon and had access to it, I would be much more comfortable if they had one than if they didn’t.”
Erica Lafferty, whose mother was shot and killed in 2012 while serving as the principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School, objected to Carson’s remarks in a statement that was emailed to The Guardian.
Erica Lafferty, whose mother, Dawn Hochsprung, was the principal of Sandy Hook elementary school and was shot and killed in the December 2012 attack, objected to a statement by Carson
“Ben Carson’s comments are insensitive to anyone who has ever been personally affected by gun violence,” Lafferty’s statement read. “Are gun extremists in this country so morally bankrupt that their solution to ending school shootings is asking kindergarten teachers to be trained in how to attack a gunman?
“My mother was an elementary school principal, not a marine who signed up to be on the frontlines of a shootout.”
Lafferty also objected to Carson’s remarks that he’d rather go down fighting if he were facing a gunman like the one in the Oregon shooting.
“Not only would I probably not cooperate with him, I would not just stand there and let him shoot me,” Carson said. “I would say, ‘Hey guys, everybody attack him. He may shoot me, but he can’t get us all.'”
As The Guardian reports, “Hochsprung was one of the first people to confront Adam Lanza, the gunman at Sandy Hook. Witnesses said that before she was shot dead she yelled, ‘Shooter, stay put!’ and in doing so saved lives.”
“My mother did not just ‘stand there’ and let herself get shot,” Lafferty said in the statement.
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