Rick Santorum Thinks CPR Will Protect Kids From Mass Shootings
Since when can CPR stop an AR-15?
Image via Getty/Darren McCollester
Failed presidential candidate and Urban Dictionary alum Rick Santorum has joined the list of those criticizing the students and activists who participated in the March for Our Lives on Saturday. The politician went on CNN on Sunday to argue that students should learn CPR, instead of protesting for stricter gun control laws.
Not really sure how CPR is supposed to help save lives when an active shooter attacks a high school with an AR-15, but that doesn’t really seem to cross Santorum’s mind. “How about kids instead of looking to someone else to solve their problem, do something about maybe taking CPR classes or trying to deal with situations that when there is a violent shooter that you can actually respond to that," he said on CNN's State of the Union segment.
Santorum went on to say that kids need to stop waiting for lawmakers to fix their problems, and asked why they didn’t stop the shooting from happening in the first place. Seriously? Perhaps students are protesting, because these gun laws would ban the kinds of weapon used to kill 17 people in Parkland.
"They didn't take action to say, 'How do I, as an individual, deal with this problem? How am I going to do something about stopping bullying within my own community? What am I going to do to actually help respond to a shooter?'” he said. “Those are the kind of things where you can take it internally, and say, 'Here's how I'm going to deal with this. Here's how I'm going to help the situation,' instead of going and protesting and saying, 'Oh, someone else needs to pass a law to protect me.'"
His insensitive comments quickly garnered backlash. Everytown for Gun Safety program manager Erica Lafferty, whose mother died in the Sandy Hook shooting, responded with a statement. “Rick Santorum's words are an insult to the kids of Parkland, my family and to the countless others who have had loved ones taken by gun violence,” she wrote. “My mother was killed while protecting her students at Sandy Hook School. For anyone to suggest that the solution to gun violence is for kids to learn CPR is outrageous, and indicative of the NRA's desire to do or say anything except strengthen America's weak gun laws."
People on Twitter also decided to drag Rick. Check out some of those comments below.