‘Passing Bills Doesn’t Solve the Problems’ of Gun Violence: Rep. Comer Says House GOP Will Instead Focus on Fentanyl and Looting

Rep. James Comer (R-KY) brushed off suggestions that new gun laws would help prevent gun violence, telling NBC News’ Chuck Todd House Republicans would instead focus on crime issues like “the looting that’s taking place in cities.”

The Meet the Press anchor brought up the subject in the context of the Republicans taking a narrow majority in the House for the upcoming term, and asked Comer, the GOP Leader on the House Oversight Committee, what the party’s agenda would be:

CHUCK TODD: I wanted to talk to you about what your agenda’s going to be in a couple months. But I want to ask you on guns — I know what your personal position is here — is there any gun law that you’d like to see stricter when it comes to the purchases of weapons?

REP. JAMES COMER: I mean, we already have many gun laws on the books. If passing a bill would simply end gun violence, then I think you would have overwhelming support in Congress for that. That’s like saying “Congress could pass a bill that reduced inflation.” That didn’t reduce inflation.

So you know, passing bills doesn’t solve the problems. We have, as Governor Youngkin said, a mental health crisis in America. And I think there’s overwhelming bipartisan support to fund better mental health programs, and try to increase communication between law enforcement agencies and social services groups to try to better identify these troubled people before they commit crimes.

TODD: How would you suggest we go about preventing mentally unstable folks from purchasing guns if we don’t have a waiting period, or don’t have certain classifications for certain weapons? Is there a way to do this?

COMER: Well, that’s something that Congress is, I’m sure, going to discuss. It’s been discussed the entire six years I’ve been in Congress. It’s very difficult. You know, the number one priority with respect to crime in America for Republicans is going to be the fentanyl crisis. We talk about terrible gun crimes in America, but we’ve had over 100,000 deaths because of fentanyl pouring across our border, which is unsecured right now. That’s going to be the top priority for Republicans come January.

TODD: I understand that, but these massacres, nobody wants to see them. I mean, it does feel as if we talk about the individual freedom of somebody to be able to have the right to bear arms; people want to have the individual freedom to shop at Walmart, without fear of getting shot.

So I guess, is there any place, any room, I know what your position is, any room to allow — had we had a waiting period with the Walmart shooter, it’s possible three days, he might’ve calmed down or we might’ve found something troubling in his past, and he doesn’t get the weapon.

COMER: Well Chuck, you talk about this a lot on Meet the Press, but when you look at cities that have the most strict gun laws, like Washington D.C., Chicago, these are the cities with the highest rates of crimes committed with guns. So you know, just simply passing more bills isn’t going to solve the problem.

I think we need to get serious about law enforcement, we need to invest in more law enforcement, and again, we need to invest in mental health and try to improve communication between our social agencies, as well as our law enforcement.

TODD: Right. I’ve heard this talking point about gun laws in cities, but I don’t know if you realize this, the states that have the most gun laws have the least amount of per capita gun crime, and the states with the least amount of gun laws seem to have the most. I’m showing it here on screen. I don’t know if you can see it here. So there is a correlation. If you have more gun laws on the books as a state, you have fewer gun-related crimes, gun-related deaths. That has been proven statistically.

COMER: Well, in places like rural America where just about every other household exercises their Second Amendment right, there aren’t a lot of crimes in these areas. And I think one reason is because potential criminals know that these people are exercising their Second Amendment rights.

So this is something that’s indoctrinated in our Constitution, this is something that Republicans hold, you know, close. And we’re going to continue to protect our Second Amendment rights, but while at the same time we want to get serious about crime in America, the fentanyl crisis, as well as the looting that’s taking place in cities.

We believe that we need more law enforcement, and we need to respect the law enforcement. We need to have prosecutors that are serious about prosecuting and not letting people off in the name of criminal justice. So these are issues that are going to be debated early on in the new Republican majority.

Watch the video clip above, via Meet the Press on NBC News.