Jacksonville sheriff confronts political left on gun control
'The story is always about guns — people are bad — this guy’s a bad guy,' Waters said. 'If I could take my gun off right now, and I lay it on this counter, nothing will happen. It’ll sit there — but as soon as wicked person grabs ahold of that handgun and starts shooting people with it — there’s the problem.'
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters criticized the political Left's stance on guns this weekend, following a racially charged shooting at a Dollar General store that left three people dead.
The murderer, a white man in his early 20s, left manifestos revealing his intent to specifically target black individuals, The Daily Wire reports.
“The story is always about guns — people are bad — this guy’s a bad guy,” Waters said. “If I could take my gun off right now, and I lay it on this counter, nothing will happen. It’ll sit there — but as soon as a wicked person grabs ahold of that handgun and starts shooting people with it — there’s the problem.”
“The problem is the individual,” he continued, “now guns are a tool that people use to do horrible things. But it’s the individuals that wield these things. So we are working hard to try to stop that. But in this situation, in this case, there was nothing saying — there was nothing illegal about him owning the firearms.”
Despite being placed on a temporary involuntary mental health hold in 2017 under the state's Baker Act, the assailant was still able to legally acquire firearms.
Jacksonville County Sheriff T.K. Waters:
— Alec Lace (@AlecLace) August 27, 2023
“The story is always about guns. People are bad. This guy's a bad guy… The problem is the individual.”
pic.twitter.com/ZCUkudqVwy
“This shooting, based on the manifesto that they’ve discovered from the scumbag that did this, was racially motivated,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Saturday. “He was targeting people based on their race — that is totally unacceptable. This guy killed himself rather than face the music and accept responsibility for his actions.”
“He took the coward’s way out,” he continued. “We condemn what happened in the strongest possible terms. We’ve offered support for Sheriff Waters in the city of Jacksonville, and we send our condolences to the victims and their families who were the victims of a very cowardly act.”
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