Most of the frontrunners for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2020 reacted to the synagogue shooting in Poway, California, on Saturday by denouncing “gun violence.”
The shooting, in which one women was killed and three congregants (including the rabbi) injured, was stopped partially due to the fact that an off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent at the synagogue was able to obtain a weapon and return fire at the fleeing gunman.
Still, most of the leading Democratic candidates condemned “gun violence.”
Former vice president Joe Biden was among them. He also referenced a line from his campaign launch video, which falsely claimed that President Donald Trump had called neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia, “very fine people.” Biden tweeted: “We’re in the battle for the soul of this nation.”
Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) — who came under fire from rival Hillary Clinton in 2016 over his supposed support for gun rights in Vermont earlier in his political career — also tweeted about “gun violence”:
California’s own Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) also tweeted against “gun violence” — though California has the most restrictive gun control laws in the country:
Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) followed suit:
Mayor Pete Buttigieg was one notable exception:
President Trump applauded the Border Patrol agent while denouncing the “hate crime” in Poway.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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