Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) thinks the U.S. needs to implement harsher measures to ensure that the mentally ill are unable to buy or own guns.
“I’m willing to work with Senator [Chuck] Schumer [D., N.Y]. and anybody else that wants to make sure people who are mentally ill cannot get and use a gun,” said Coburn on Sunday’s Meet the Press, calling Jared Loughner’s access to a gun a “real problem.”
But he also defended current gun laws, arguing that stricter gun control laws could hurt law-abiding citizens. “The problem with gun laws is they limit the ability to defend yourself, one,” Coburn said. “But number two is, the people who are going to commit a crime or going to do something crazy aren’t going to pay attention to the laws in the first place.”