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Scalise Says Experience ‘Fortified’ Support for Gun Rights

On Las Vegas shooting, House majority whip says ‘We shouldn’t first be thinking about promoting our political agenda’

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, left, arrives with Speaker of the House Paul D, Ryan and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to speak to reporters following the House Republican Conference meeting in the Capitol on Tuesday. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, left, arrives with Speaker of the House Paul D, Ryan and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to speak to reporters following the House Republican Conference meeting in the Capitol on Tuesday. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise said his experience after being shot in June “fortified” his support for gun rights. 

In an interview with Fox News, Scalise was asked if his views on gun rights changed after being shot during practice for the Congressional Baseball Game as well as the shooting this week in Las Vegas that left 59 people dead. 

“I think it’s fortified it,” Scalise said. “We shouldn’t first be thinking about promoting our political agenda.”

Scalise returned to Congress last week for the first time after a shooter opened fire on Republicans practicing for the baseball game.

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Scalise was shot in the hip, which was fractured into multiple pieces, and suffered internal bleeding. 

This week, the Louisiana Republican resumed his Whip duties.

Scalise was asked what his thoughts were about shooter James Thomas Hodgkinson, who had a history of supporting liberal politics, intentionally trying to kill Republicans.

“I don’t think that anybody has a rationale or justification for carrying out that attack,” he said. “Nobody in their right frame of mind should think like that.” 

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