Trump: WDBJ Shooting Was About Mental Instability, Not Guns

Leading Republican candidate Donald Trump addressed the WDBJ shootings at a press conference following a speech in Greenville, S.C., Thursday, but he said it was about mental instability, not access to guns.

Trump said that what happened to the two reporters, whom he called "these magnificent two people—they were gunned down by a troubled ex-station employee—was absolutely terrible."

Trump said it was "so sad" and "something has to happen." But he also said the problem was "not about the guns," but about someone with "great mental instability."

Trump said that people knew the shooter was mentally unstable "for years" and said it was "a shame he could not have been in a hospital."

On the other side of the political spectrum, candidate Hillary Clinton used the incident to call for tighter gun control laws, as did President Obama and Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe—the shooting was in Roanoke, Va.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.