Gingrich, in an appearance on Sean Hannity’s program, reacted to the “horrible” news before making a call to “really think through a better method of protecting people.”
“Frankly, in states that have conceal carry and other permits, constitutional carry permits, you have a much more rapid response to these kind of people who are crazy,” Gingrich told the Fox News host as a suspect remained at large in the Lewiston mass killing.
He continued, “We have to have a greater ability for our citizens to protect themselves because it’s clear that law enforcement comes in after the massacre. But law enforcement’s almost never there to stop the massacre.”
The former House speaker’s comments arrived after a man opened fire at a restaurant and bowling alley in the Maine community.
Officials have since identified Robert Card, 40, as a person of interest in the shootings. Card, a firearms instructor believed to be assigned to a U.S. Army Reserve training facility in Maine, was committed to a mental health facility over the summer and reported that he was “hearing voices and threats to shoot up” the military base.
Gingrich, who once argued for arming teachers in the wake of the Parkland school shooting that left 17 dead in 2018, later called for people to think of a “whole new strategy” and declared that you have to stop gunmen “as early as possible to minimize the loss of individual lives.”