Media

Fox’s Shep Smith says mass shootings are a ‘uniquely American’ problem

by Joe Concha - 08/05/19 5:50 PM ET

Fox News chief anchor Shepard Smith began his newscast with a monologue calling the 251 mass shootings the country has experienced this year a “uniquely American” problem.

Smith’s comments come as the death toll from mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, has climbed to more than 30.

“Yet again in America innocent families are slumped to their knees in grief, living the agonizing and unimaginable weight, to retrieve the bullet-riddled bodies of their children and parents slaughtered in senseless gun violence,” said Smith. “Yet again in America we search our souls for answers, beg our leaders for solutions that thus far have not come.”

{mosads}Smith called the mass shootings “uniquely American.”

“This happens with regularity in large numbers as a pattern. Just here. Nowhere else,” he noted.

Smith continued noting the latest shootings were “all the more traumatizing” because “we can all put ourselves there,” whether at a Walmart or at a bar, “having a conversation and a laugh with some friends.”

“And now we know what it looks like and sounds like when the regular stops along our journeys in an instant deliver a turning point in our lives. Or end them. Yet again in America,” he said.

Smith went on to list major mass shootings that have occurred over the past 20 years, from Columbine to Virginia Tech.

“Each time we hear kids cry, parents pray and politicians promise. Then it happens yet again in America,” Smith said.

The anchor also described various proposals that have been bandied about, including background checks, and promises for action.

“We heard you last time. And the time before that. And we will likely do it all soon. Yet again in America,” he said.

In the wake of the shootings, Democrats have renewed the call for House-passed gun control legislation to be voted on in the Senate and called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to bring the Senate back from its August recess.

Also on Monday, President Trump floated the idea of stricter background checks and tying such legislation to immigration reform.

Tags Donald Trump Mitch McConnell