Pence says solution to mass shootings is to quickly execute mass shooters

Former Vice President Mike Pence said Friday that speeding up the legal process for executing mass shooters was a solution to stop violence.

Pence’s comments came during his speech at the National Rifle Association’s leadership summit.

“It’s inconceivable to me that the shooter who killed 17 people at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 is languishing in a Florida prison,” Pence said. “I believe the time has come to institute a federal death penalty statue with accelerated appeal to ensure that those who engage in mass shooting face execution in months not years.”

Pence’s remarks come just days after a 25-year-old man armed with a legally purchased rifle killed five people and injured eight others at a Louisville, Ky. bank on Monday. Two weeks earlier, three children and three staff members were fatally shot at a private school in Nashville, Tenn. Police said the perpetrator legally purchased seven firearms before the shooting.

The suspects in both incidents were killed by responding officers.

Pence on Friday said that transgender activism and mental illness, not loose gun laws, were to blame for the shootings.

“Ignoring the motivations of the trans activist who killed three children and three adults at that Christian school in Nashville, and the ‘mental health challenges’ of the man who killed five people and injured eight others in Louisville, President Biden and the Democrats have returned to the same tired arguments about gun control and confiscation,” Pence said.

Nashville authorities previously said that the school shooter identified as a transgender man and used male pronouns on social media, but authorities have continued to refer to the shooter as “she” and “her” in updates.

“We don’t need gun control, we need crime control,” Pence said. “We don’t need lectures about the liberties of law-abiding citizens, we need solutions to protect our kids.”

Multiple reports said that Pence was booed when he appeared on stage to speak. Former president Donald Trump is also expected to speak at the NRA convention on Friday.