Fiorina: People ‘losing faith’ in government over shootings

GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said Thursday that mass shootings are eroding the trust Americans have in their elected officials.

“I think this is why people are losing faith in the government,” she told hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

{mosads}”This is an unspeakable tragedy,” she added of Wednesday’s shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., that killed 14 people and wounded 17 others.

“We need to ask ourselves some tough questions. Honestly, the facts of this case are disturbing, to say the least.”

Fiorina argued that the government is failing citizens by not enforcing its existing firearms regulations and preventing related bloodshed.

“We don’t enforce the laws in this country,” she said. “One of the things we should do is prosecute the people who shouldn’t have guns.”

“We have lists and lists of people who shouldn’t have guns,” the former Hewlett-Packard CEO added. “That’s why some of the cities with the most stringent gun laws in the country have these shootings.

“It’s ideology rather than common sense. Let’s start with the common sense things first.”

Fiorina then dismissed critics calling for new regulations that prevent those on the Transportation Security Administration’s “no-fly” list from purchasing guns.

“It’s red herring,” she said. “If someone is a suspected terrorist, they can be indicted.  Why aren’t they?”

Reports emerged Wednesday that multiple gunmen had attacked an urban center in San Bernardino, Calif. The incident is the latest to fuel the debate over how strict the nation’s gun control laws should be for preventing similar massacres.

President Obama responded by repeating his frequent calls for Congressional action resulting in tougher firearms regulations. 

“What we do know is that there are steps we can take to make Americans safer and that we should come together on a bipartisan basis at every level of government to make these rare as opposed to normal,” he said of mass shootings.