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CNN’s Cuomo to Santorum: How can access to firearms not be priority in gun debate?

by Morgan Gstalter - 02/26/18 10:33 AM ET

Rick Santorum on Gun Control https://t.co/wL12LYOjY2

— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) February 26, 2018

CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Monday confronted former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) for saying the debate on gun violence should focus on absent fathers and “broken homes” instead of access to firearms.

During an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, Santorum argued that the debate on gun control, while necessary, shifted the focus away from discussing how shooters often come from “broken homes without dads.”

Cuomo in a Monday interview pressed Santorum on his comment, saying that what distinguishes the U.S. in terms of mass shootings is access to guns.

{mosads}“How can that not be priority?” Cuomo said.

Santorum told the “New Day” host that the “root causes” of mass shootings are childhood factors, like violent video games and the “epidemic of young men being raised without a father in the home.”

Cuomo pointed out that Santorum has been awarded a lifetime “A” rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA).

The NRA has been the forefront of the gun debate in recent days, as student survivors from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting have pushed back against the pro-gun group.

President Trump has announced plans to possibly raise the legal age to purchase guns to 21, something the NRA has pushed back against.

Trump has also called to eliminate “gun-free” zones around schools, saying they act as an open target for shooters, a sentiment Santorum agreed with.

Cuomo said that argument was “disingenuous.”

“To ignore the main idea of why these school shootings happen is silly,” Cuomo said.

He said in that interview that absent fathers are a “commonality” of mass shooters, including 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, the suspect in the Florida school shooting that left 17 dead.

“We want to talk about things we can work together on? How about working together to try to see what we can do to get more dads involved in the lives of the kids,” Santorum said.