Fox News contributor Ted Williams told the right-wing network’s viewers that “we have to talk about guns” following yet another mass shooting on Monday.
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results,” Williams, a defense attorney and former federal special agent, told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto after the shooting in Louisville, Kentucky.
At least four people were killed after a man opened fire at a bank with an AR-15-style rifle Monday morning, according to law enforcement. It comes two weeks after a massacre at a school in Nashville, Tennessee, that left three 9-year-old students and three adults dead. The shooter in that incident was carrying three guns: an assault-style pistol, a rifle and a handgun.
“Just two weeks ago, I stood in front of a camera when you had some kids, some babies, shot in Nashville, Tennessee, with a person who, by the way, had an AR-15,” Williams said. “And from what we’ve been told here, Neil, this individual had that same kind of a weapon. And when you look at mental illness ... and that weapon, that’s a dangerous concoction, and we’ve got to do something in this society.”
He added that “I am sick and tired” of reporting on shootings like the ones in recent weeks, and he pushed back on the notion that it was too soon to talk about it.
“We have to talk about guns. AR-15s are killing our babies and our citizens in this country, and we’ve got to do something about it,” he said.
Later in the segment, Williams called for “red flag” laws across the country, which work to get guns out of the hands of people deemed a danger to themselves or others.
Fox News hosts and guests routinely deflect blame to other issues rather than discuss reforms to gun laws in the wake of gun violence. Another guest on the network Monday said the shooting would inevitably trigger discussions about firearms, but added, “I hope that the politicians and so-called leaders don’t dwell on that right now.”
Williams was joined on Cavuto’s program by former FBI special agent Nicole Parker, who drew backlash after the Nashville attack when she called for better securing of “side doors” at schools while failing to mention the weapons used in the massacre. The shooter in Nashville shot through locked side doors to enter the school.