Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) weighed in on Saturday's tragic Tucson, Ariz. shooting over the weekend, saying that the actions of alleged shooter Jared Lee Loughner reflect on Loughner, not on U.S. gun laws.
Paul was quick to condemn the act of violence and to offer his prayers and thoughts for the shooting victims during a "Fox News Sunday" interview. That said, he argued, the shooting was an outlier that does not necessarily reflect systemic regulatory problems.
"It's probably about a very sick individual and what should have been done for that person," he said. "But the weapons don't kill people. It's the individual that killed these people."
Paul, an ophthalmologist, went on to offer a psychological analysis of the suspect. "I looked at some of the writings of this young man," he said. "And from a medical point of view, there is a lot to suggest paranoid schizophrenia, that this man was a really sick individual."
The new senator from Kentucky campaigned on strong support for gun rights. In October, he visited an area machine-gun shoot and vowed to preserve gun rights at all costs.
"I don't have to apologize for supporting the Second Amendment. I support it and will continue to support it no matter what the liberals say," Paul said at the October event. "The president says that you're out here in the middle of the country clinging to your guns and ammunition. What I tell the president is, 'We're clinging to our guns, our religions and our ammunition.'"
Loughner, who has been described as an unstable loner, was able to purchase a semiautomatic 9mm handgun last year and fire off an entire 30-round extended magazine before being tackled by witnesses Saturday.
WATCH the Paul interview (via Crooks & Liars):