New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie defended Donald Trump’s comment to disarm his Democratic opponent’s bodyguards and “see what happens to her,” contradicting sentiments he expressed to a similar argument in 2013.
“The hypocrisy is on Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine’s part. They want to remove Second Amendment rights from American people. We’ve seen that over and over again,” Christie said in response to questioning that compared protecting public figures and policies for public safety.
In response to vice presidential candidate Sen. Tim Kaine’s characterizing Trump’s remark as inciting violence, Christie called it “outrageous,” said Kaine should be “ashamed” and demanded an apology.
“I think what Donald was trying to do was make a point that [Clinton] wants one set of rules for herself and a different set of rules for everybody else. I think all the American people should have a right to reasonably protect themselves,” Christie said in an interview with Fox News.
Clinton’s platform includes sweeping gun control measures that include expanding background checks to include private sales, an assault weapons ban, and others and she criticized the Supreme Court’s decision on a landmark Second Amendment case.
Yet, Christie had the opposite reaction to similar commentary posed in January 2013 when the National Rifle Association released an ad bringing attention to the security detail protecting President Obama’s daughters.
“The president doesn’t have a choice and his children don’t have a choice of whether they’re going to be protected or not. The reality of our lives in American society don’t lead to that,” Christie said during a press conference and called it “awful to bring public figure’s children into the political debate. They don’t deserve to be there.”
The commercial aired about a month after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in which 20 first-graders and six educators were gunned down by a lone gunman. Under pressure to respond, the NRA released a plan that centered on armed guards in schools. The president, on the other hand, said such problems needed more than just armed guards and called for stricter gun control as well.
Presidents and their families, presidential candidates, vice presidents and visiting heads of state are granted protection by the U.S. Secret Service. As a former first lady and presidential candidate, Clinton has guards and so does Trump.
