"I'd also like to ... just say, you know, how insane it is that in the United States of America a civilian can go out and buy ... a semi-automatic assault rifle like an AR-15," Dean Winslow said during his Senate Armed Services confirmation hearing. | Lisa Marie Pane/AP Photo Pentagon health nominee: It's 'insane' civilians can purchase assault weapons The statement drew a swift rebuke from Sen. John McCain.

President Donald Trump’s pick to be the Pentagon's top health official today criticized as "insane" a civilian's access to semi-automatic weapons like the one used Sunday in the Texas church shooting.

"I'd also like to — and I may get in trouble with other members of the committee — just say, you know, how insane it is that in the United States of America a civilian can go out and buy ... a semi-automatic assault rifle like an AR-15, which apparently was the weapon that was used," Dean Winslow, a physician and retired Air Force colonel nominated to be the assistant secretary of Defense for health affairs, said during his Senate Armed Services confirmation hearing.


"I think that's an issue not as much for this committee, but elsewhere," he added.

The statement drew a swift rebuke from the panel's chairman, John McCain (R-Ariz.).

"Dr. Winslow, I don't think that's in your area of responsibility or expertise," McCain interjected.

Winslow was asked by Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) if service members who are convicted of domestic violence charges should be dishonorably discharged. The shooter, Devin Patrick Kelley, was convicted of domestic violence charges while in the Air Force, but the service didn't enter him into a federal background check database that could have prevented him from buying the weapon used in Sunday's attack.

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Winslow's written answers on abortion also drew a rebuke from McCain, who urged him to clarify his response and warned him failure to do so could stymie his confirmation.