Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson said that the U.S. should not further restrict the right to bear arms. | Getty Sen. Ron Johnson: Ideology, not gun, killed 49 people in Orlando

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson said Monday that it’s ideology, and not the Orlando gunman’s AR-15 rifle, that ultimately killed 49 people Sunday in the largest mass shooting in U.S. history.

Johnson told CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer that fully automatic weapons are already banned and that the U.S. should not further restrict the constitutional right to bear arms as a result of Sunday’s attack at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub. A puzzled Blitzer pressed Johnson, seeking clarity on the Republican senator’s distinction between banned fully-automatic weapons and the legally purchased semi-automatic rifle used by shooter Omar Mateen.


“The AR-15 that was used in this terror attack, killing 49 people, you wouldn’t describe that as an assault weapon?” Blitzer asked. “You’re differentiating between that and a fully automatic assault weapon? Because that weapon certainly did kill a lot of people.”

“So do bombs,” Johnson replied. “So there are other ways that terrorists can slaughter people. It’s their ideology. Their ideology calls for the slaughter of innocents. That’s the root cause. It’s not law-abiding gun owners that are the problem here, it’s Islamic terrorists.”