James Comey calls for stricter US gun controls as former FBI Director attacks NRA’s ‘lies’ The US must overcome the “lies” of the NRA to save lives by introducing stricter gun controls, former FBI chief […]

The US must overcome the “lies” of the NRA to save lives by introducing stricter gun controls, former FBI chief James Comey has said, in the wake of the latest American school shooting massacre.

Mr Comey, who served as director of the FBI from 2013 until 2017 when he was sacked by Donald Trump, made a rare intervention on the highly controversial topic in an interview with i after 10 people were killed by a gunman at Santa Fe High School in Texas last month.

Mr Comey said: “Surely there are things we can agree upon that relate to who’s able to buy a weapon, what kind of weapon and at what age, what the capabilities of the weapon are, how many rounds does it hold, and things like that, that in no way threaten the rights under the US constitution of people to keep and bear arms.

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“One of the worst things that goes on in the US is the current voice of the National Rifle Association, because it sells fear in the wake of any incident.”

James Comey was a registered Republican supporter until 2012. The party has long been supported by NRA donations, but he said the organisation had “overplayed its hand” in trying to prevent tighter gun controls, such as the background checks overseen by the FBI.

“The single largest gun sale month in the history of the US was the month after the [20] children were butchered in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, on December 14 2012. I remember the date because it was my birthday and I was living in Connecticut.

“The reason gun sales spiked to incredible rates after that is the NRA turned around in the wake of that and said: ‘They’re coming for your guns.’ They sold fear to the American people,” said Mr Comey.

“Their constant argument is: ‘It’s a slippery slope. If we restrict a particular kind of weapon or raise the age of purchase, it means the end of gun ownership in the US.’ And that argument is a lie.

“There’s no slippery slope in America when it comes to guns. It’s a concrete staircase, which is our constitution…. We just have to decide should we go up a stair or down a stair.”

He added: “More and more gun owners in the US are thinking: ‘Wait a minute, we can do something to keep children safer, we can keep the guns out of the hands of dangerous or disturbed people or juveniles in a much more effective way.’

“We restrict the ability to buy silencers in the US, we restrict the ability to buy fully automatic weapons – the world has not ended as a result of that.”

Mr Comey said as a gun owner himself he was not arguing for an outright ban, simply stricter gun controls.

“I’m comfortable around guns. I own guns. And yet I, like I hope all thoughtful gun owners, recognise that on the one hand it’s a right guaranteed in the US constitution, but like all rights in the constitution it’s appropriately subject to reasonable regulation and restriction.”

In his memoir, A Higher Loyalty, James Comey writes of his time at the FBI: “In every staff meeting, 80 per cent of the attendees had a gun on them. I eventually grew accustomed to seeing a pistol in an ankle holster when the deputy director crossed his legs during a meeting.”

He was permitted to carry one himself but chose not to. “I was surrounded by armed people all day long. If I wasn’t safe in the hands of the FBI, then our country was really in trouble.”

Mr Comey spoke of how he worked with the Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Violence on engaging with the NRA to improve drugs laws during the early part of his career as a prosecutor.

Some US nursery children are being taught a rhyme about how to hide from gunmen to the tune of ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’. The lyrics include: “Lock the door/Shut the lights off/Say no more/Go behind the desk and hide/Wait until it’s safe inside.”