GOP presidential hopeful addresses the Oregon shooting Friday afternoon, stating that 'stuff happens' and more government may not be the answer. Jeb Bush on gun violence: 'Stuff happens'

A day after a massacre on a U.S. college campus, Jeb Bush said "stuff happens" but that does not mean gun restrictions should be tightened.

"We're in a difficult time in our country and I don't think more government is necessarily the answer to this. I think we need to reconnect ourselves with everybody else. It's very bad to see," the former Florida governor said. Then he added: "Look, stuff happens and the impulse is always to do something and it's not necessarily the right thing to do."


His comments came during an appearance in Greenville, South Carolina where the 2016 candidate was discussing gun control and urging caution before pushing new laws and regulations. He first said that in Florida "we believe that concealed weapons permits is a proper thing."

"All sorts of rules that are appropriate for Florida may not be appropriate for other places but the basic right is embedded and it's a personal right to bear arms but that shouldn't be infringed," he said.

Bush also said the shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, that left nine dead and seven injured was "just heartbreaking."

Bush, in a question-and-answer session with reporters after he made the comments, said he was referring to tragedies in general, not specifically gun violence or the Oregon shooting. He also said states should look at gun laws to make it harder for the mentally ill to have access to weapons.

The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza asked if Bush made a mistake with the phrasing.

"No, it wasn't a mistake, I said exactly what I said. Why would you explain to me what I said wrong?" Bush said.

Lizza responded, "Well you said 'stuff happens.'"

"'Things' happen all the time. 'Things,' is that better?" Bush said.

"A child drowns in a pool and the impulse is to pass a law that puts fencing around pools," Bush said. "Well it may not change it or you have a car accident and the impulse is to pass a law that deals with that unique event and the cumulative effect of this is in some cases, you don’t solve the problem by passing the law, and you’re imposing on large numbers of people, burdens that make it harder for our economy to grow, make it harder for people to protect liberty, and that is, the whole conversation today was exactly about that."

Later on Friday, the Bush campaign blasted what they called liberals' unwarranted criticism of the former Florida governor's comments. “It is sad and beyond craven that liberal Democrats, aided and abetted by some in the national media, would dishonestly take Governor Bush’s comments out of context in a cheap attempt to advance their political agenda in the wake of a tragedy. Taking shameless advantage of a horrific tragedy is wrong and only serves to prey on people's emotions,” said Allie Brandenburger, a Bush spokewoman, in a statement.

Asked to react to Bush's comment, President Barack Obama was blunt.

"I don’t even think I have to react to that one, I think the American people should hear that and make their own judgments based on the fact that every couple of months we have a mass shooting,” Obama said at a press conference Friday afternoon. "They can decide whether they consider that 'stuff happens.'"

