Congressional Republicans said Sunday that the weekend shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Arizona Democrat, was not the result of lax U.S. gun laws and that the incident should not result in tougher regulations.

“We have to be careful,” Rep. Raul Labrador, Idaho Republican, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Washington, D.C., had seven murders last week, and it has some of the most strict gun laws in the U.S.”

Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, said on “Fox News Sunday” that the shooting at a Tuscon, Ariz., shopping center in which six people were killed and 14 others injured was “unrelated” to Arizona’s gun laws.

“The weapons don’t kill people, it’s the individual that kills people,” said Mr. Paul, who like Mr. Labrador, is severing his first term in Congress.

Arizona is among only a few states that allows people to carry concealed weapons without a permit.

“I don’t think that that plays into this at all,” Mr. Paul said. “I think they’re unrelated.”

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