Marjorie Taylor Greene tells British reporter to ‘go back to your country’ after being challenged on gun laws
‘You have mass stabbings, lady... You have all kinds of murder and you’ve got laws against that’
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Your support makes all the difference.Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene lashed out at a British journalist on Wednesday and asked her to “go back” to her country after she was questioned about her opposition to gun reforms.
On Tuesday, negotiators in the Senate said they had reached a bipartisan agreement on gun ownership reforms as well as funding for mental health treatment and school safety initiatives, bringing Congress one step closer to passing the most consequential federal gun violence legislation in decades.
At a press conference on Wednesday, the Republican from Georgia said: “It’s our job to defend the Second Amendment.”
Siobhan Kennedy, a journalist with British broadcaster Channel 4, said in response: “We don’t have guns in the UK, that is true, but we don’t have mass shootings either. And our children aren’t scared to go to school.”
“You have mass stabbings, lady,” Ms Greene responded. “You have all kinds of murder and you’ve got laws against that.”
“Nothing like the same rates here,” said Ms Kennedy.
“Well, you can go back to your country and worry about your no guns,” Ms Greene shot back. “We like ours here.”
Ms Greene later posted a video of the exchange on Twitter.
“When British press wants to argue about our God-given American gun rights, my answer is: ‘go back to your own country’,” she wrote.
Ms Kennedy also posted about the exchange on Twitter.
“[Marjorie Taylor Greene] isn’t happy with me for pointing out that the proposed gun legislation is not about taking her guns away! nor is knife crime in the UK in any way comparable with gun crime here. There are no ‘mass stabbings’ in the UK. Yet here kids are frightened to go to school?” she wrote.
Ms Greene, a conservative Republican, has been a vocal advocate of guns.
Earlier this month, in response to Canada’s proposed gun legislation, Ms Greene had said that without guns in the hands of its citizens, Canada would be powerless to stop Russian invaders.
In the aftermath of the Uvalde school mass shooting in which 21 people, including 19 children, were killed by an 18-year-old gunman at Texas’ Robb Elementary School, Ms Greene had suggested creating a volunteer militia of parents and guardians to protect schools.
The Senate could vote as soon as later this week on the gun reform bill’s final passage.
The framework of the legislation includes expanded background checks on gun buyers under the age of 21, as well as the closing of the so-called “boyfriend loophole”, which allowed some people convicted of domestic violence to continue purchasing firearms.
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