Trump boasts about protecting Second Amendment – hours after Kansas City parade shooting

Republican front-runner boasted about protecting Second Amendment hours after at least one victim was killed and dozens more injured in shooting at Super Bowl Parade

Donald Trump boasted that he did “nothing” to alter the Second Amendment during his time as president – just hours after a mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade left one person dead and dozens more injured.

Horror unfolded on Wednesday when gunfire broke out close to Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri.

Police said that 22 were shot including one woman – local radio DJ Lisa Lopez -Galvan – who died from her injuries. Nine children were among those treated for gunshot wounds.

Three individuals, who have not been named, were detained by police for questioning.

Not long after the shooting, Mr Trump appeared at his latest campaign rally in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Wednesday evening – where he was campaigning ahead of the Palmetto State’s upcoming primary on 24 February.

“Nobody took care of our Second Amendment, during that four-year period nothing happened with our Second Amendment,” Mr Trump told his supporters.

He added: “We will protect innocent life and we will restore free speech.”

Some of the deadliest mass shootings in American history took place during Mr Trump’s tenure in the White House from 2017 to 2021.

These included the Las Vegas shooting of 1 October 2017 in which 60 people were killed and 867 injured, the Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church shooting in Texas on 5 November 2017 in which 26 people were shot dead and 22 wounded, the El Paso Walmart shooting on 3 August 2019 in which 23 people were killed and another 23 injured and the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida, on 14 February 2018 in which 17 people were shot dead and 17 injured.

The Las Vegas massacre did lead to a ban on the sale of bump stocks – rifle modifiers that enabled killer Stephen Paddock’s rapid-fire spree from the balcony of the Mandalay Hotel Hotel onto the Route 91 Harvest country music festivalgoers below – while the Parkland massacre inspired the student-led March for Our Lives protest demanding gun law reform.

But otherwise little changed in the way of gun reform during Mr Trump’s time in the White House.

Elsewhere during Mr Trump’s rally in South Carolina on Wednesday, he called for Joe Biden’s impeachment, doubled-down on his anti-Nato rhetoric and denied experiencing cognitive decline, despite slurring his words at one point.

He also claimed that he deliberately confused Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi last month when he falsely stated that the former – his current rival for the Republican nomination – had been in charge of the US Capitol security on 6 January 2021, when he actually meant to say the latter, then-House speaker.

Mr Trump suggested he had consciously misrepresented the facts to underline his contempt for both women, complaining about the adverse media coverage that followed: “It’s very hard to be sarcastic.”

He continued: “When I interpose – I’m not a Nikki fan and I’m not a Pelosi fan. When I purposely interpose names, they say he didn’t know Pelosi from Nikki.

“They make a big deal out of it and I say: ‘No, no, I think they both stink.’ They have something in common: they both stink.

“And remember this: when I make a statement like that about Nikki that means she will never be running for vice president.”