Sen. Rand Paul: Country has violence problem that is hard to fix

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ)- Senator Rand Paul says the country has a violence problem, one that is not easy to fix.

The senator was in town Friday meeting with the Kentucky Coal Association, when he spoke with reporters about a variety of topics, including gun control.

The senator says he is currently learning about one gun control issue in particular, one at the center of a new bill in congress. It involves bump stocks. For about $150 you can attach the device to a semi-automatic weapon to make it fire like an automatic one. The ATF says twelve of those were found in the suspected Las Vegas shooter’s hotel room.

Since Sunday’s mass shooting in Las Vegas, the gun control debate has taken focus on capitol hill.

“It’s just not easy, and not always a government solution,” Senator Rand Paul said.

A government solution is what Paul’s colleagues in the house are debating right now. The senator says he is learning about bump stocks.

A new house bill would ban the attachment. Paul says he is open to learning more, but he may not need to. In a rare step away from its traditional resistance to gun regulations, the NRA has asked not congress, but the ATF to consider more rules for bump stocks.

Paul says he thinks the country has a violence problem, one that is not easy to fix.

“Is there a way to make man peaceful? Is there a way to make us all perfectible and there probably is not, but I think at the same time there are some reasonable things we can look at. I think there is going to be a great deal of discussion over whether or not we should have something that allows something that’s legal to become illegal,” Paul said.

The senator says even with more regulations, he is not sure anything could have stopped suspected Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock.

“He’d never been arrested, had no history of mental illness. You got to think he was mad in some way when this happened or insane, but at the same time there was nothing in his background that would have stopped him from buying guns, so it is not easy.

At the beginning of the summer, Senator Paul was actually shot at during baseball practice for a congressional charity game. He says he is more conscious of his surroundings now. He wonders if people, perhaps going to a concert this weekend, are thinking about what could happen. He says you have to treat it like getting on an airplane, thinking logically about how small the chance of tragedy actually is.