Bob Schieffer: If Newtown Shooter Had Arab Name, “People Would Be Going Nuts”

By Alan with comments December 17, 2012 15:14

Imagine if the shooter in Connecticut had been a Muslim.

Schieffer’s comment came in response to panel guest James Peterson suggesting that addressing the “proliferation of guns” in America “should be a new front in the ‘War on Terror.’”

“That’s the part I find kind of interesting about this,” Schieffer added. “After 9/11, we turned this culture upside down. We doubled our defense budget.”

But unlike that response to tragedy, Schieffer believes the difference here is the race of the killer: “If this person had — I’m sorry to say this — but if he had had an Arab name, people would be going nuts.”

He concluded: “And yet, we can’t seem to even decide if this a problem we can solve.”