Union Leader - Rubio Says Gun Control Unlikely to Stop Deadly Mass Shootings

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By Dan Tuohy

Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio questions if there is a federal government solution to recent deadly shootings around the country.

Gun control is an unlikely fix to what is part of a societal breakdown, he said.

More laws, such as tighter background checks, would not have prevented the murder of nine at a community college in Oregon last week, Rubio said in an interview Tuesday with the New Hampshire Union Leader.

"This is a deep societal issue," he said. "It's not what people are using to kill people, it's why are they doing it? That's the issue."

The U.S. senator from Florida said mental health issues are real and must be addressed. But he said the problem of gun violence is linked to a crumbling of values that are first instilled and then reinforced by strong families and communities.

Rubio discussed his critical issues facing America at the start of a two-day campaign swing through New Hampshire. He also attended a house party in Bedford on Tuesday night. On Wednesday he will tour Dyn in Manchester, where he will hold a town hall meeting with employees, before holding town hall meetings in Dover and Wolfeboro.

In the interview, Rubio said the economy and national security are core issues for his campaign.

"There's a gnawing sense among a growing number of people that their children are not going to be as well off as they were," he said.

His plan to modernize the tax code includes consolidating income tax brackets to two, at 15 percent and 30 percent, closing or reforming deductions and eliminating the marriage penalty.

Rubio said he is still waiting to see all the details of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but that he is encouraged by the trade agreement and its scope, because it includes services and agriculture, not just goods.

He said reforms for Social Security and other entitlement programs are overdue, and doable. He gave an example that some younger generations might have to retire a year later than their parents.

"This is not a question of if we are going to do entitlement reform," he said, "it's a question of are we going to do it before the debt crisis, or once the debt crisis happens?"

Rubio, when asked about Planned Parenthood, responded that there is a lack of transparency for how it spends federal funding.

Rubio believes many Americans have not seen the undercover videos, which were produced by anti-abortion activists, that purport to show representatives talking about the sale, cost or transportation of tissue and parts from aborted babies.

"There was generally a media blackout, for the most part, outside of Fox News and a couple of places," he said. "It was not nearly as well-covered as Cecil the lion or any number of incidents that happened. That story -- had that been a comparable story regarding the NRA or some other organization in America it would have led the national newscasts for weeks."

On Russian president Vladimir Putin's involvement in Syria, and Russian airstrikes in Syria, Rubio said the U.S. and its allies must be willing to confront Putin.

"Slowly but surely what Putin is trying to do is destroy NATO, not militarily per se through a frontal confrontation, but by exposing it as feckless," he said. "Basically, it's only as good as the willingness of its nations to live up to its commitment."

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