Rep. Andy Biggs: Florida shooting should not be ‘politicized’

PHOENIX — It has been less than a week since 17 people — mostly teenage students — were shot and killed in a mass shooting at a Florida high school and the debate surrounding gun control is in full swing.

Survivors of the attack have taken to every platform, from social media to national news outlets, to push lawmakers to fight for gun control and ensure that another school shooting doesn’t happen again.

But not everyone agrees that it is the right time to have these conversations.

U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) told KTAR News 92.3 FM that laws can always be looked at, but he believes the shooting at Majory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Florida, needs to be investigated first before diving into the gun control debate.

“Both sides need to quit politicizing this thing, whether it’s blaming the FBI for being distracted with other issues, or — I mean, just to give you an idea, the day of or the day after the shooting, I had a hearing on immigration issues and my opponents on the other side couldn’t leave the gun control argument alone on immigration,” Biggs said.

“That has to stop, we have to investigate this one then we have to recognize what Americans believe. Most Americans believe in the Second Amendment, the right to bare arms.”

Biggs said he believes the main issue with the shooting were the procedural problems that allowed 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz to get his hands on an AR-15, despite warnings to the FBI of his desire to kill people.

“My position is let’s find out what happened here — there are places in the world where you have very few shootings but you have other ideas where it doesn’t seem to matter,” he added.

“We can look at the laws and I’m a big believer in doing that, but you have to remember, we’re talking about malevolence here, mental illness. These are things that we have to address.”

KTAR News’ Jeremy Foster contributed to this report.

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