EXCLUSIVE — Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) said that the "assault weapons" ban being pushed by both his Democratic colleagues in the House and President Joe Biden would not prevent the type of school shootings that America is experiencing.
Asked whether a ban would do anything to prevent recent mass shootings, particularly at schools, he said, "No. No, it wouldn't because you can shoot with a lot of different kinds of weapons."
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“I call on Congress again to pass my 'assault weapon' ban. It’s about time we begin to make some progress, but there’s more to learn," Biden said in a recent statement on the March mass shooting at the Covenant School, a Presbyterian school in Nashville, Tennessee. As a result of the shooting, six people died, including three children.
Biden has, on several occasions, supported reinstituting the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban, a law that expired in 2004 and was not renewed.
"You know, an AR is not an 'assault weapon,' whatever 'assault weapons' are," Crenshaw told the Washington Examiner in an interview. "But look — it's a more capable weapon, I'll grant them that."
"But it's also more capable if you need it for self-defense," the Texas congressman said.
"For self-defense — your AR is your self-defense weapon. It's crazy to say otherwise. If you say otherwise, it means you know nothing about gunfights. And I know a few things about gunfights," the retired Navy SEAL added.
According to Crenshaw, "We'll never get rid of that as a self-defense weapon."
He further noted that "you can still do just the same amount of damage with any other kind of gun."
Instead, the congressman has a different idea for protecting children from school shootings. He believes that armed security would be significantly more effective at preventing school shootings.
Crenshaw said that when he speaks to parents about what would make them feel more comfortable between an "assault weapons" ban and armed security at schools, they choose the latter.
"It's the armed security at your schools," he said.
"That's smart. That makes sense. It's affordable," Crenshaw said. "We've done the math."
Reacting to critics who say the idea would be too expensive, he said the price would be worth protecting children.
"That's real deterrence," he added.
"In this last big shooting in Nashville, we know from the manifesto they chose the school with less security," he said. "It really is that simple."
While the Texas representative believes this is the right policy, he said it should be carried out at the state level. "At the federal level," he explained, the next move would be "grant funding."
"The states can do it. This is not a heavy lift to have a couple security guards at a school," he said.
He further took a shot at his Democratic colleagues, saying that they "manipulate data."
Crenshaw said his political counterparts point to studies that look at violence in impoverished and inner-city areas that remains elevated despite the police presence.
"Democrats are going to say, 'Well, there's police there. That doesn't decrease school shootings.' But what they're forgetting is to think about the data holistically," he said. "It probably did decrease what otherwise would have been much more shootings."
"It's just really frustrating how they try to manipulate data and studies to make their political point."
"It's so damn obvious to any commonsense person that a cop with a gun who is armed and watchful is a deterrent against a crazy person who tends to do these very unpredictable mass shootings," he said.
He additionally made a clear delineation between types of shootings. "There's a very big difference between criminal behavior, your gang-related shootings at school and these sort of Columbine-style, dramatic mass shootings," Crenshaw said.
"Those are the ones that freak everyone out because they're so scary and they're so — nobody understands them. To prevent those, you have to have deterrence right there, at that moment," he said.
This isn't the first time Crenshaw has suggested this solution.
Soon after the Covenant School shooting, he appeared on CNN's State of the Union and told host Dana Bash: "The truth of the matter is if we had a minimum of two armed guards or police officers at every single school in America, you‘d probably prevent these from here on out."
His suggestion did not convince Bash, who asked, "So the answer is more guns?"
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"No, the answer is armed guards," he told her. "The kind of guns that protect the president, that protect you all at CNN."
Crenshaw is not the only Republican lawmaker who has pushed for better security at schools. Some Republicans have also suggested arming teachers to prevent these tragedies, something Democratic lawmakers are strongly opposed to.