Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott (D) on Tuesday urged President Trump to ban assault rifles as a way of fighting crime, following the White House deployment of National Guard soldiers in Washington.
“The president could also do some very simple things for us, Jake. Not just for Baltimore, but for the whole country,” Scott said during an appearance on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper.”
“The president can say, no one will no longer be able to go into a store and buy a AR-15. The president could join mayors around the country and standing up to end these Glock switches that allow our residents and our police officers to be shot with a gun that is now automatic,” he added.
Scott has touted low crime rates, the removal of 2,500 guns off local streets and the creation of violence prevention programs since the start of his tenure as mayor.
His comments come after Trump slammed local governance in Baltimore during a press conference announcing the deployment of soldiers in the nation’s capital.
“This issue directly impacts the functioning of the federal government and is a threat to America, a threat to our country,” Trump told reporters on Monday.
“We have other cities also that are bad, very bad. You look at Chicago, how bad it is, you look at Los Angeles, how bad it is, other cities that are very bad, New York is a problem, and then you have of course, Baltimore and Oakland — you don’t even mention that anymore they’re so far gone,” he added.
Each of the listed cities is led by a Black Democratic mayor. Scott has taken issue with the narrative and spent the past few days frequenting major cable shows to discuss the importance of diverse leadership.
“The president could learn a lot from us instead of throwing things at us,” the Charm City mayor said on CNN’s “Laura Coates Live.”
“What he’s doing is dog-whistling through this right-wing propaganda and, quite frankly, racist viewpoints that they have about these cities and trying to convince the American people that what they know is not true.”
However, the White House rejected his stance.
“Baltimore’s Mayor has no business commenting on President Trump’s bold leadership to crack down on violent crime in our Nation’s capital,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a previous statement to The Hill.
“Baltimore has one of the highest crime rates in the country and is one the most dangerous cities in America.”
“Instead of criticizing the President’s lawful actions to Make DC Safe Again, Democrat-run cities plagued by violent crime should focus on cleaning up their own streets,” she added.
Some analysts believe the president is using the rhetoric to lure Democrats into alleging there’s no crime in major cities.
“He’s really trying to goad Democrats into arguing ‘there’s no crime in D.C., D.C. is great,’” Alyssa Farah Griffin, a co-host of ABC’s “The View,” said during an appearance on CNN.
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