“I recently read a story that in London, which has unbelievably tough gun laws, a once very prestigious hospital, right in the middle, is like a war zone for horrible stabbing wounds. Yes, that’s right, they don’t have guns, they have knives and instead there’s blood all over the floors of this hospital. They say it’s as bad as a military war zone hospital,” Trump said, thus defending gun ownership.
"They don't have guns, they have knives, and instead there's blood all over the floors of this hospital."
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) 4 мая 2018 г.
President @realDonaldTrump says he has read that a central London hospital is now "a war zone for horrible stabbing wounds" pic.twitter.com/4yJPIbZI84
The US President did not clarify which story he was talking about, and which hospital he was referring to.
“London hasn’t been used to that. They’re getting used to it. Pretty tough. We’re here today because we recognize a simple fact: the one thing that has always stood between the American people and the elimination of our second amendment rights [to keep and bear arms] has been conservatives in Congress willing to fight for those rights. We’re fighting,” Trump went on to say.
Social media users have unanimously lashed out at the US president, with many reminding him of some statistics:
In the UK 250 are murdered by knives each year. In the USA about 1600 are.
— David Osmond (@DavidOsmond5) 5 мая 2018 г.
In the UK 60 are murdered by guns. In the USA it is 11,000.
I hope you enjoy your NRA money because it is earned with the lives of innocent people
The difference between assault rifles & knives @realDonaldTrump is that Las Vegas murderer Stephen Paddock killed 58 people in 10 MINUTES (851 injured). In London UK 36 people had been fatally stabbed in the first 3 MONTHS of 2018. All murders are horrific but let's get real.
— Green4#FinalSay🌻#FBPE 🇪🇺 (@ChasPeeps) 5 мая 2018 г.
A) Trump has never seen a war zone
— Grumps 1984 🇬🇧🇪🇺 (@TheGrumpyBitch) 5 мая 2018 г.
B) tell him to stay away if he is so scared.
3) it takes 50 individual attacks with knives to equate to one mass American shooting #r4today
Trump is mocking Europe's gun laws by pointing to the use of trucks and knives in attacks over there
— Hayes Brown (@HayesBrown) 4 мая 2018 г.
But…if they'd had guns…they would have killed…more people? Yes?
I'm playing Tetris with the news playing in the background. Did Trump just say the reason for knife crime in London is because of strict gun laws? And the tone of voice he said it, as if "If only they had access to guns, then people won't be getting killed with knives" pic.twitter.com/yj1LPdWvqY
— KILALI 🏳️🌈 (@DataPepple) 5 мая 2018 г.
Trump plans to visit the UK soon, but tells the NRA that Londoners should get guns so that they don't kill each other with knives! https://t.co/L7v4ggEfWJ
— X Soviet (@XSovietNews) 4 мая 2018 г.
Even Piers Morgan couldn’t resist commenting on Trump’s speech:
Guns are more dangerous than knives, Mr President @realDonaldTrump.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) 4 мая 2018 г.
That’s why more people died from guns in America TODAY than have been murdered by knives in Britain this YEAR.
Trump was supposedly referring to an April article in The Daily Mail, headlined “Surgeon says he is regularly treating children in school uniforms for gun and knife wounds in London hospital which is ‘like Afghan war zone.” The US president is scheduled to pay an official visit to the UK on July 13 and Londoners are expected to stage mass protests against him during his stay in the country.
