Paul Ryan: 'Real Issue is Terrorism', Not Gun Control

Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan spoke to reporters in Washington, D.C. on Thursday calling for the protection of the Second Amendment after the mass shooting of 49 people in Orlando, Florida on Sunday.

“Is going after the Second Amendment how you stop terrorism?” Ryan said. “No, that's not how you stop terrorism.”

Ryan’s press conference comes four days after Omar Mateen killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.

“First of all, let's just make sure we keep the victims in our prayers and their families,” Ryan said. “I want to make sure that we understand the gravity of this moment and the sensitivity.”

Ryan went on to press the importance of “not infringing upon people’s legitimate constitutional rights.”  

“As the FBI director just told us the other day, and I think he's said this publicly, if we do this wrong like the president is proposing, we could actually blow our ongoing terrorist investigations so we want to get this right,” Ryan said.

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama’s spoke to reporters on the issue of homegrown terror.

"I've said before, these lone actors or small cells of terrorists are very hard to detect and very hard to prevent. But across our government ... we are doing everything in our power to stop these kinds of attacks," Obama said, according to CNN.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) also spoke out against the president Thursday, calling him “directly responsible” for the shootings in Orlando due to the president's failure to stop the rise of the Islamic State, the Washington Post reported.

The pushback from Ryan and McCain comes a day after Senate Democrats filibustered for 15 hours, stopping only when Republican leaders agreed to vote on two gun control measures, according to NBC News.

House Democrats were similarly riled up Monday after Ryan’s request for a moment of silence. After the moment of silence ended, Democrats on the floor shouted "Where's the bill?" and "No leadership!" Some Democrats walked out in protest during the moment of silence.

Day after shooting, House Democrats erupt in protest; some walk out during moment of silence https://t.co/l5g73n1fS6https://t.co/PrsT9B8V9y
— ABC News (@ABC) June 14, 2016

“We need to make sure that we're focusing on the real issue here, which is terrorism,” Ryan said Thursday. He called for a stronger foreign policy and a better handle on what he called “homegrown jihad and combating the ideology itself."