Nobody has guns in Paris, but remember more than 130 people died and horribly wounded: Trump to Texas gun owners; shameful speech, says France
On Saturday, France criticized remarks of President Trump about the 2015 attacks in Paris and called on him to show respect for the victims of the bloodshed that saw terror attack the Bataclan concert hall and other targets.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll said in a statement, "France expresses its firm disapproval of the comments by President Trump about the attacks of November 13 2015 in Paris and asks for respect of the memory of the victims," foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll said in a statement.
"Donald Trump's shameful remarks and obscene histrionics say a lot about what he thinks of France and its values. The friendship between our two peoples will not be tainted by disrespect and excessiveness. All my thoughts go to the victims of November 13."
On Friday, US President Donald Trump spoke about gun laws in France and Britain during a free-wheeling speech in front of gun owners in Texas.
Les propos honteux et les simagrées obscènes de Donald Trump en disent long sur ce qu’il pense de la France et de ses valeurs. L’amitié entre nos deux peuples ne sera pas entachée par l’irrespect et l’outrance. Toutes mes pensées vont aux victimes du 13 novembre.
— François Hollande (@fhollande) May 5, 2018
He told the audience, "Nobody has guns in Paris and we all remember more than 130 people, plus tremendous numbers of people that were horribly, horribly wounded. You notice nobody ever talks about them," he told the audience.
He further added, "They were brutally killed by a small group of terrorists that had guns. They took their time and gunned them down one by one."
He also mimicked the assailants shooting their weapons, saying: "Boom. Come over here. Boom, come over here. Boom."
#bataclan “The statistics of the people killed by guns don’t convince France to change its guns laws”. Declaration of the French MFA.
— Gérard Araud (@GerardAraud) May 5, 2018
The attack which took place in 2015 by gunman loyal to the ISIS terror group were the worst in France's history.
Trump said, "If one employee or just one patron had a gun, or if one person in this room had been there with a gun, aimed at the opposite direction, the terrorists would have fled or been shot. And it would have been a whole different story."
The French ambassador to the United States, Gérard Araud, tweeted: "The statistics of the people killed by guns don't convince France to change its guns laws."
US murder rate over 5 times higher than the UK’s. There isn’t a person in the whole world (with the possible exception of the President of the US, and he’s probably lying) who believes the way to reduce our murder rate is to make it easier to get guns. https://t.co/DwQGOubExH
— Charlie Falconer (@LordCFalconer) May 5, 2018
Charlie Falconer, who retired as the United Kingdom's secretary of justice in 2016, tweeted Saturday: "US murder rate over 5 times higher than the UK's. There isn't a person in the whole world (with the possible exception of the President of the US, and he's probably lying) who believes the way to reduce our murder rate is to make it easier to get guns."
Former French president Francois Hollande called Trump's remarks "shameful" and said they "said a lot about what he (Trump) thinks of France and its values."
