(NewsNation) — What the FBI is calling another attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump is the product of “mentally ill people with access to weapons,” Bill O’Reilly told “NewsNation Prime” on Sunday.
A man with an AK-style rifle pushed the firearm’s muzzle through the perimeter of the Trump International Golf Course around 1:30 p.m. Sunday in Florida, according to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw.
Secret Service fired at the man, who was hidden in bushes, and he fled in a car. He’s since been taken into FBI custody, with a law enforcement source naming him as Ryan Wesley Routh to NewsNation.
It’s the second attempt on the GOP nominee’s life in recent months. In July, the former president was shot during a rally in rural Pennsylvania.
“We live in a dangerous country, and we always have,” O’Reilly said. “This is the ninth active assassination attempt on a president.”
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“It is heightened because of the volatile political system, but this is nothing new,” O’Reilly said.
He blames guns and “people with access to weapons who, for whatever crazy, delusional reason, are willing to give up their own lives to try to pull off something like this,” citing the government’s lack of follow-through on proposed gun policies.
“If they really wanted to control gun crimes and heavy weapons, you would federalize all criminal acts using a firearm. That’s the only way you could possibly do it in a nation of 300 million guns on the street. But, no, neither party will even consider that. So, it’s never going to get solved,” O’Reilly explained.
The author and longtime journalist told NewsNation that Trump should use this incident — and widespread sympathy — to turn a new leaf for his campaign.
“He’s got another opportunity now to reassess,” O’Reilly said. “And he did that fairly well at the Republican convention, you may remember, but then it got back the same old, same old.”
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But he’s not hopeful it’ll happen — just as he’s not hopeful the Secret Service’s current standards are up to snuff when put against modern weapons.
“The Secret Service needs a total overhaul. The conceptualization of how to protect presidential candidates has got to be reviewed and heightened,” he said.