WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Paul Ryan, in a round of interviews with conservative radio shows on Thursday, said the Florida school shooting that killed at least 17 people on Wednesday should not threaten citizens’ rights to own guns.
“There’s more questions than answers at this stage,” the Republican lawmaker said in an interview with Tom Katz on Indiana radio station WIBC about the mass shooting less than 24 hours earlier.
“I don’t think that means you then roll that conversation into taking away citizens’ rights – taking away a law-abiding citizen’s rights. Obviously this conversation typically goes there. Right now, I think we need to take a breath and collect the facts.”
(Reporting by Lisa LambertEditing by Chizu Nomiyama)
The FBI has arrested a man from Butler County, Ohio in connection with a plot to kill House Speaker John Boehner.
Michael Robert Hoyt, 44, is facing charges of threatening to murder the Congressman that revolved around his poisoning the Congressman’s drinks at a country club where Hoyt worked as a bartender.
“Hoyt told the officer he was Jesus Christ and he was going to kill Boehner because Boehner was mean to him at the country club and because Boehner is responsible for Ebola,” United States Capitol Police (USCP) Special Agent Christopher M. Desrosiers said. “Hoyt advised he had a loaded Beretta .380 automatic and he was going to shoot Boehner and take off.”
FBI agents say that Hoyt had typed up an 11 page document outlining his claims against Boehner and the plot to kill him.
Agents admit that Hoyt is showing signs of mental illness but say that doesn’t mean he was not taking active steps to carry out his plan to kill Boehner. Police searched Hoyt’s home on Oct. 31 and seized an SKS assault rifle magazine, two boxes of 7.62 ammo, 35 loose rounds, a speed loader and a box of .380 rounds.
Hoyt faces 30 years in prison.