NEW YORK — Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who trails only Donald Trump at the top of the Republican presidential field, says the lesson of the nation's latest mass shooting isn't to enact more limits on guns but to consider whether gun-free zones actually may be drawing shooters.
In a wide-ranging interview with Capital Download, Carson endorsed expanding efforts to identify and treat the mentally ill before they commit acts of violence. He also suggested it might make sense to arm kindergarten teachers, and he rejected as wrong-headed proposals to restore the ban on military-style assault weapons.
"Would that have prevented this? No," Carson told USA TODAY's weekly newsmaker series. "Would it have prevented the one before? No. I'm for doing things that work, not for things that stroke the emotions."
Carson outlines how he says his political philosophy on gun control and other issues is grounded in the Constitution in a new book, A More Perfect Union, being published Tuesday by Sentinel. One of the trio of outsiders who have shaken the GOP race this year, the renowned pediatric neurosurgeon combines a soft-spoken manner with strongly held and hard-edged conservative views, particularly on social issues.
