Government officials in France and Britain criticized a portion of President Donald Trump's speech to the National Rifle Association that suggested more lenient gun laws could have prevented deadly attacks in Paris in 2015, Reuters reported.
During his speech to the NRA on Friday, Trump said that if civilians had been armed in Paris, “it would have been a whole different story.”
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told BFM television Sunday that he hoped Trump “would express regret,” Reuters reported.
“His comments are shocking and not worthy of the president of the world’s greatest superpower,” Le Maire told the station.
In a statement, the French foreign office expressed its “firm disapproval” of Trump’s comments.
“(We demand) that the memory of the victims be respected,” the foreign office said. “France is proud to be a country where acquiring and carrying firearms is strictly regulated.”
During his speech, Trump acted out the scene of the Nov. 13, 2015, attack, when 90 of the 130 victims died.
“They took their time and gunned them down one by one. Boom! Come over here. Boom! Come over here. Boom!,” Trump said, using his hands in a gun gesture.
Francois Hollande, who was president of France in 2015, said on Twitter that Trump’s remarks were “shameful” and “obscene.”
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