Trey Gowdy built his reputation as a tough conservative fighter during his time in Congress.
Republicans thought they could count on the former prosecutor to defend the Constitution.
But Trey Gowdy stunned conservatives when he joined the Left on this one issue.
Gowdy sounds like Chuck Schumer after Minneapolis tragedy
The bodies weren’t even cold in Minneapolis before the usual suspects started their predictable dance.
Democrats immediately called for more gun control after a deranged individual shot up a Catholic school, wounding two people.
But what shocked conservatives was hearing one of their own join the chorus.
Fox News host Trey Gowdy – the same guy who grilled Hillary Clinton over Benghazi – decided this was the perfect time to sound like he’d been taking talking points from Dianne Feinstein.
“The only way to stop [this] is to identify the shooter ahead of time or keep the weapons out of their hands,” Gowdy declared on his show. “So we’re going to have a conversation of freedom versus protecting children.”
Wait, what?
Since when does a former Republican congressman frame the Second Amendment as being opposed to child safety?
That’s straight out of the Democrat playbook.
Here’s what Gowdy conveniently ignored
Look, if Gowdy actually bothered to look at the facts – you know, the way he used to when he was a prosecutor – he’d realize Minnesota already has every gun control law the Left could dream up.
The state has banned private firearm sales, implemented red flag gun confiscation laws, imposed “safe storage” requirements, banned firearms in schools, forced mental health services to report to the federal background check system, and even has a five-day waiting period.
None of it worked.
Not a single one of those laws prevented this tragedy.
You want to know why? Because criminals don’t follow laws – that’s what makes them criminals.
But here’s Gowdy acting like we just need one more law, one more restriction on law-abiding Americans, and somehow that’ll magically stop bad people from doing bad things.
It’s embarrassing.
The real solution Gowdy won’t mention
Here’s what’s really going on, and what Gowdy either doesn’t understand or won’t admit.
According to the Crime Prevention Research Center, 97.8% of mass shootings happen in “gun-free zones.”
These murderers specifically target places where they know nobody can shoot back.
They’re not looking for a fair fight – they’re looking for defenseless victims.
The Minneapolis Catholic school was one of these criminal safe zones, where law-abiding citizens are forced to disarm themselves while predators know they’ll face no resistance.
But instead of calling for an end to these deadly policies, Gowdy wants to make it harder for the good guys to get guns.
It’s backwards thinking that would make more sense coming from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez than a former Republican prosecutor.
At least one congressman gets it
Thank God there are still real conservatives in Congress who understand the Constitution.
Representative Thomas Massie from Kentucky introduced the Safe Students Act to repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990.
“My bill will end the default federal policy of making schools soft targets,” Massie explained. “H.R. 5066 would make it easier for state governments and school boards to unambiguously set their own firearm policies.”
Now that’s what common sense sounds like.
Instead of disarming more law-abiding Americans, Massie wants to let schools protect themselves.
Compare that approach to Gowdy’s hand-wringing about choosing between “freedom” and “protecting children.”
One congressman trusts Americans with their constitutional rights, while the other sounds like he’s auditioning for a spot on The View.
The data Gowdy doesn’t want to discuss
Here’s something else that’ll blow your mind – states that make it easier for law-abiding citizens to carry firearms are actually safer.
Constitutional carry states like New Hampshire, Maine, and Idaho consistently rank among the safest in the country.
Meanwhile, cities like Minneapolis – with all their gun control laws – remain dangerous places where only criminals have easy access to firearms.
But don’t expect to hear Gowdy mention any of this data.
It doesn’t fit the narrative he’s pushing.
Gowdy’s other ridiculous claim
And while we’re talking about Gowdy’s performance, let’s address his claim that “young white males” are “almost always” the shooters in these situations.
Except the Minneapolis shooter wasn’t a white male at all.
The shooter was transgender.
So much for Gowdy’s demographic profiling.
Maybe if he spent less time parroting Democrat talking points and more time actually looking at the facts, he wouldn’t embarrass himself on national television.
Here’s what politicians like Gowdy refuse to acknowledge – the people buying guns legally aren’t causing these problems.
They’re preventing them.
Walk through any neighborhood in America and you’ll find stories of armed citizens stopping robberies, protecting families, and helping their neighbors stay safe.
But Gowdy’s solution? Make it tougher for these folks to get firearms while criminals keep buying guns off the back of trucks.
That’s not solving anything – that’s punishing the wrong people.
It’s not just bad policy – it’s a betrayal of everything conservatives claim to believe.
Republicans didn’t send Trey Gowdy to Congress so he could sound like Chuck Schumer after a tragedy.
They expected him to defend the Constitution, not join the gun-grabbers in exploiting dead children to push their agenda.
But now that he’s got a cushy Fox News gig, maybe Gowdy thinks he can get away with betraying the people who supported him for eight years in the House.
Maybe it’s time for Gowdy to remember which team he’s supposed to be playing for – even if he’s not in office anymore.
¹ The Hill, “Trey Gowdy suggests tighter gun control after Minneapolis church shooting,” August 28, 2025.
² AWR Hawkins, “FOX News’ Trey Gowdy Says Time to Choose Between ‘Freedom’ or ‘Protecting Children’,” Breitbart News, August 28, 2025.
³ Thomas Massie, “Congressman Massie Introduces Bill to Repeal Federal Gun-Free School Zones Act,” U.S. Representative Thomas Massie, August 29, 2025.
