Jeb Bush Criticised For “Stuff Happens” Reaction To Oregon Shooting

Following the 295th mass shooting (two further mass shootings in the US have reportedly occurred since) in the US yesterday, where a 26-year-old lone gunman killed 9 people at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, Presidential Candidate Jeb Bush has been grilled to a crisp online, after quoting “stuff happens” in a reaction to the tragedy at a forum in Southern California. 

Bush commented on the shooting, saying reactionary and extra “government” would not solve the issue of gun violence in the US, and that “stuff happens“.  

“I had this challenge as governor because we had — look, stuff happens. There’s always a crisis and the impulse is always to do something, and it’s not necessarily the right thing to do.”

According to the New York Times, Bush later defended his comments, saying the “stuff” was not referring to the Oregon shooting specifically, rather tragedies in general. Bush said, “Things happen all the time. Things. Is that better?”

President Barack Obama, who lamented the “routine” tragedy of gun violence in an address yesterday, later commented on Bush’s reaction.

“I don’t even think I have to react to that one. I Think the American people should hear that and make their own judgments based on the fact that every couple of months we have a mass shooting… and they can decide whether they consider that stuff happening.”