Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen on Thursday said some of the statements made by the Colorado Planned Parenthood shooter mirrored "outrageous and inciteful" comments made by "some of our officials" on social media.
"One of the things we heard from the shooter in Colorado Springs, he almost parroted some of the outrageous and inciteful comments that have been made on social media by some of our officials," the New Hampshire senator said on WKBK Radio. "And that is not a good way to address the issues facing this country."
"We need to have thoughtful dialogue," she added. "We need to be respectful of other people's opinions. We need to understand that we're not all going to agree but hopefully we can agree to be respectful, and we can agree to debate issues peacefully without name calling without getting into personal attacks. I think that's part of how we respond as well as looking at laws."
Robert Dear, the alleged shooter of three people at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs said in court that he was guilty and called himself a "warrior for the babies." Several media outlets also cited unnamed law enforcement officials to report Dear said "no more baby parts" when he was taken into custody.
Shaheen said earlier in the interview that she believed background checks were an important component of keeping guns from criminals.