Heitkamp Talks Gun Measures - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Heitkamp Talks Gun Measures

President Obama is set to unveil a sweeping set of gun-control proposals through executive order on Wednesday.

Gun Control has been a hot button issue around the country with deep divisions following the Connecticut school shooting last December.

North Dakota's Freshmen Senator Heidi Heitkamp is set to return to Washington later this month as Congress likely will debate the issue.

Heitkamp sat down with KX News this afternoon to talk about her thoughts on the President using Executive Orders for Gun Control and what direction Congress should take to curb gun violence.

(Senator Heidi Heitkamp, (D) North Dakota) "North Dakota is a great example because we have one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the country and the lowest rates of gun violence. So if they're real, if they are serious about solving this problem they need to look at a system where we have a mental health system that doesn't allow parents to see opportunity to seek help for their kids. There isn't any amount of gun regulation or gun executive orders that will solve the problem of identifying people who could potentially do this and making sure they get the help and their families get the help so they don' t do this. I've said it all along that this is wrong headed that what we absolutely need to be doing is doing things that that actually achieve a result and that's not something I'm convinced we'll achieve the intended result. I think it is an agenda driven by something other than school shootings.

Heitkamp has been criticized by some national media outlets for her gun rights position.