--- description: He told CNN that if moviegoers had been allowed to carry guns into the theater, the tragedy may have been prevented title: Rick Perry Wants to Allow Guns in Movie Theaters image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9695ec3ba17c89de/69885c802dce01a79c9e4ca3/rick-perry3.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Rick Perry Wants to Allow Guns in Movie Theaters  by [Tanya Basu](/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 26, 2015 3:35 PM CUT  Republican presidential candidate and former Texas Governor Rick Perry fields questions at The Family Leadership Summit at Stephens Auditorium on July 18, 2015 in Ames, Iowa. Republican presidential candidate and former Texas Governor Rick Perry fields questions at The Family Leadership Summit at Stephens Auditorium on July 18, 2015 in Ames, Iowa.Scott Olson—Getty Images  by [Tanya Basu](/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 26, 2015 3:35 PM CUT Rick Perry believes Thursday night’s movie theater shooting in Lafayette, La., shows why gun-free zones are “a bad idea,” in an [interview with CNN’s _State of the Union_](http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/26/politics/rick-perry-gun-free-zones-movie-theaters/index.html "undefined") and said it “makes a lot of sense” to allow guns in movie theaters. “I think that you allow the citizens of this country, who have been appropriately trained, appropriately backgrounded, know how to use firearms, to carry them,” Perry told host Jake Tapper. “If we believe in the second amendment and if we believe in people’s rights to protect themselves and their families—to tell them they cannot carry a weapon that they are legally obliged to carry, that they have been through the training for, makes no sense to me.” [John Russell “Rusty” Houser](http://time.com/3970920/john-russel-houser-lafayette-movie-theater-shooting/ "undefined") entered a showing of _Trainwreck_ on Thursday night and opened fire with a handgun that he had legally obtained from a pawn shop. Houser shot 11 people, killing two, before fatally shooting himself. Perry, a former Texas governor and now a Republican presidential contender, said gun laws were in place, but enforcement was the issue, saying that current laws should have prevented Houser, who had a history of mental illness and a criminal record, from obtaining a gun. But Perry remained steadfast in his belief that had theatergoers had been allowed to carry guns into the movie theater, the tragedy might have been lessened or even prevented. “I believe, with all my heart, that if you have the citizens who are well trained, and particularly in these places that are considered to be gun-free zones, that we can stop that type of activity, or stop it before there’s as many people that are impacted as what we saw in Lafayette,” he said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3972497/rick-perry-gun-free-zone-lafayette-theater-shooting/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3972497/rick-perry-gun-free-zone-lafayette-theater-shooting/"},"headline":"Rick Perry Wants to Allow Guns in Movie Theaters","datePublished":"2015-07-26T15:35:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:35:43.464Z","description":"Perry's comments come mere days after the Lafayette theater shootings, which injured 11 and killed two plus the gunman","url":"https://time.com/3972497/rick-perry-gun-free-zone-lafayette-theater-shooting/","keywords":["Crime","Gun Control","rick perry"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9695ec3ba17c89de/69885c802dce01a79c9e4ca3/rick-perry3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tanya Basu","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9695ec3ba17c89de/69885c802dce01a79c9e4ca3/rick-perry3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"rick perry gun-free zone","caption":"rick perry gun-free zone","creditText":"Scott Olson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3972497/rick-perry-gun-free-zone-lafayette-theater-shooting/","name":"Rick Perry Wants to Allow Guns in Movie Theaters"}}]}] ```