Jeb Bush just contradicted himself spectacularly over the Oregon shooting

Jeb Bush wasn't the only Republican presidential candidate to downplay how this week's shooting at a community college in Roseburg, Oregon, is part of a wider pattern of gun violence across the United States.

He was, however, the only one to trip himself up so epically.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Bush said "Stuff happens" in reaction to the attack, which left ten people dead.

After being asked to clarify, the ex-governor of Florida corrected himself to say, "Things happen all the time. Things. Is that better?"

Bush went on to describe in detail what he meant by "things", ie, accidents:

A child drowned in a pool and the impulse is to pass a law that puts fencing around pools... Well it may not change it. Or you have a car accident and the impulse is to pass a law that deals with that unique event.

And the cumulative effect of this is, in some cases, you don’t solve the problem by passing the law, and you’re imposing on large numbers of people burdens that make it harder for our economy to grow, make it harder to protect liberty.

Setting aside the questionable logic that basic safeguards like fences and seatbelts will be "burdens" on liberty and the economy, eagle eyed journalist Farhad Manjoo noticed that one of Bush's examples - fencing around pools - sounded oddly familiar.

A quick Google later, and lo:

In 2000, when Jeb Bush was governor of Florida, he signed a bill into law that required new pool owners to erect fences to keep unsupervised children away from the water.

By that logic, does this mean Jeb is actually in support of improved gun control laws?

HT: Gawker

More: Here is what Barack Obama has had to say after eleven mass shootings since he took office

More: The chart that shows America's shocking murder rate compared to other countries