James Clyburn may have been a lion of the Civil Rights movement decades ago, but these days, he’s just another politician all too comfortable with lying to the public to get what he wants, and he’s not above exploiting the deaths of nine God-fearing people in Charleston to do it.

Since the shooting in Charleston, S.C. that killed nine people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal, Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said America has for some reason become focused on the symbol of the Confederate battle flag.

“It’s a very strong symbol, but the fact still remains that though this young man worshiped that symbol, he carried out his desolate act with a gun,” he said of the alleged shooter, D_____ R___*, during press conference Wednesday.

With Democratic Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) and Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Clybrun called on Congress to expand Brady background checks and vote on the bill Thompson and Peter King (R-N.Y.) introduced earlier this year.

The Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act would require background checks for all gun sales to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and people who are mentally ill.

If the Thompson-King bill were law, Clybrun[sic] said he has no way of knowing whether it would have prevented the Charleston shooter from purchasing a weapon.

“It’s not definitive,” he said. “But I do know this, we know from our experiences that background checks are effective in preventing a lot of people who should not have guns from getting them.”