Michele Fiore: Shooting comments don’t apply to refugees

Nevada congressional candidate Michele Fiore said Monday that her recent comments about shooting people in the head and ending their miserable lives apply to terrorists and not Syrian refugees.

The two-term Republican state assemblywoman clarified statements she made Saturday on her Las Vegas-based radio talk show, “Walk the Talk,” that some interpreted as conflating refugees and terrorists and indicating she wanted to kill the whole group.

“I was not talking about the refugees,” she told The Associated Press on Monday, but she added, “I do not want Syrian refugees in our state, period.”

Fiore, who is known for making controversial statements and posing with guns in a custom calendar and on a family Christmas card, also confirmed that she’s entering the race for Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District and does not plan to seek re-election to her Las Vegas-area Assembly seat. She previously said she was exploring a congressional bid.

Fiore’s latest headline-grabbing comments involving guns came when she was asked why she didn’t sign onto a letter from the Nevada Assembly Republican Caucus supporting a review of refugee resettlement programs.

The lawmaker said she and some of the most conservative Assembly members weren’t invited to sign the letter, which was issued after terrorist attacks in Paris, but remained opposed to accepting refugees.

“I’m about to fly to Paris and shoot ‘em in the head myself,” Fiore said on the show, which was broadcast on KDWN. “I am not OK with Syrian refugees, I am not OK with terrorists. You know, I’m OK with putting them down, blacking them out, just put a piece of brass in their nocular cavity and end their miserable life. I’m good with that.”

Fiore said Monday that she didn’t advocate killing refugees, but still wouldn’t hesitate to shoot a terrorist if she needed to. She also said she can’t trust the refugee vetting process to screen out terrorists, and warned that even women are carrying out attacks, as seen in the San Bernardino shootings.