CNN "State of the Union" interviews during 2019: on Gun Control
Pete Buttigieg:
Much work to enact measures that vast majority supports
Q: Why wouldn't you support mandatory buybacks of assault weapons? BUTTIGIEG: I think we have got a lot of work to do right now on the basics, universal background checks, red flag laws, a ban on new sales of these assault weapons and
high-capacity magazines, things that the majority, in many cases, the vast majority, of Americans support, that still haven't got done. I think we have got some fundamentals we have got to take care of. And
Source: CNN State of the Union interview for 2019 Democratic primary
Aug 18, 2019
Beto O`Rourke:
We should have a national gun licensing program
Q: You were asked whether you supported a plan for federal gun licensing. You said it might go too far. After the El Paso and Dayton massacres do you feel the same way?O'ROURKE: We should do it.
We should have a national licensing program in this country. I also said I want to learn more. I have. This makes sense.
We know that, in those states that have adopted these licenses, or have adopted universal background checks, or have stopped the sales of weapons of war, that we are saving lives.
So let's adopt these solutions nationally and make sure that, without taking anyone's Second Amendment rights away, that we save the lives of our fellow Americans.
Source: CNN State of the Union interview for 2019 Democratic primary
Aug 11, 2019
Cory Booker:
Yes on red flag law, but nowhere near enough
Q: Would you support a red flag law as a stand-alone bill? Isn't something better than nothing? BOOKER: Red flag laws, yes, they're important, but they're nowhere near enough to stop these rising levels of mass shootings. We have to do more.
The American public should demand more. And, frankly, things like background checks are overwhelmingly supported by gun owners. The fact that we're not doing that is a failure of leadership.
Source: CNN State of the Union interview for 2019 Democratic primary
Aug 11, 2019
Julian Castro:
Whole slew of gun measures most Americans support
We need to do a whole slew of things, from ensuring that we have universal background checks, to limiting the capacity of magazines, to ensuring that we have red flag laws out there that are able to catch individuals who may represent a danger to
themselves or to other people. We also need a renewed weapons ban, so that these semiautomatic weapons, these weapons of war, are not out there on the streets. And most Americans, I believe, support these kinds of measures
Source: CNN State of the Union interview for 2019 Democratic primary
Aug 4, 2019
Julian Castro:
Yes on gun licensing, but also red flag laws
Q: Do you support gun licensing? CASTRO: I do think that we have to strengthen our laws when it comes to knowing who has these guns, when they're sold, who do they change hands into. But we also have to combine that with
things like red flag laws that give courts the ability to take guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them in the first place, people who represent a danger to themselves or to somebody else.
Source: CNN State of the Union interview for 2019 Democratic primary
Aug 4, 2019
Cory Booker:
I'm bringing a fight against the corporate gun lobby
If you want someone who's going to take a fight to the corporate gun lobby, take a fight against apathy and indifference, take a fight against the NRA, then I'm your person. I'm an African American male.
We're 6 percent of the nation's population, but we make up over 50 percent of the gun violence victims. This is something that's going on all around our nation. Enough is enough. I'm bringing a fight to this. And we will win this fight.
Source: CNN "SOTU" 2019 interview series
Jun 2, 2019
Cory Booker:
Evidence-based laws can lower gun violence
I have a comprehensive plan that people say is bold. It's not bold. It's commonsense, evidence-based things that we can do to lower gun violence. You have taken a look at the 16, 17 things we have in my plan that would drop the levels of
violence overall, from one-handgun- a-month laws, all the way to investing in the kind of mental health and the kind of community empowerment strategies that would do something about it.
Source: CNN SOTU 2019 interview of presidential hopefuls
Jun 2, 2019
Cory Booker:
As with civil rights, we can build coalitions for gun laws
This echoes to me the civil rights movement, where people said it couldn't be done, that there were states that were standing firmly against it. But you know what happened is, we had the kind of coalitions necessary to tear down segregation.
We could muster that to do commonsense things that do not take away people's Second Amendment rights. The only people that should be afraid of the kind of legislation I'm pushing are gun runners, criminals, and the corporate gun lobby.
Source: CNN State of the Union 2019 interview
Jun 2, 2019
Kamala Harris:
If Congress won't act on guns, I will, by executive action
If by my 100th day in office Congress fails to put a bill on my desk, I'm prepared to take executive action. Anyone who sells more than five guns a year will be required to perform
background checks. I'm prepared to direct the ATF to remove the licenses of gun dealers who fail to follow the law. 90% of guns associated with crime have been sold by 5% of the gun dealers. We need to take their licenses away.
Source: CNN SOTU 2019 interview of presidential hopefuls
May 12, 2019
Eric Swalwell:
I want to lead on gun violence issues
Keep your pistols, keep your long rifles, keep your shotguns. I want these weapons of war out of the hands of the most dangerous people. I want background checks. So do 73% of NRA members. I want to invest in gang violence prevention programs.
I want more community- oriented policing. There's a lot that we could do on this issue, but unless it's the number one issue for a president, it's just going to be one that we respond to shooting to shooting. I want to lead on it.
Source: CNN SOTU 2019 interview of presidential hopefuls
Apr 14, 2019
Tom Price:
Gun ownership protects those at scene of crime
Price asserted that when violence has taken place, gun ownership has protected--not harmed--those at the scene of the crime. "In fact, guns are used more often to protect lives, not take lives.
Steps to remove firearms from the hands of law-abiding citizens endanger those very citizens," he said.
Source: CNN coverage of 2019-20 Georgia 2-year Senate race
Jan 10, 2017
Page last updated: Jan 12, 2020