Politico.com: on Gun Control
Christine Hallquist:
Regulate guns like we regulate automobiles
Vermont's gun culture is thorny even in a Democratic primary. "I would prefer not talking about this issue," Hallquist said. But what is her position? Well, she owns 5 hunting rifles, which she doesn't use because most of them she acquired a long
time ago. "I'm beating around the bush," she said, and after some more explanation, "I'm really beating around the bush." Finally, she confided, "I would support regulating guns like we regulate automobiles, but I really don't want to talk about it."
Source: Politico.com on 2018 Vermont gubernatorial race
Aug 7, 2018
David French:
Don't rewrite the meaning of the Second Amendment
There is no doubt about where the staff writer for National Review stands on a host of issues central to the heart of the conservative wing of the Republican Party. On the 'potential confiscation of weapons':
"The next Supreme Court justice will hold the balance of power in the next Second Amendment case, a case that could either reaffirm the textual, historical, and philosophical meaning of the
Second Amendment, or rewrite history and undermine a fundamental right of a free people. Any judicial ruling that rejects an individual right to keep and bear arms would permit
any future liberal majorities in Congress to pass draconian gun-control bills, including potential confiscation of weapons."--April 13
Source: Politico.com on 2016 presidential hopefuls
Jun 1, 2016
Jared Golden:
Voted against universal background checks
Golden, one of just two House Democrats to oppose the new majority's universal background checks bill, said background checks wouldn't have prevented the El Paso and Dayton shooters from obtaining guns. "The issue is much greater than
background checks," Golden said. Golden and [Susan] Collins both oppose the House-passed bill because they deem the exemptions for gun transfers to family and friends too narrow.
Source: Politico.com on 2018 House ME-2 race
Aug 14, 2019
Kirsten Gillibrand:
NRA is the worst organization in America
[Fox News host Chris] Wallace drilled down on Gillibrand's one-time A-rating from the National Rifle Association -- a group she called the "worst organization in America" on Sunday night. When asked if her shift on the issue was political opportunism,
Gillibrand said that it was about "realizing that not every part of this country is like my rural, upstate New York district. We have to look beyond our own backyard," she said. "We must care about others."
Source: Politico.com on Fox News Town Halls with Chris Wallace
Jun 2, 2019
Marco Rubio:
Ban bump stocks; limit magazine size; more background checks
Rubio insisted he wasn't going to let the perfect be the enemy of the good, particularly when it came to his position on high-volume magazines. "It may not prevent an attack, but it may save lives in an attack," he said, suggesting that three or four
lives might have been saved in Parkland had there been some restriction on magazine size.Rubio steadfastly refused to consider banning semiautomatic rifles outright. And he said he would not refuse money from the National Rifle Association.
Rubio
said, "I absolutely believe that in this country if you are [under] 18 years of age you should not be able to buy a rifle and I will support a law that takes that right away." Rubio was met with applause and went on to say he supports banning "bump
stocks," which can make a semiautomatic fire like a machine gun. He also voiced support for better background checks & mental health funding. But when Rubio said an "assault weapons ban" would not have prevented Parkland's murders, the boos rained down.
Source: Caputo & Morin in Politico.com on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 21, 2018
Scott Pruitt:
Double headline - Already Done
According to a newly unearthed series of Oklahoma talk radio shows from 2005, Pruitt, who at the time was a state senator, described the Second Amendment as divinely granted and condemned federal judges as a "judicial monarchy"
that is "the most grievous threat that we have today." In the 2005 recordings, Pruitt also backed a broad interpretation of the Second Amendment's right to bear arms, saying it derives from a divine mandate and thus cannot be limited.
"If you can tell me what gun, type of gun, I can possess, then I didn't really get that right to keep and bear arms from God,"
he said. "It was not bequeathed to me, it was not unalienable, right?"
Source: Politico.com, "Pruitt tapes," on 2018 Trump Administration
Mar 2, 2018
Tom Vilsack:
Rural America ready to discuss gun control
Vilsack says the Newtown school shootings have changed the gun control debate and that rural America is ready to be part of a national conversation. Vilsack says the debate has to start with respect for the Second Amendment and recognition that hunting
is a way of life for millions of Americans. But Vilsack said it's now "potentially a unifying conversation. President Obama recognizes that changes to gun laws can't just be decreed from Washington but must come from the "grassroots up."
Source: 2016 Veepstakes: Politico.com, "Ag Secretary on Gun Control"
Apr 15, 2016
Glenn Youngkin:
Trump: Glenn is pro-Second Amendment & pro-America
Less than 12 hours after Glenn Youngkin locked up the GOP nomination for Virginia governor on Monday night, former President Donald Trump barreled into 2021's most competitive statewide election. "Glenn is pro-Business, pro-Second
Amendment, pro-Veterans, pro-America, he knows how to make Virginia's economy rip-roaring, and he has my Complete and Total Endorsement!" Trump wrote in a statement Tuesday morning that was circulated by his political action committee.
Source: Politico.com on 2021 Virginia Gubernatorial race
May 11, 2021
Tim Walz:
2016: Rated "A" by NRA; 2018: switched to "F" rating
- More than half of the bills Walz co-sponsored [in Congress] between 2015-2017 were introduced by non-Democrats.
- [As a member of Congress], Walz once earned an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association and the group's endorsement.
In 2016, Guns & Ammo magazine included him on its list of top 20 politicians for gun owners.
- He later denounced the NRA and supported gun-control measures, such as an assault weapons ban. During his first campaign for governor in
2018, the NRA completely downgraded his rating. "I had an A rating from the NRA. Now I get straight F's. And I sleep just fine."
- Shortly after the deadly Las Vegas shooting in 2017, which killed 59 people, he donated campaign contributions from the
NRA to a nonprofit that supported the family of military members who died or were severely wounded while serving.
- Walz is an avid hunter and scoffed at JD Vance for talking about guns when "I guarantee you he can't shoot pheasants like I can."
Source: Politico.com on 2024 Vice Presidential hopefuls
Aug 6, 2024
Page last updated: Aug 15, 2024