By Larry Keane
We are a little over a year away from the 2020 presidential election and the mainstream media is clamoring to know where every candidate stands on the myriad of different gun control measures that have made their way into the national conversation. Earlier this week, for example, the New York Times published the responses from all 19 Democratic presidential candidates to a survey on gun control policies.
Candidates’ responses, which ranged from thorough to partially complete, revealed what many gun rights voters already know from following the news or watching the hours of incessant squabbling that some call the presidential primary debates. For example, most of us already knew that former Congressman Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke wants to confiscate modern sporting rifles already legally purchased by millions of responsible gun owners or that U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants to raise taxes on firearms and ammunition, effectively pricing low-income Americans out of their ability to exercise their Second Amendment rights.
On the Record
What the New York Times has done, however, is put these candidates on the record stating just how, and to what degree, they want to infringe on the right of millions of Americans to keep and bear arms. While the New York Times most likely did not publish these survey results with the intention of holding gun control advocates accountable for their extremist policies that will do nothing to protect American communities, NSSF has done exactly that. Our #GUNVOTE® presidential candidate tracker succinctly keeps track of what every candidate for the highest office in the free world has said about your Second Amendment rights.
In our current political environment, operating inside a new cycle that yields a new, outrageous statement or event every 24 hours and then is quickly replaced by the next, it is nearly impossible to keep track of one person’s statements and to form a holistic opinion of one’s platform for political office. Without #GUNVOTE, it would be reasonable for the average voter to forget that Sen. Kamala Harris is “sick of waiting for Congress to act” because she would rather act like a dictator than wait for the legislative branch of this great country to dutifully consider new laws that concern the rights this country was built upon.
Without #GUNVOTE, one could also be forgiven for forgetting that Sen. Cory Booker is determined to repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce Act that protects firearms manufacturers from frivolous lawsuits when criminals wrongfully use guns in a crime. No one would dream of suing Ford Motors if someone drove drunk and crashed their Ford Focus, yet Sen. Booker thinks it appropriate to accept that exact same legal precedent when it concerns firearms manufacturers.
Stay #GUNVOTE Informed
Despite the alarming stances many Democratic candidates are pushing, #GUNVOTE will arm you with the information you need to make the right choice come Election Day. It will make it easy to ensure you are registered to vote and that you know where your closest polling location is. Don’t risk your rights®, make sure you, your family, and friends utilize #GUNVOTE before Election Day.
Larry Keane is Senior Vice President of Government and Public Affairs and General Counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearms industry trade association.