MA US Senate Candidates: Who’s Strongest on Gun Rights?
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Recently, the Gun Owner's Action League (GOAL) sent out a newsletter to its membership, with positions from GOP candidates Dan Winslow and Michael Sullivan. GoLocalWorcester takes a closer took at the 2nd Amendment views of both the Republican as well as Democratic candidates.
GOP Candidates
Republicans Gabriel E. Gomez, former Navy SEAL, Michael J. Sullivan, former United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts and former Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Daniel Winslow, State Representative, are all on the GOP primary ballot for chance to replace John Kerry in the US Senate, representing the state of Massachusetts.
Winslow and Sullivan provided the following statements to GOAL.
"I am a strong supporter of 2nd Amendment rights and proud of my A+ rating from GOAL as a state legislator. For me, the exercise of 2nd Amendment rights is personal: in 1990, while serving as a local elected official, my home was bombed and severely damaged while my wife was pregnant with our first child. During my later service as a Trial Court Judge for nearly eight years, I endured multiple death threats. For me, loss of 2nd Amendment rights will deprive me of the only means to protect my family. That is unacceptable. As US Senator, I will stand as a guardian of this fundamental freedom.
My opponents have proven they do not support your 2nd Amendment rights: Gabriel Gomez proudly wrote to Governor Patrick that he supported the Obama agenda on guns and immigration, and promised he would support the Obama agenda on guns in the Senate. Mike Sullivan, as acting director of ATF, was staunchly opposed by almost all national gun groups due to his attacks on legal gun ownership and gun shops. He did, however, have the strong support of Democrat Senators Kerry and Kennedy - "We'll miss him in Massachusetts, but he'll be a strong leader at ATF, and I look forward to working with him on key issues on gun control," Kennedy said in regards to Sullivan's 2007 nomination.
Unlike my opponents, my record is clear and my 2nd Amendment support straightforward. Most importantly, if you elect me in the April 30thprimary, I have the strongest chance of winning against either of our anti-gun, anti-liberty Democrat candidates. Please see my website at danwinslow.com for more information.
"I am proud to have a strong record supporting the 2nd Amendment and the individual right of law abiding citizens to keep and bear arms. I am the only candidate in the Republican Primary for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts to oppose the "Gun Show Bill" recently taken up in the Senate –noting immediately that this piece of legislation was based on emotions, not on the empirical evidence, and would have done nothing to keep firearms out of the hands of those persons "adjudicated mentally ill.”
As former Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), a state legislator, and both a state and federal prosecutor, I've spent years protecting our rights under the 2nd Amendment. In fact, while some have argued the 2nd Amendment applied only to members of the militia, I have always believed that it applied to individuals, and I proudly advocated that position on behalf of the ATF during the drafting of the U.S. Department of Justice brief in the recently decided Heller Case. While serving as a state legislator, I always received an A+ rating from GOAL.
What my two opponents don’t seem to recognize is this: criminals are simply not deterred by gun control measures. I am the only person in this race who has the experience prosecuting criminals for possessing firearms illegally and using them unlawfully. While my two opponents support additional gun restrictions and burdens on law-abiding, responsible gun owners, I say use the laws we already have to keep firearms out of the hands of prohibited persons, including those adjudicated mentally ill, and take immediate steps to fix the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
My opponents cannot claim nearly the same record of support for this constitutionally granted right. In 2012, Dan Winslow received a 67% rating from the National Rifle Association for his position on 2nd Amendment rights and, most recently, announced support repeatedly for the failed Senate Bill which would have forced background checks at gun shows. The fact is, there is no evidence to support the claim that this law would have prevented gun violence. Even the liberal Boston Globe, in its support of Dan Winslow, noted that its opinion was in part due to his stance against gun rights, stating: “In the Senate campaign, he's broken with much of the national GOP on gun control ....”
Gabriel Gomez is similar in his gun control beliefs. He also supported the Senate background check bill for gun show sales and, even worse, personally wrote to Governor Deval Patrick requesting to be appointed to the open U.S. Senate seat and unabashedly announced his support for President Obama and his policies, and in particular, the position President Obama has taken on gun control.
In my view, we don't need a U.S. Senator who isn't honest with the voters about where he stands on any issue – and certainly not an issue as important as our core 2nd Amendment rights. I have and, as your next U.S. Senator, always will continue to protect this cherished right, while working to find and solve the real problem with gun violence in America. That begins with addressing legitimate concerns with persons adjudicated mentally ill, who already are legally prohibited from obtaining firearms. Without a working system to maintain and track those who have been determined mentally ill through a legal proceeding, firearms dealers have no way of checking to see if this individual is qualified to purchase a firearm. That is why first and foremost we must fix NICS. We also must enforce the law that are on the books right now, and make sure we punish criminals who possess and use firearms illegally, both swiftly and severely.
While Gomez did not weigh in on the GOAL debate above, the following statement was on his website.
"As a former U.S. Navy SEAL, I am a strong Second Amendment supporter. Our freedoms make America the most unique and prosperous country in the world. The President and the Congress must act now to forge consensus and compromise to close the gun show loophole, and to keep weapons out of the hands of those with mental health issues. We must not, however, take away freedom for law-abiding citizens in the process."
Democratic Candidates
Democrats Ed Markey and Stephen Lynch, both members of the U.S. House of Representatives, are looking to win the nod on April 30. The candidates' stances on gun control, as found on their campaign websites, are as follows.
Ed has spent his career making the people of Massachusetts and the nation safer and more secure. He is a staunch advocate for gun control and reducing gun violence and has supported commonsense gun reforms that preserve the Second Amendment and protect our children, our parents, and our friends. In 1994, Ed identified a deadly loophole enabling cheap Chinese semi-automatic assault weapons to flood into the U.S. He urged President Clinton to place an emergency moratorium on the importation of these military style assault weapons from China, including the SKS, MAK-90 and other similar weapons.
Lynch's website contains a video statement, in which he addresses how gun violence affected his family with the death of his cousin as child. In the video, Lynch says he "understands and respects the 2nd Amendment...but you don't have the right to military-style assault rifle, or a large magazine clip," adding, "that's not part of the 2nd Amendment right to personal security." He talks about co-sponsoring legislation for background checks which serve to "keep guns out of the hands of criminals, and perhaps those with mental disabilities that should not be in possession of a firearm."
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