By Larry Keane
The 2024 presidential election will be decided in just 34 days on Nov. 5 and gun owners and Second Amendment supporters will prove to have played a critical role in deciding who will lead the country for the next four years.
Since the last presidential election in 2020, there are now more than 22.3 million new first-time gun owners—i.e., individuals who were driven by factors around them to go to the gun retail counter and lawfully purchase a firearm for the first time. In the key swing states that will determine by just a few thousand votes either way who wins the White House election there still remain millions of hunters and pro-Second Amendment Americans who aren’t registered to vote and could remain at home.
Against that backdrop, Republican Ohio U.S. Sen. JD Vance and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz faced off in the campaign’s only vice presidential debate. Fortunately, for Americans who remain concerned about crime and their constitutional rights to purchase and possess firearms for lawful purpose there was a fairly robust discussion on those topics.
Criminals Don’t Follow the Law
CBS News moderator Norah O’Donnell noted that Sen. Vance opposed so-called “red flag” laws and bans on Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs), the most popular-selling centerfire rifle in America. She asked Sen. Vance about parents being held legally responsible for criminal acts committed by their children. She raised as an example the prosecution of the Michigan parents who were convicted of involuntary manslaughter for supplying a firearm to their child who committed a horrific mass shooting. Sen. Vance said he did not know the facts of the case but said he trusted local law enforcement to make those prosecutorial decisions. He noted that details matter and contrasted the situation where a child stole the firearm to parents who hand over a gun knowing their child could be dangerous.
Sen. Vance then turned to the most significant driver of criminal firearm violence in America – it is not law-abiding gun owners, but criminals.
“But here’s something that really bothers me about this epidemic of violence,” the senator began. “The gross majority – close to 90 percent in some of the statistics I’ve seen – of the gun violence in this country is committed with illegally obtained firearms. And while we’re on that topic, thanks to Kamala Harris’s open border policies, we’ve seen a massive influx in illegal guns run by the Mexican drug cartels. The amount of illegal guns in our country today is higher today than it was three and a half years ago.”
That salient point is ignored or forgotten by those who continue to push more gun control restrictions on law-abiding Americans as a flawed approach to reduce the criminal misuse of firearms – something all Americans agree should be lower. Criminals do not follow the laws. It was a topic that Vice President Harris was finally pressed on during a recent interview at the National Association of Black Journalists. Her usual kitchen sink gun control approach was questioned given that criminals don’t follow the laws already in place.
The amount of illegal guns in our country today is higher today than it was three and a half years ago. – sen. jD vance
Last night, Sen. Vance stressed the need for stronger security measures at schools and having enough school resource officers. He touched on the importance of addressing the unique mental health challenges facing Americans. The senator also voiced support for police in the country’s largest cities where the largest percentages of gun crimes are perpetrated.
“This is why we have to empower law enforcement to arrest the bad guys and put them away and take gun offenders off the street,” Sen. Vance said.
Returning to his initial point, the senator summed it up. “The idea that we can wave a magic wand and take guns out of the hands of bad guys, it just doesn’t fit with recent experiences.”
More of the Same
Gov. Walz is campaigning as the number two on a ticket that could be even more antigun and anti-Second Amendment rights than the current Biden-Harris administration that carries that distinction now. Vice President Harris has a long and very public record of supporting some of the most extreme gun control proposals, including bans on entire classes of commonly-owned firearms, mandatory gun confiscation schemes, an outright prohibition on civilian handgun ownership and even supporting law enforcement to unconstitutionally enter and search the homes of private citizens to check on their firearm storage methods.
During the debate, Gov. Walz attempted to mask his and Vice President Harris’s gun control ambitions by deploying the tired “I’m a gun owner, but…” tactic.
“Sometimes I think what we end up doing is looking for a scapegoat. Sometimes it’s just the guns. It’s just the guns.” – Gov. tim walz
“Look, I’m a hunter. I own firearms. The vice president is,” Gov. Walz stated. “We understand the Second Amendment is there… There are reasonable things we can do to make a difference. It’s not infringing on your Second Amendment. And the idea to have some of these weapons out there, it just doesn’t make any sense.”
The governor was obviously referencing MSRs, or AR-style semiautomatic rifles. The Biden-Harris administration has called for implementing a new MSR ban since Day 1 of the administration. During the Democratic primary in 2019, then Sen.-Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) went so far as to say she supported and would implement a mandatory “buy back” of MSRs. That’s gun confiscation and unconstitutional.
She’s since walked back those calls but has also declared during this current campaign that her “values haven’t changed.”
The walk back on gun confiscation was a common theme and O’Donnell asked the governor about his flip flop, too.
“Governor Walz, you previously opposed an assault weapons ban but only later in your political career did you change your position. Why?” O’Donnell asked.
“Look the NRA. I was an NRA guy for a long time…” the governor said. “Sometimes I think what we end up doing is looking for a scapegoat. Sometimes it’s just the guns. It’s just the guns.” Gov. Walz’s statement stood in stark contrast to Sen. Vance’s statement that the focus needs to be on the actions of criminals not inanimate objects and enforcing the gun laws already on the books.
One positive development from the back-and-forth is that the candidates agreed it was a good start to a conversation about reducing firearm tragedies. The problem, though, is that the top of one of the tickets will respect Constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans and address criminals illegally obtaining and using firearms to commit heinous acts. The top of the other ticket has a concrete track record of ignoring Constitutional rights, attacking the lawful firearm industry and rejecting any solutions that don’t involve gun confiscation.
“….just the guns.”
And that’s not a scapegoat because…? The only point not a scapegoat in this instance is the motivation for the violence in the first place.
If you somehow remove the guns the violence will continue as we see in nations with very strict firearms prohibitions therefore the guns are a scapegoat and the violence is the real issue.
“….just the guns.”
Yep, a vote for Donald Trump and JP Mandel is a vote for the actual gun grabbers, who have stated publicly their intention to confiscate guns and ignore the constitution:
“Or, Mike, take the firearms first and then go to court because that’s another system. Because a lot of times by the time you go to court, it takes so long to go to court, to get the due process procedures. I like taking the guns early, like in this crazy man’s case that just took place in Florida, he had a lot of [firearms], they saw everything. To go to court would have taken a long time. So, you could do exactly what you said but take the guns first, go through due process second.”
-President Donald J. Trump, February 28, 2018
Of course, Donald Trump talks a good game today in order to manipulate his base.
But as he stated before, he’s perfectly willing to terminate the Constitution if it serves his self-interest.
Unhinged deflection.
There’s a suppository for TDS now. It was developed during Biden’s cancer cure moonshot.
“Unhinged deflection”
Neither unhinged or deflection.
This article is discussing vice presidential candidates’ position on gun control, I posted actual sources detailing Donald Trump’s willingness to ignore the constitution, that’s not deflection, it’s fact.
Trump publicly advocated for the confiscation of guns, without any due process whatsoever.
Sure, now he’s claiming something different, but he’s proven himself a liar.
minor49iq…One thing for certain, you are not one of the many embarrassed relatives of tampon tim. And you must find the stupidity and point blank scatterbrain Gun Control coming from a cackling hyena appealing…For sane America your crystal ball fearmongering and slandering of T/V is just more Russian Collusion TDS, etc.
TRUMP/VANCE 2024.
Yep, Unhinged deflection TDS ya got going on there Miner49er.
“Yep, a vote for Donald Trump and JP Mandel is a vote for the actual gun grabbers, who have stated publicly their intention to confiscate guns and ignore the constitution”
100% False
Evidently you still do not know what context means despite it being there in your own quote.
“100% False“
So was Trump lying in 2018 or is he lying about his support now?
“To go to court would have taken a long time. So, you could do exactly what you said but take the guns first, go through due process second.”
-President Donald J Trump
February 28, 2018
Turn them all in America, AWB is critical etc etc. You are getting sloppy with your double standards.
“Turn them all in America, AWB is critical etc etc“
I’ve never advocated for either one of those positions.
I have pointed out that Republican President Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Gerald Ford have indeed advocated for the AWB.
There’s your Republican double standard.
Ignorance of history or disingenuous deflection you be the judge.
MajorLiar,
But you are supporting Tampon Timmy and Kamal-toe the Ho, who have EXPLICITLY called for an AWB and a mandatory buyback, amirite??? So WHO’S playing double standards, NOW????
I’ve frequently stated, on this very site, that I am not thrilled with the Republican Party’s tepid support for the 2A . . .. but they at least TEPIDLY support it. Kamal-toe the Ho doesn’t even give a nod to the 2A; she flatly says she’ll “ban assault weapons” and, up until five minutes ago, require mandatory buybacks.
Unlike you, I can tell sh*t from Shinola. The Republicans ain’t great; the Dimocrats are disgusting. See how easy this is (oh, sorry, I was assuming facts not in evidence, i.e., you having a functioning brain).
You are a lying
“So was Trump lying in 2018 or is he lying about his support now?”
Miner49er, cherry picking out of context doesn’t make your post now any less unhinged or any less a 100% false.
Consult your own post to see what the context is. Its obvious, and you don’t see it.
Once again … this is what you said…“Yep, a vote for Donald Trump and JP Mandel is a vote for the actual gun grabbers, who have stated publicly their intention to confiscate guns and ignore the constitution”
That is 100% false and the reason its 100% false is in the context of the quote you made that said … “Or, Mike, take the firearms first and then go to court because that’s another system. Because a lot of times by the time you go to court, it takes so long to go to court, to get the due process procedures. I like taking the guns early, like in this crazy man’s case that just took place in Florida, he had a lot of [firearms], they saw everything. To go to court would have taken a long time. So, you could do exactly what you said but take the guns first, go through due process second.”
Learn what context means Miner49er.
Sorry but I just can’t help myself, “caption that photo” – Watz looks like he jumped on a bicycle with the seat removed.
It reminds me of a Don Rickels face, my apologies to Don Rickles.
Yep, there is no question Tim Walz would be surprised by something entering a portal designed for output.
Somehow I feel that JD Vance would not be surprised, as smooth as he is I’d say he’d give nothing but one of those smirks of enjoyment.
After all, I’m sure tech-billionaire Peter Thiel ($11B) has a good reason for giving JD Vance millions of dollars.
Only millions? LOL ok let me know when we get into Biden territory let alone Pelosi.
Well, MajorLiar, I’m sure you know ALL ABOUT the look on the face of a guy who likes taking it up the poop chute, since you see it every day in the mirror.
Hunter Biden can raise more money for the Dems by selling more “artworks” in Beijing.
Many of us have been royally entertained by observing JP Mandel make his massive flip-flop in public:
“But before becoming one of Trump’s fiercest allies and defenders, Vance sharply criticized the former president. During the 2016 presidential election, Vance wrote that he goes “back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical a–hole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler.”
Wow, it seems that Hitler rhetoric is originating from Donald Trump‘s vice presidential candidate, fascinating.
But once he saw how easy it would be to gain political power by lying, JP Mandel began his Great Flip-Flop:
“Vance began to publicly change course when he launched his Senate campaign in 2021. He deleted tweets from 2016 that included him calling Trump “reprehensible” and an “idiot.” In another deleted tweet following the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape on which Trump said fame enabled him to grope women, Vance wrote: “Fellow Christians, everyone is watching us when we apologize for this man. Lord help us.”
George Orwell’s ‘Big Brother’ would be proud of his ability to revise history, deleting tweets and denying the actual facts of history in a corrupt political power grab.
Miner49er, off topic yet again with his TDS trolling.
“Miner49er, off topic yet again”
Maybe you missed it, this article is about the vice presidential candidates, including JP Mandel.
I posted actual quotes from JP Mandel discussing his running partner, the presidential election is exactly the topic.
And of course, you can’t reply to the content, because both Trump and JP Mandel switch their positions depending upon whichever way the political winds are blowing.
we get it, you’re voting for Kamala. Who is on record as supporting proposition H in San Francisco to ban all handguns. She is on record as opposing the Heller decision. On record stating she will send law enforcement to your house to check “safe storage”. Publicly called for an assault weapons ban.
Need i go on?
If Kameltoe gets in we’re going to needs lots of Preparation H.
Disingenuous people will say anything to try and win the moment. It’s funny how they suddenly have a problem with China’s behavior regarding Covid as a way to smear Trump. This is after they called the Chinese lab leak a crazy conspiracy theory. They did everything in their power to cover for China because they were also covering for themselves.
Its off topic because you are not discussing, but rather trolling for your TDS satisfaction.
“Maybe you missed it, this article is about the vice presidential candidates, including JP Mandel.
I posted actual quotes from JP Mandel discussing his running partner, the presidential election is exactly the topic.”
It would be different if you just became part of the discussion, but you don’t because you always post intending to take it off topic into your TDS rants. Like now, we read the article… and
1. There is no one running called “JP Mandel” nor any such person mentioned in the article.
2. The article is about the second amendment issues highlighted in the vice presidential debate, not the presidential debate.
3. The article is not about what someone said or expressed in the past in relation to their feelings about Trump.
All you post did was want to TDS us to death with your BS TDS and trolling. Its off topic.
minor49iq…You must have forgot prior to the 2016 vote democRats like you threw everything possible at POTUS TRUMP. And after 4 years of making yourselves look like disgruntled snot nosed brats everything that you and your ilk spewed didn’t stick and it made liars out of the democRat Party.
Instead of learning from campaign mistakes the Rat Party doubled down with concocted slander just like the Rat Party and joe biden had concocted slander against Thomas, etc.
Furthermore bozo…You trying to warn people about your Space Lazer Trump Gun Control falls on deaf ears when you voted for joe biden the author of the sieg heil 1994 clintoon crime bill/awb.
Cease trying to distract by pointing your fingers here and there when History Confirms your party the democRat Party owns the legacy of slavery, segregation, lynching, the kkk, Eugenics, Gun Control and other race based atrocities.
TRUMP/VANCE 2024.
“everything that you and your ilk spewed didn’t stick“
I would say conviction on 34 felony counts of business fraud is a rather sticky wicket.
Not to mention the special prosecutor’s recent tasty filing with the details on several of his federal indictments.
“Former President Donald Trump said in 2016 that a president under indictment would “cripple the operations of our government” and create an “unprecedented constitutional crisis” – years before he himself was indicted on federal charges while running for a second term as president“
MajorLiar,
Yeah, MajorIdiot, come back and talk to us after Trump’s “trumped up” (SWIDT???) conviction is overturned (I doubt it will make it as far as SCOTUS). “Convicted” (by a partisan jury in a blue jurisdiction) of 34 counts of a . . . misdemeanor??? You trashy fascists are too incompetent to even do a decent Lavrenti Beria on the man. I don’t like him much, but the INCESSANT and unhinged TDS on the part of the likes of you, Adam “Shifty” Schiff, Liz “War Forever” Cheney, Eric “Duke Nuke’em” Swallowswell have convinced me to vote for him. Good job, sack o’ douche!!
MajorLiar,
COOL STORY, BRO!!!! Now do Amb. Sondland, an ANTI-TRUMP impeachment witness against him, stating on national TV he intended to vote FOR Trump/Vance because Kamal-toe the Ho is so incompetent. You area a lying partisan propagandist, and you suck greasy puppydog nuts.
“Just make drugs legal and all the crime will go away”
“Take all the guns and watch all the crime will go away.”
I see no difference between the stupid people who make these irrational and dumb statements. Both of them are anti liberty.
Vance-Walz debate: Parkland parent, school safety expert says one candidate closer to the answer.
“Ryan Petty, whose daughter Alaina was one of the 17 killed during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, told Fox News Digital after Tuesday’s debate that ‘in the 6½ years that I have been working on school safety, what I’ve learned about how we protect our nation’s schools tracks much more closely with the response JD Vance gave than anything Tim Walz said.’
‘I don’t even know what he means when he says, ‘Sometimes it’s the guns,’ Petty said when asked about Walz’s remarks. ‘It has nothing to do with guns. The causes of school violence are not the freedoms that we enjoy and the rights that we have under the Second Amendment.
‘The problem is much deeper and requires a more comprehensive solution, and JD Vance was much closer to the answer. We got to protect our schools. we got to increase the security there. Having more school resource officers on campus as both a deterrent and a last measure to stop an attack once it starts is exactly the blueprint we followed here to protect Florida schools after Parkland,’ he added. ”
h ttps://www.foxnews.com/us/vance-walz-clash-crime-america-school-safety-drawing-strong-reaction
Maybe the MinorTroll will drop back in and tell us again how SROs are less useful than a kitchen fire extinguisher, and neither is particularly good for anything as they are ineffective at preventing problems.
Kin’ya grampa, kin’ya? That’s my favorite bedtime story, and it’s a good one – always puts me to sleep laughing.
“17 killed during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, in 2018“
Another mass shooting on Donald Trump‘s watch, even though he promised to “end the American carnage, right here, right now!”.
“MinorTroll will drop back in and tell us again how SROs are less useful than a kitchen fire extinguisher“
Nope, I have never expressed that opinion.
In fact, I am in favor of multiple armed SRO on campus at least 30 minutes before students arrive and at least 30 minutes after students depart.
Sept 7 Miner 49er
…even with 2 armed SRO, the perpetrator was able to kill4 and critically injure 9 more. I do not think it is reasonable to declare victory in that situation…
Well, Walz is FRIENDS with School Shooters !!!!!!
You are correct, Tim Walz misspoke during the debate, because he is not a smooth political operative like JP Mandel.
Obviously, he meant to say ‘friends with school shooting victims’ but if you guys are entertained by his verbal slip, I’m happy for you.
‘Simple pleasures for simple people’
Oh no he’s too charismatic quick smear him as a smooth political operator. Grasping at straws to fill the man now? Tick tock you’re running out of clock.
“Grasping at straws to fill the man now?“
No grasping here, but I am in awe of the massive flip-flop JP Mandel did on Donald Trump, from America’s Hitler to the right man for the presidency, breathtaking!
But there have been many Republicans flipping their position on Donald Trump as they saw the political winds shifting.
Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, etc.
minor49iq…The fact that tampon tim misspoke about being pals with school shooters is the least of his problems. I mean it pales against stolen valor, Gun Control, tampons for boys, lying, etc.
Deflecting to keep projecting. You are running out of material fast.
“You are running out of material fast“
No, there’s good news to celebrate every day.
This just in:
“Tina Peters sentenced to 9 years behind bars in voting system data scheme
BY ASHLEIGH FIELDS 10/03/24 03:22 PM ET
A Colorado county clerk was sentenced to nine years in prison Thursday after spearheading a data breach scheme in the 2020 presidential election.
District Judge Matthew Barrett sparred with former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters during her sentencing for continuing to push discredited claims about rigged voting machines, and said she had not taken her job seriously.
He also said he believed she would do the same things she was found guilty of doing again.
“I am convinced you would do it all over again if you could. You’re as defiant as any defendant this court has ever seen,” Barrett said to her, according to The Associated Press. “You are no hero. You abused your position, and you’re a charlatan.”
A jury had found Peters guilty of four felonies after a lengthy criminal trial. She was cleared of three lesser charges.“
MajorLiar,
So, you finally ADMIT that there is election fraud going on??? (And for the record, there have been MORE prosecutions of Dimocrat officials for election fraud than there have been of Republicans . . . and then we have Dimocrat “pols” like Menendez and the late and UNlamented Harry Reid.)
So, exactly how much voter fraud is “OK”, MajorIdiot??? “It didn’t change the outcome!” is the usual idiot argument . . . and we know that HOW, exactly????? NO amount of voter fraud is “OK”. Yes, humans are flawed, and we are unlikely to ever completely eliminate voter fraud . . . but y’all Leftist/fascists are FINE with it, so long as you can get away with it. ‘Splain to us, Lucy, why we, at this point.ould be OK with ANY election fraud, and why you are so adamant that the outcome of the 2020 election was legit. I was, originally, inclined to believe that there WAS substantial election fraud (now conclusively demonstrated, but that it PROBABLY didn’t change the outcome. That belief is harder to sustain in the face of UNRELENTING Dimocrat efforts to (i) remove third party candidates from state ballots, (ii) prevent OBVIOUS vote integrity measures from being enacted. Methinks the fascist propagandist doth protest too much, eh???
MajorLiar,
So, lemme see if I get this right . . .. you are CONSTANTLY belittling the commenters on this site, and Republicans/conservatives/libertarians in general, about our alleged “ignorance” and being “simple” (EFFIN’ HILARIOUS, coming from the likes of you!!!), but now it’s suddenly verboten to be articulate and polished in your debate presentation???? Is THAT your testimony, MajorLiar??????
And all in defense of the PATHETIC showing of your lying, Stolen Valor, criminal-coddling, CCP loving, STUPID VP candidate, who completely showed his @$$ on national TV Tuesday night. You are the most pathetic partisan liar I’ve ever run across, MajorIdiot.
If you spin any harder, Tampon Tim might date you (if you aren’t too busy with schlobbing Doug “The Girlfriend Beater” Emhoff’s syphilitic knob.
There was no “JP Mandel” in the debate Miner49er.
Tampon tim couldn’t make friends with a pet rock.
law abiding slaved government will persue criminal
law abiding are slaves, then government will persue criminals
What Tim Walz Gets Wrong on Guns.
How bad was Tim Walz (in debate) and how wrong is he when it comes to your Second Amendment Rights. Washington Gun Law President, William Kirk, discusses (debate) performance by gov. Tin Walz and all the crazy things he said when it comes to your inalienable right of self preservation.
h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFs9W9nUpVE
Tim Walz: “I’ve Become Friends With School Shooters” (Vice President Debate 2024) (Walz debunking).
h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pEG1lcHdR8
And the Hogg
https://www.breitbart.com/2nd-amendment/2024/10/03/gun-control-buddies-tim-walz-david-hogg-is-good-friend-mine/
Tiny Timmy Tampon AWaltz has no problem with the Chinese having guns. Evidence is emerging that during his many trips to China, Waltz provided them with a copy of the operators’ manual for a nuclear capable Howitzer.
https://www.infowars.com/posts/was-tim-walz-connected-to-disappearance-of-manual-for-nuclear-capable-howitzer
Perhaps we shouldn’t hold Tiny Timmy accountable for this espionage. Rumor has it that the Chinese actually imprisoned and tortured him during his many trips to China. They abused him, sexually. One might think of Governor Waltz as the Manchurian Candidate.
Not bloody clear enough. it is obvious the Fudds at the NRA and NSSF have their hooks deep into him like they did with Trump when he XO’d bumpstocks under their dual advice and pushed Redflag “take the guns now and due process later.”
It is clear enough that the NSSF and NRA are bad advisors as they continue to this day to negotiate our rights away.
The NRA wants doom and gloom. It keeps the donations flowing.
No republican candidate is ever “perfect” for our Second Amendment Rights but I will definitely go with Trump/Vance. Harris has said in the past she is for “law enforcement” to make random checks at home on gun owners to check for compliance and is perfectly clear on her want for an AWB. Trump appointed three justices to SCOTUS who all voted for the historic Bruen decision. He matured on his view of red flag laws and last said he would only support a red flag law that that upheld “due process”
BTW AWB of 2013, which Obama would have signed” had 39 democrats and 1 republican vote in support for it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udnJlqhvs3Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YatLTpXzz0E
TRUMP/VANCE 2024.
Harris on handgun ban for San Franciso.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko-wg5dOt-U
The difference is the entrenched bureaucracy will support the goals of the left and stymi the right. Even if Trump were to pursue the agenda the left claims, the bureaucracy could stop it. If the left drives on with their stated agenda , there will be very little resistance.
The SCOTUS could rule against either Parties effort, it will be the left who further erodes the Court by ignoring them.
The left is more dangerous than the right. If the people rise up against a Trump administration over perceived injustice, they will be hero’s. Rise against the left for the same issues they will be insurrectionist.
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