You won’t hear the phrases “assault weapons ban”, “red flag law”, or even “common sense gun safety regulations” in the new ad from the gun control group Giffords. Instead, the ad, which is part of a $1.8 million campaign aimed at swing state voters on behalf of Kamala Harris, features a failed candidate for the Texas State Senate boasting about his military service and his claim to “take gun ownership very seriously.”
Steven Kling is a “senior ambassador” for Giffords’ Gun Owners for Safety, and has lobbied for all kinds of restrictions on legal gun owners over the past few years; including bans on so-called assault weapons, raising the age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21, and imposing “red flag” laws in Texas, while criticizing the adoption of permitless carry and other pro-Second Amendment measures.
In the new ad, however, Kling confines his talk of gun control to a vague assertion that Donald Trump “refused to close gun loopholes” while promising that Kamala Harris would close them.
During Kling’s failed run for the Texas Senate six years ago, however, he was proud to endorse all kinds of new restrictions on legal gun owners. In a post at DailyKos, Kling called for new laws that would impose background checks on private, person-to-person transfers of firearms, would ban the sale and manufacture of “assault weapons”, and even create a multi-tiered licensing scheme for every gun owner in the country.
Class 1: Hunting and Heritage – single-shot, bolt, or lever-action or small-capacity semi-automatic long-barreled shotgun or rifle used to for hunting. No additional registration or background check requirement on new sales or existing transfers.
Class 2: Handgun – revolver or magazine-fed semi-automatic. Mandatory background check and registration on new purchase or transfer of existing. Federal minimum training requirements, extensible by state law for concealed carry. Passive liability for improper transfer of ownership.
Class 3: Military Use – high-capacity capable, easily convertible to automatic. Shortened barrel rifle or shotgun. Federally certified safety and qualification course prior to new purchase (if legally permitted) or existing transfers. Passive liability for improper transfer of ownership.
Kling also called for “changing the culture” around gun ownership, which in his eyes meant “reject[ing] the NRA and embrac[ing] community-oriented, responsible, common sense gun legislation that will effectively reduce the number of firearm deaths without making criminals of otherwise law-abiding citizens.”
While Kling suggested he only supported new laws that wouldn’t turn existing gun owners into criminals, he also declared that “[t]hrough groups like Moms Demand Action, we can affect a positive cultural shift back towards norms that encourage accountability, responsibility, and training and of making our community’s safety the highest priority.”
Kling should be well aware that both Giffords and Moms Demand Action routinely back laws that do, in fact, turn lawful gun owners into criminals. Whether it’s imposing broad restrictions on the right to carry or criminalizing the possession of commonly owned semi-automatic firearms, these gun control groups are intent on making it a legally dangerous proposition to exercise your Second Amendment rights.
It’s telling that in the final weeks of the campaign Giffords is masking its hostility towards gun owners (don’t forget Gabby Giffords telling a Time magazine reporter last year that her goal is “No more guns. Gone.”) by hiding behind a shotgun-toting veteran. If the anti-gunners were open and honest about what they expect from Kamala Harris if she’s elected president, Harris would be in even greater trouble in swing states like Michigan and Nevada than she already is. But just as the voters in Texas rejected Kling’s messaging six years ago, when he lost his bid for the State Senate by 15 points, gun owners in these battleground states should dismiss Kling’s more recent rhetoric for what it is: a camouflaged attack on a fundamental civil right.
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