USA – -(Ammoland.com)- “Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) said in an interview aired Sunday that she is ‘embarrassed’ and ‘ashamed’ by her previous pro-gun position and tough stance on illegal immigration,” The Washington Free Beacon noted Monday. The story was reporting on a Sunday “60 Minutes” interview by reporter Sharyn Alfonsi with the politician once given an “A” rating by the National Rifle Association.
“I was wrong,” Gillibrand claimed. “What it’s about is the power of the NRA and the greed of that industry. Let’s be clear, it is not about hunters’ rights. It’s about money.”
She got one thing right— the Second Amendment is not about hunter’s rights. But the greed was Gillibrand’s — for gaining more power by abandoning her local constituency when the opportunity for a wider one was offered. And she’s still lying when she tries to pass her past rating off as merely trying to appeal to upstate New York hunters.
How can we know?
“The NRA-PVF ranks political candidates – irrespective of party affiliation – based on voting records, public statements and their responses to an NRA-PVF questionnaire.”
While we don’t have a copy of the questionnaire Gillibrand returned, we do have a copy of one another federal candidate completed that tells us the types of questions she would have had to “get right.”
Conservative candidate Joe Miller shared his “perfect” questionnaire with me, back when NRA was sidelining him in favor of establishment pick Lisa Murkowski. Among the things Gillibrand would have had to freely say she agreed with:
- She opposed legislation banning semi-automatic firearms and their ammuniton and magazines.
- She supported right-to-carry.
- She opposed legislation ending private sales.
- She agreed a judge’s record and belief in the Second Amendment as an individual right should be “important factors” for confirmation votes.
- Importantly, because it directly refutes the whitewashing deception she gave “60 Minutes,” she opposed “sporting purposes” requirements.
- She agreed that the Second Amendment is a fundamental individual right applicable to state and local governments as well as to the federal government.
There’s plenty more, but how the questionnaire may have been changed from the time when she completed it is unclear. Still, it’s a near certainty that the fundamental queries above would have been asked, and answers would have had to be on the mark with gun owner interests.
That Gillibrand would try to cover her tracks by downplaying her involvement with “gun rights” to one of “mistakenly” pandering to hunters is not surprising. She’s a veteran politician experienced in deception and betrayal, something I documented numerous times over the years, from her initial turning to her coming out as a full-blown enemy.
She hasn’t worried about that in the Senate because blue state New York is a “safe” seat for her. This is an attempt to sanitize her for a wider electorate as a presidential bid is pondered. And gun owners talking about it on gun websites will not be enough to impede that.
Instead, why not appeal to a media outlet that has broader reach?
To CBS News: “60 Minutes,” correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi and your viewers have been duped with misdirection and lies of omission. Unless you present the full record, you will have allowed Kirsten Gillibrand to use you and put your credibility at risk.
She reduced things to hunting to conceal the depth of her willing involvement. She left quite a bit out – on purpose.
Why not demand to know the promises she made (and then discarded) about semi-autos, right-to-carry, private sales, judicial nominations and the like? Why not demand that she release her NRA questionnaire to you, and then make it available to the public? If nothing else, it would be a scoop.
As for Gillibrand’s “switch” on immigration, that’s not hard to understand at all. Democrats are depending on the “pathway to citizenship” to dominate the electorate. That our “gun rights leaders” (current and prospective) refuse to recognize the existential threat that represents to continued legal recognition of the Second Amendment is on them.
Gillibrand should be embarrassed by her own shameless political opportunism. And if they don’t expose her for playing them, Sharyn Alfonsi, “60 Minutes” and CBS News should be embarrassed for being willing tools. Unless they’re complicit in trying to help her get ahead of predictable criticism…
Still, why not take a few seconds and share this message?
@60Minutes demand @SenGillibrand #ReleaseTheNRAQuestionnaire .
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.
In addition to being a field editor/columnist at GUNS Magazine and associate editor for Oath Keepers, he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.