Opinion
Minnesota – -(AmmoLand.com)- Baseball fans love to see double plays happen – to the other team. Well, in 2018, Second Amendment supporters could inflict one in Minnesota, replacing two anti-gun United States Senators with much better alternatives.
Democrat gun-banner Amy Klobuchar is running for her third term in the Senate – having first been elected in 2006 where she replaced Mark Dayton. According to Project Vote Smart, she supported a new ban on certain semi-automatic firearms, voted for arbitrary limits on magazine capacity, opposed concealed-carry reciprocity, supported “universal background checks,” and opposed efforts to allow some teachers to carry guns to increase school security.
In short, she votes alongside Charles Schumer and Dianne Feinstein. She does an excellent job of keeping that anti-Second Amendment record under the radar of many people – through the usual combination of claiming to support sportsmen. Klobuchar has also not taken her rhetoric to the extremes of Andrew Cuomo and others.
Still, though, she has demonstrated a track record of hostility to our Second Amendment rights. When she is pushing for sweeping bans on certain rifles, even though someone is roughly four times more likely to be stabbed fatally than to be shot fatally with any kind of rifle (much less the AR-15), according to Justice Department statistics.
Minnesota’s other Senator up for election is Democrat, Tina Smith. This is a special election to permanently fill the seat once held by Al Franken. She is just as anti-Second Amendment – albeit her relatively brief tenure means there are not very many votes. She was among those who opposed allowing teachers to carry guns to increase school security, though, and her acceptance of support from Moms Demand Action is not exactly a ringing endorsement of our Second Amendment rights.
Her record, while more low-key than Klobuchar’s, is more disturbing. She was among a dozen anti-Second Amendment Senators who sent a letter pushing Wells Fargo to enact corporate gun control. The celebration of banks who decided to pass corporate gun control in that letter included an implicit “or else” for Wells Fargo.
In light of Andrew Cuomo’s abuses of New York’s financial regulatory agencies, this is quite chilling. Winning the legislative and political battles has eluded Cuomo, so he and other politicians who are seeking to take away your Second Amendment rights are now trying various ways to get what they want in ways that can’t be undone by lawmakers or courts. Currently, Cuomo is being sued, but other states are now trying the approach he’s using, according to FoxNews.com.
Thankfully, Second Amendment supporters in Minnesota have the chance to pull off a double play for their rights. Both Smith and Klobuchar are facing very credible challenges from a pair of NRA-endorsed candidates with good track records.
Smith’s bid to finish out the rest of Al Franken’s term is being opposed by Karin Housley, a state senator ( www.housleyforsenate.com )who has a solid track record on Second Amendment issues. Klobuchar’s challenger in her bid for a third term is being challenged by Jim Newberger, a state representative, ( www.jimforussenate.com ) and former paramedic. Both have A ratings from the National Rifle Association’s Political Victory Fund.
A chance to make this sort of 180-degree turn does not come often. Second Amendment supporters can make a double play for their gun rights on November 6, but only if they vote, join the NRA, and support both NRA-ILA and NRA-PVF!
About Harold Hutchison
Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics, and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.