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Continetti: Abandoning Gun Rights Would 'Doom' Trump's Re-Election

The 2020 Dem nominee must also appeal to gun owners

September 3, 2019

Washington Free Beacon editor in chief Matthew Continetti said Tuesday that both President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger will need to support the Second Amendment to win the presidency.

Special Report host Bret Baier brought up the multitude of gun control bills being proposed, with panelists discussing how Trump must navigate the issue going into 2020. But Continetti pointed out that Democrats also have to reckon with voters who support the Second Amendment.

"It cuts both ways, right?" Continetti said. "If the Democrats want to win the presidency in 2020, they need to flip Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania. There are plenty of gun owners in those four states who believe in the Second Amendment."

"Who cling to their guns and their religion," Baier interjected.

"As I believe a former president once said," Continetti replied, referring to former President Barack Obama, whom Baier quoted.

Continetti added that, while supporting gun control measures plays well with suburban voters, it alienates "a lot of rural voters who care passionately about the Second Amendment."

"Donald Trump won as a supporter of Second Amendment rights," Continetti said. "If he is going to abandon that in 2020, I think it will doom his campaign."

After a series of shootings over the past few weeks, a number of Democratic presidential candidates have called for increased regulation on gun sales or bans on certain types of weapons. Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke advocated a mandatory government buyback program on Sunday. Former Vice President Joe Biden said Monday that he would support measures to ban "assault type weapons, magazines that can hold multiple bullets in them."

Trump has not signaled that he will support gun restrictions, but according to Politico, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said the White House is considering support for several proposals.

"I said several weeks ago that if the president took a position on a bill so that we knew we would actually be making a law and not just having serial votes, I'd be happy to put it on the floor," McConnell told radio host Hugh Hewitt on Tuesday. "If the president is in favor of a number of things that he has discussed openly and publicly, and I know that if we pass it it'll become law, I'll put it on the floor."