Saturday, August 29, 2015

Rolling Stone: Gun Control: Where Each of the Presidential Candidates Stands

By Lauren Kelly, Jun. 18, 2015, Rolling Stone

Jeb Bush


Bush "has a conservative record on gun rights, having signed Florida's first-in-the-nation 'Stand Your Ground' bill into law in 2005," reports Vox.

Bush canceled a Charleston campaign event that had been slated for Thursday after news of the shooting broke. "Governor Bush's thoughts and prayers are with the individuals and families affected by this tragedy," a spokesperson said.

Ben Carson


The far-right-wing Carson discussed his views on guns with Glenn Beck in 2013. "There's a reason for the Second Amendment; people do have the right to have weapons," he said,per Mediaite. He added that people should be allowed to have semi-automatic weapons in some cases: "It depends on where you live," he said. "I think if you live in the midst of a lot of people, and I'm afraid that that semi-automatic weapon is going to fall into the hands of a crazy person, I would rather you not have it," but if you reside "out in the country somewhere by yourself…I've no problem with that."

Carson later said those comments had been "perhaps a little inartful."

"What I was trying to get across," he said, "is that we need to talk about how do we keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of people who are crazy, of people and people who are horrendous criminals" – a goal he'd like to achieve, he said, not through gun registries but through "smart gun" technology.

Lincoln Chafee

According to Rhode Island Public Radio, as governor, Chafee supported 2013 legislation that would have banned semi-automatic assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. (That legislation was watered down significantly before it passed the legislature.)

Hillary Clinton

Gun control advocates see Clinton as "an ally who can finish the push for tightened background checks that has stalled in President Obama's second term," The Hill reports.

"We cannot let a minority of people, and that's what it is, it is a minority of people, hold a view point that terrorizes the majority of people," Clinton said last year, referring to groups that oppose gun control laws.

Ted Cruz

"The Second Amendment to the Constitution isn't for just protecting hunting rights, and it's not only to safeguard your right to target practice," Cruz has said, per the New York Times. "It is a Constitutional right to protect your children, your family, your home, our lives, and to serve as the ultimate check against governmental tyranny — for the protection of liberty."

More: www.rollingstone.com

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