Issue Position: Your Right to Bear Arms

Issue Position

This is common sense: law abiding citizens should not be punished for the actions of criminals.

Every time there's a tragedy, the first thing that happens is that politicians and the media politicize the issue and try to turn the conversation away from real solutions and into a discussion on how take away our constitutional rights. It's the wrong conversation.

We've always had guns. We haven't always had mass shootings. We need to look behind the gun and try to get to root causes, instead of taking away the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens.

There's a lot of political pressure to "do something." But every one of these cases we have the case of someone who is breaking multiple laws. Adding a new law won't solve the problem.

Arming teachers
We protect our banks with guns, we protect our judges, we even protect our governor. But we leave our children defenseless in gun-free zones. We should absolutely allow a qualified and vetted teacher to make the choice to be a part of the solution.

Constitutional Carry
You shouldn't have to pay a fee to exercise your constitutional rights. I'd work with the legislature on any proposal where we can expand your constitutional rights, and I'll sign legislation to make it happen.

Campus Carry
Under our current laws a 21-year-old worker at the university can carry a weapon, but a 28 year old veteran attending that same university on the GI bill cannot. Picking and choosing who gets to have rights based on their status as a student is not the way the constitution is supposed to work.

"Assault weapon" bans
It doesn't matter the type of gun, it matters who is holding the gun. As governor, I'll oppose any attempt to ban an entire of weapons, especially recent proposals from gun control advocates that would do nothing to reduce gun crime.

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