Montana Governor Steve Bullock has embraced an anti-gun agenda over the past couple of years, but in his current run for the U.S. Senate he’s trying to portray himself as a friend to gun owners and the Second Amendment. In a recent campaign ad, Bullock claims that he believes “in our individual right to bear arms,” but he never actually explains what he think that right actually protects. On Twitter, however, Bullock has clearly stated his belief that the Second Amendment doesn’t protect some of the most commonly owned arms in America.
I am a hunter and a gun owner.
No hunter needs a 30-round magazine, a bump stock, or an assault weapon.
A large majority of Americans – Republican and Democrat – agree. https://t.co/kL48omojv6
— Steve Bullock (@GovernorBullock) October 21, 2019
Bullock’s Second Amendment support seems relegated to hunting, but even there the Democrat has run into some trouble. A recent campaign mailer featured Bullock posing with a beautiful buck, but as Gary Marbut, head of the Montana Shooting Sports Association has pointed out, the photo also shows Bullock violating one of the basic rules of gun safety.
In the photo, Bullock is posing with a trophy animal with the rifle, barrel up, pointing directly at his own chest.
“Steve Bullock is trying really hard to appeal to middle of the road and maybe uninformed people, and he himself is pretty uninformed about guns, which is why he posed for a photograph with a rifle pointed his chest for Pete’s sake,” said Marbut, himself a firearms instructor. “It’s one of the most egregious firearm safety errors I’ve ever seen. And it’s typical of somebody who’s clueless about firearms.”
Marbut took the opportunity to remind voters about the many times that Governor Bullock has kept gun laws from advancing in the state legislature.
“Well, this guy who wants people to vote for him, maybe has forgotten so quickly that he vetoed 16 pro-gun bills during the time he was governor,” he said. “And I think the fact that he would pose for such an egregious gun safety violation photo just demonstrates that he is pandering for votes and is clueless about firearms.”
Clueless about firearms and a fan of gun control wouldn’t ordinarily sell well in Montana, but Bullock’s been a fairly popular governor and polling over the past few months has shown a tight race between Bullock and the incumbent senator, Republican Steve Daines. Bullock’s done a fairly decent job of disguising his support for gun control during his current campaign, but with Marbut and other gun owners reminding voters of Bullock’s true views, voters in the state will hopefully head to the polls well aware of what Bullock’s true views on the right to keep and bear arms really are.
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