The race for Iowa's 1st Congressional District is a repeat from two years ago, when incumbent Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks defeated Democrat challenger Christina Bohannan 53-47. And just as she did the last time around, Bohannan is trying to run on a "I support the Second Amendment, but" platform.
As of 2020, Bohannan was an out-and-proud member of Moms Demand Action, but in her 2022 campaign she tried to downplay her support for many of the group's policy goals; refusing to say, for instance, whether she backed a ban on so-called assault weapons. She was asked about her stance again over the weekend when she engaged in a photo-op at a backyard range in the district, and was just as non-committal as she was two years ago.
Bohannan said she supports expanding background checks, but stopped short of pledging support for bans on certain types of weapons, such as semiautomatic assault-style rifles or bump stocks.
"That's a harder issue because that's not just about who has them, it's about types of guns. … I do think that we need to try to keep those out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them," Bohannan said. "So I would like to see some tighter regulations on those. Whether we should have an outright ban, I think is a conversation we can have but I think the main thing is to make sure that people aren't just going in a moment of anger or in a situation where they might have suicidal tendencies or violent tendencies just getting those weapons immediately and being able to fire them.
"And I think we also need to really look at gun safety training because a lot of people … don't know how to handle a firearm safely. And I've been doing this for a long time. I've been shooting since I was a kid, but I still learned something today from Tom about gun safety," she added.
What exactly did she learn, I wonder? I mean, if she's been shooting since she was a kid, you'd think she'd already have the basic rules of gun safety down pat. For the "I'm a Second Amendment supporter, but..." candidates, I guess there's always a learning curve.
While at the property owned by Iowa House Democratic candidate Phil Wiese, Bohannan fired a 9 millimeter handgun, an AR-15-style rifle, and a 12-gauge shotgun at a target set up on the lawn.
Bohannan said she wanted to come out to the range because she thinks it’s important for legislators to understand more about the firearms they regulate and to show her support for gun rights for law-abiding citizens as well as for gun safety.
"I grew up with guns, I'm a gun owner myself, I support the Second Amendment, and I think it's important that we support those rights for law-abiding responsible gun owners and understand really firsthand what we're doing when we think about gun regulation," Bohannan said.
But what exactly is Bohannan doing when it comes to our Second Amendment rights? She claims to be a Second Amendment supporter, but like virtually every other Democrat who offers up that platitude, she can't point to a single gun control law or proposal that concerns her. She can't even say whether she supports banning the sale (and perhaps the possession) of the most popular rifles in the country, though she's happy to have the local press tag along while she goes plinking in a fellow candidate's back yard. Gun control groups like Giffords have endorsed her, so why should any Second Amendment advocate vote for her in November?
The sad thing is that this is what passes for a "pro-2A" Democrat these days. But while Bohannan may not be willing to go on the record in support or opposition to Kamala Harris's gun ban plans, her non-committal stance should be ringing alarm bells for Iowa voters. Bonannan has had multiple campaign cycles stretching out over at least three years to figure out whether she thinks "assault weapons" should be banned. If she hasn't come up with an answer yet, what other information could she possibly need to make an informed decision? If she doesn't want the voters in IA-1 to know where she really stands, however, then she's already told gun owners everything they need to know about her supposed support for our right to keep and bear arms.
