If Tim Walz didn't think he'd get heat, he clearly was still drunk from his DUI arrest all those years ago.

Now he's in the spotlight and he's going to get the heat. Anyone would.

Few deserve it like Walz, though. He was pro-gun and took the NRA's money right up until he was going to run for statewide office in an anti-gun state, then suddenly his politics shifted. I mean, it's possible that things changed for him to such a profound degree, but it's a lot more likely it didn't.

Over at the Washington Times, NRA executive vice president and CEO Doug Hamlin has thoughts on Walz.

In a political landscape full of dishonesty, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has distinguished himself as an egregious political opportunist when it comes to gun rights.

A camouflage hat and some hunting pictures cannot hide the fact that Mr. Walz’s policies would eviscerate our Second Amendment rights. His actions betray the principles he once claimed to uphold. In their introductory political rally, Mr. Walz and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, made it clear that they plan to continue their assault on the Second Amendment. Mr. Walz’s hypocrisy and extremism are a danger to our fundamental freedoms.

When running for Congress in a rural southern Minnesota district, Mr. Walz touted his support for the right to bear arms and its importance in personal protection.  At the time, his stance earned him positive marks from the National Rifle Association’s Political Victory Fund. Mr. Walz’s record included votes against an assault weapons ban and support for concealed carry in national parks.

But as soon as it was politically convenient, Mr. Walz abandoned his support of the right to keep and bear arms. Since assuming the governorship, Mr. Walz has shown his true colors, turning his back on the very constituents who originally helped propel him to political success: specifically, the hardworking, pro-Second Amendment patriots of his southern Minnesota district. He has pushed for “commonsense” gun control measures that strip law-abiding citizens of their rights while doing little to curb crime. These measures include universal background checks, red flag laws and a ban on commonly owned firearms, all of which are ripe for abuse and infringe upon our constitutional rights.

...

What’s more, Mr. Walz’s flip-flop on gun rights aligns him with Ms. Harris’ extreme anti-gun stance.  Ms. Harris has consistently pushed for draconian gun control measures. She has advocated the confiscation of lawfully acquired firearms and believes that there is no individual right to arms under the Second Amendment. The Harris-Walz vision for America is one where law-abiding citizens are disarmed and criminals and rioters are given free rein.

The term "Second Amendment opportunist" is pretty much perfect from my perspective, as is the commentary on the rest of Walz's history on guns.

He can bill himself as an outdoorsman who "supports the Second Amendment but..." all he wants. No one should swallow it. As Hamlin says, he's shown his true colors.

If he were pro-Second Amendment and believed that the right to keep and bear arms was sacrosanct, it would have taken more than an incident or two to suddenly turn him into a rabid anti-gun zealot. If he were truly a believer in gun control from the start, he never would have been able to take a pro-gun stance.

The truth of the matter is that Walz doesn't actually have any principles of his own. He simply pretends to have whatever positions he needs to get elected. He'll sell his fellow Fudds out at the first opportunity because, as a governor, he's always going to be part of the elite that gets to have firearms no matter what rules get put in place. He stands to lose nothing at all no matter what happens, and since it's clear he has no actual principles on the issue, there's no reason to believe that there's a line in the sand he won't cross so long as he keeps getting to go out and hunt.

For now, he's aligned with Vice President Kamala Harris. If that gets him into the vice president's office, he'll be as anti-gun as he needs to be, and since Harris seems to be a true believer in gun control, that's going to be pretty anti-gun.

Either way, what we know is that if they get in office and don't have a Congress firmly committed to opposing new anti-gun measures, we're going to have bumpy four-year ride.

Hamlin is right about pretty much everything with regard to how Walz is a Second Amendment opportunist, and I actually just kind of love that incredibly accurate turn of phrase.