OAN’s Brooke Mallory
11:29 AM – Thursday, June 29, 2023
During a town hall event with NewsNation on Wednesday, 2024 Democrat presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. diverted from the majority of his party, asserting there is nothing politicians can “meaningfully” do through additional gun restrictions to lessen America’s gun violence crisis.
An audience member asked Kennedy, who is running against President Joe Biden for the Democrat nomination in 2024, how he would utilize federal resources to reduce gun violence.
“I do not believe that there is, within that second amendment, that there’s anything we can meaningfully do to reduce the trade in the ownership of guns,” he said, “and I’m not going to take people’s guns away.”
“Anybody who tells you that they’re going to be able to reduce gun violence through gun control at this point I don’t think is being realistic,” Kennedy continued.
His focus on not infringing on Americans’ fundamental rights parallels a stereotypical conservative perspective on the limitations of addressing gun violence through further gun legislation.
After a shooter had killed three children and three adults at an elementary school in his home state earlier this year, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) similarly declared that there is no way to “fix” gun violence.
“It’s a horrible, horrible situation,” Burchett told the press. “And we’re not gonna fix it. Criminals are gonna be criminals.”
Following the same shooting, Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) also stated that legislators have gone “about as far as we’re going to” on gun control legislation.
However, the Democrat presidential contender did voice one viewpoint that is more in line with the party whose candidacy he is seeking.
Kennedy stated that he would support a bipartisan assault weapons ban, which is supported by the vast majority of Democrats but is believed to have no chance of passing through Congress due to significant Republican opposition.
“If we can get a consensus on it, if Republicans and Democrats agree to it and it passes Congress, I would sign it,” Kennedy said.
Voters in the Chicago debate had questioned Kennedy on topics ranging from his COVID-19 vaccine skepticism to U.S. policies regarding Ukraine and China.
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