California Sen. Kamala Harris says she owns a gun “for personal safety.”
South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg talks up his experiences carrying assault-style weapons while a Navy Reserve officer deployed in Afghanistan.
And former Vice President Joe Biden boasts of owning two shotguns, a .12 and .20 gauge.
Less than three months out from the early nominating contests, these and other 2020 Democrats frequently share with voters their experience handling guns. Yet in the next sentence, candidates talk up new gun control measures they would push as president, a position demanded by left-leaning voters who will have a big say in deciding the 2020 Democratic nomination.
It’s a politically fraught issue in a party that broadly favors tougher gun control measures, but a necessary concession to the hunting culture that pervades early nominating states, including the Iowa Caucuses on Feb. 3 and New Hampshire Primary on Feb. 11. Then there’s the 2020 general election, in which the eventual Democratic nominee will face off against President Trump, who frequently boasts of his support for gun owners.
In April, Harris, 55, a former San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general, told supporters in Iowa she’s a proud gun owner and supports the Second Amendment.
“I own a gun for probably the reason a lot of people do — for personal safety,” she said after a house party in Des Moines, Iowa. “I was a career prosecutor.”
That same month, Harris promised voters she would offer an ultimatum to Congress if elected president: Pass gun-control measures, or she would use executive action to do so herself.
In Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada, where Biden, 77, has spent the bulk of his time campaigning, the former vice president and 36-year Delaware senator often speaks about his history going target shooting with his sons.
“I’m a Second Amendment guy, I own two shotguns — a .12 and .20 gauge. I skeet shoot, my two boys duck hunt, Beau passed away, but he duck-hunted,” he said earlier this month in Elko, Nevada. “But the Second Amendment isn’t absolute. You’re not gonna give a weapon to someone who is a convicted criminal of a violent guy.”
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, 70, whose gun control plan includes targeting manufacturers of weapons and ammunition, has long spoken about growing up in Oklahoma surrounded with guns and the military service of her brothers.
“All three of my brothers are gun owners, and we can respect the right to own a gun. But we have a responsibility to keep our kids safe,” Warren said last month.
Democratic strategist Steve Murphy said 2020 candidates are wise to tell personal tales of gun ownership while advocating stricter firearm ownership laws. That approach will help in trying to win moderate Democratic voters in early-state contests such as Iowa and New Hampshire.
“It’s very important for Democrats to demonstrate that they’re not against gun ownership per se,” Murphy told the Washington Examiner.
“That’s a priority for most candidates, and it should be a priority for our party period. If gun owners don’t fear Democrats and hear Democrats saying, ‘We respect your right, we just want universal background checks to keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people, and we don’t need any need to have military-style assault rifles on the street,’ they mostly agree,” said Murphy, who has managed gubernatorial campaigns in states with large rural populations, like Colorado and New York.
But Democratic candidates face a special burden in explaining their stance on the issue to voters.
“Democrats need to go to great lengths to make sure we don’t don’t sound anti-gun,” Murphy said. “For the Democratic Caucuses in Iowa, the turn out is going to be so large, it’s going to be larger than a normal election, there will be a considerable number of gun owners caucusing with Democrats and in New Hampshire as well.”
Despite the personal gun ownership anecdotes, 2020 Democrats are trying to outdo each other on how far they can go in restricting gun ownership. Each backs universal background checks, along with a ban on certain semi-automatic weapons. And most say they would push laws to allow the temporary removal of guns from people perceived to be a threat to themselves or others.
Anyway, gun ownership stories may only go so far, said New Hampshire state Rep. Timothy Egan, a Democrat who has endorsed Biden.
“By just saying, ‘I’ve gone skeet shooting, therefore vote for me for president,’ I don’t think that has value,” Egan told the Washington Examiner. “I think you have to say, ‘Because I understand guns, I know the damage they do, and that’s why I support these policies.'”
