Former Democratic Georgia House Rep. Stacey Abrams is running a right race against Republican Brian Kemp. The Real Clear Politics average has Kemp leading by one point. We’re two days away from Election Day. For the past couple of weeks, the time to persuade undecideds had passed, and maximizing turnout for the voter universe these campaigns have constructed should have been going full steam. Yet, there is always time to remind voters within your base about how terrible the other side before heading to the polls.
In Georgia, a red and pro-gun rights state, Abrams’ past anti-gun history should energize Republican voters, especially gun rights voters, since she has supported AR-15 bans and gun confiscation in the past. This election will be a test to see if the Atlanta region is what’s going to carry the state, and if its Democratic power base is enough to overwhelm the deep red rural counties around it. What’s even more disconcerting is Abrams saying that support for these unconstitutional policies were just a way to start a conversation. She said this to CNN’s Jake Tapper this morning. Earlier this week, on The View, she gave the similar, ‘I’m not anti-gun, but I support gun bans/confiscation’ nonsense (via Free Beacon):
"Do you, like Everytown, support banning the AR-15?" McCain asked.
Abrams replied she was not "anti-gun," talking about her enjoyment of trap shooting and target shooting, but she also touted her support of background checks, three-day waiting periods, and keeping domestic abusers from buying guns before addressing McCain's question.
"I do not believe that weapons of mass destruction like the AR-15 belong in civilian hands," she said. "I've shot an AR-15, and I think you probably have, too, and while it's an amazing amount of power, it also is an amazing amount of destruction, and there's very little that can be done to protect vulnerable communities when the AR-15 is present."
McCain said she appreciated Abrams' honesty.
"I assume that by banning it, you would be rounding them up," she said. "It's the most popular gun in America … Would you be rounding them up from civilians in Georgia?"
Abrams did not directly address the question of "rounding them up from civilians," instead focusing on her support of a ban generally.
"We have had a ban on assault weapons before in the United States, and I think that we should do it again. I think there has to be a conversation about how it's accomplished, because we have to recognize that this is a national conversation," she said.
Abrams went on to say she wanted to push back on the notion she didn't support the Second Amendment, saying it's possible to believe in regulations and responsible gun ownership.
Abrams thinks she can get bipartisan support for a state-based assault weapons ban. She’s living in fantasyland. No real Republican would support this legislation that did nothing to reduce violent crime when the Clinton administration passed it within their crime omnibus bill in 1994. It also contributed to their record losses in the midterms that year; then-Speaker of the House Tom Foley lost his re-election bid, the first sitting speaker to lose reelection since Galusha Grow…in 1862.Asked about her support for an assault* weapon ban which would have allowed the confiscation of those weapons, @staceyabrams says she did so “as the beginning of a conversation” #CNNSOTU
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) November 4, 2018
*certain kinds of semi-automatic weapons
Abrams represents the still highly entertaining pastime of Democrats trying to cast themselves off as pro-gun rights, but support policies that are diametrically opposed to that position…and thinking voters can’t see the glaring contradiction. You cannot be pro-gun rights if you support bans or confiscation. Period. And Republican and pro-Second Amendment voters have long figured out hat the Democratic Party is an extreme anti-gun party who cannot be trusted with our basic civil rights in this field. So, Georgia voters, keep in mind that on Tuesday, should Abrams win, your rights will be on the chopping block.