Here's Where All The 2020 Candidates Stand On Gun Control

Welcome to Got Issues?, MTV News’s candidate-by-candidate breakdown of your biggest concerns and questions about the 2020 race.


According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll from February, most Residents of the
U.S. Want tougher gun laws although have little confidence their lawmakers will take action — so candidates for the 2020 presidential race have to step up and do more than supply “thoughts and prayers” for the murdered and injured once it’s also late.


The recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, have once again underscored the necessary for systemic change within America’s gun-violence culture. According to Mass Shooting Tracker, as of this writing, there have been more than 300 mass shootings this year alone, far surpassing the variety of days in 2019; according to the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, 100 Residents of the
U.S. Are killed with guns day-to-day, and hundreds more are shot and injured. In 2019 alone, more than 28,000 people have been shot or killed with guns, the Gun Violence Archive reported.


While change will require more than one individual in one job, plenty of Presidential hopefuls are answering people’s valid fears with promises to take action. Here’s what we know about each candidates’ stance on gun control, along with past moves they’ve made in the fight for a safer nation, and the most recent “grades” given to them by the National Rifle Association (NRA), according to a database from Everytown For Gun Safety, if they have one.


Michael Bennet


Does he have an official gun-control policy? Not as of publish time.


So here’s what we do know about his past stances: Bennet has a mixed past once it comes to gun control. He said throughout a CNN town hall that he supports banning assault weapons, and recently told CBS News that he thinks the Senate needs to pass HR 8, the gun control legislation that mandates federal criminal background checks on all gun sales. On the very same day in 2013, he voted to ban high-capacity magazines — legislation introduced soon following the July 2012 attack at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado — and he voted against banning assault weapons — legislation introduced after the attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012. In 2010, he mentioned he opposed restrictions on the correct to bear arms, and then, in 2016, mentioned he was in favor of restrictions on the correct to bear arms. He had a C+ rating from the NRA in 2010, nevertheless by 2016, that rating had decreased to a F. (That’s seen as a good thing from most Democrats — the worse the NRA thinks of you, the tougher you are on gun-control laws.)


Joe Biden


Does he have an official gun-control policy? Not really.


So here’s what we do know about his past stances: The former Vice President, who owns a shotgun, doesn’t have an official gun-control policy on his campaign site, yet he did suggest the concept of “smart guns” throughout the June debates. The policy, in which no gun would “be able to be sold unless your biometric measure could pull that trigger,” would make sure that no one could fire a gun with the exception of the people whose fingerprints are registered for that distinct firearm, according to the Verge. Although that idea, which he’s been touting on the campaign trail, isn’t a truly specific gun-control policy.


Thankfully, we can look towards his more than four decades as a politician doing the dang thing. As a senator, he wrote the 1994 assault weapons ban and voted for the Brady Bill in 1993, which created the country’s first background check system. While in the 2007 presidential primary debate, he said: “The one thing that's clear: We should not have let the assault weapons ban lapse,” though he hasn’t hasn’t been quite as vocal as other candidates on that front lately. As Vice President, he headed the gun task force that led President Barack Obama’s administration to push for legislation requiring universal background checks in 2013, in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting; that work paved the way for more than 20 executive orders on gun violence. More recently, he argued in support of a federal gun buyback program, enhanced background checks, and reinstating the 1994 assault weapons ban, the Washington Post reported. He obtained a F rating from the NRA.


Cory Booker


Does he have an official gun-control policy? Yes!


Here’s what else we know about his stances: Booker has one of the most ambitious gun control plans of any of the candidates as of publish time, including both a gun violence prevention plan plus a firearm suicide prevention plan. His plan to end gun violence includes usual Democratic proposals — universal background checks; banning assault weapons, high capacity magazines, and bump stocks; funding gun violence research; closing the “boyfriend loophole” to disarm domestic abusers; closing the “Charleston loophole,” which allowed a self-described white supremacist who'd previously admitted to drug possession to buy a weapon before his background checks cleared; supporting extreme risk prevention laws, which would let police to take away someone’s guns if there’s proof of a risk of violence; and pushing for better enforcement of the gun laws that already exist — and a slew of other preventative gun laws.


His plan also includes requiring that gun owners not only pass a background check, yet also that they obtain a license to buy and own a firearm; allowing the Consumer Product Safety Commission to oversee gun manufacturers and incentivizes them to create their products safer; repealing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) that makes gun manufacturers practically immune from lawsuits; requiring handgun microstamping, which would permit “law enforcement to figure out the source of ammunition used in crimes by making the shell casing traceable to the specific gun that fired the round”; increasing funding to the Bureau of Liquor, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) so that they can more effectively “investigate crimes and crack down on gun dealers”; limiting gun buyers to one handgun per month; requiring that gun owners report their lost or stolen firearms; increasing funding to local law enforcement to combat gun violence and adapt to new technology; and calling on the IRS to investigate the NRA’s tax status.


**takes deep breath**


Booker is now a co-sponsor of a Senate bill that would ban assault weapons. He has a F rating from the NRA.


Steve Bullock


Does he have an official gun-control policy? Not as of publish time.


So here’s what else we know about his past stances: Bullock, who owns a gun, has expressed support for “universal background checks and cracking down on straw purchases of guns.” The former governor has a personalized connection to gun violence — in 1994, his 11-year-old nephew was shot and killed by another student. He has told CNN that he would not only support a ban on semiautomatic weapons, yet also on “everything from red flag laws [also referred to as extreme risk protection laws, which would permit police to take away someone’s guns if there’s proof of a risk of violence] to closing, group kind of having a universal background check, to prepare ensure that we're doing everything we can, some age restrictions, magazine restrictions.”


Pete Buttigieg


Does he have an official gun-control policy? Yes!


Here’s what else we know about his stances: The South Bend Mayor supports universal background checks; a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines; enacting extreme risk protection laws; closing the “boyfriend loophole” to disarm domestic abusers; closing the “Charleston loophole”; prohibiting people from purchasing or owning firearms if they are convicted of a hate crime; repealing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) that makes gun manufacturers practically immune from lawsuits; establishing a nationwide gun licensing system; and resuming federal funding for gun violence studies, according to his campaign website.


Buttigieg also has a plan to “combat the national threat posed by hate and the gun lobby,” which he released on August 5. The plan stipulates that he would dedicate $1 billion to the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and state and local authorities to combat radicalization and violent extremism. He would also aim to invest in and flourish the FBI’s domestic counterterrorism field employees and pass anti-hate measures in Congress. He would also work to “name and shame” platforms like 8chan that spread violent extremism online, and invest in training law enforcement on the “connection between misogyny and violent extremism.”


Buttigieg, who “owns two antique guns that he does not use,” according to the Washington Post, obtained a D rating from the NRA.


Julián Castro


Does he have an official gun-control policy? Yes!


Here’s what else we know about his stances: The former Housing and Urban Development Secretary recently revealed a sweeping gun control policy proposal on his campaign website, which accommodates normal democratic staples — universal background checks; renewed assault weapons bans; limits on high-capacity magazines; gun buyback programs; federal licensing programs; and extreme risk protection laws — nevertheless it also features a set of hefty tips to decrease domestic terrorism. His plan requires instituting police reform to address racial disparities; establishing a White Residence Initiative on Disarming Hate that would coordinate programs between numerous corporations to combat hate and domestic terrorism; hosting an annual summit to talk about the ideal ways to “counter hateful ideologies”; working to rehabilitate members of extremist agencies through grant programs from the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services; requiring state, local, and tribal governments to report hate crime statistics; committing to the Christchurch Call, an international agreement to address extremism on the internet; and investing $50 million each year to the Department of State programs to disrupt online extremism.


Castro also supported the assault weapons ban soon following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and, more recently, mentioned he supported the Assault Weapons Ban of 2019. He’s also in favor of closing the “Charleston loophole.”


Bill De Blasio


Does he have an official gun-control policy? Not as of publish time.


So here’s what we do know about his past stances: The mayor of New York City said in 2018 that “bump stocks need to be banned, assault weapons need to be banned.” He also belongs to Mayors Against Unlawful Guns, whose members pledge to contributor for policies including "comprehensive background checks.”


John Delaney


Does he have an official gun-control policy? Yes!


Here’s what else we know about his stances: The former Maryland representative, who owns his own firearm, calls for “universal background checks on gun sales, including closing the loophole for private sellers” on his campaign website. He also calls to reinstate gun violence research; close the “boyfriend loophole” to disarm domestic abusers; ban “semi automatic weapons that have military-style features, including the AR-15,” along with “high-capacity magazines” and “all accessories designed to improve the rate of fire of a semiautomatic weapon, including bump stocks and trigger cranks.” He previously co-sponsored the Assault Weapons Ban Act which would have resumed the ban after it lapsed in 2004. (Every iteration of that ban has stalled in Congress.) Delaney has a F rating from the NRA.


Tulsi Gabbard


Does she have an official gun-control policy? Yes!


Here’s what else we know about her stances: The representative from Hawaii called on Congress to pass legislation to ban military-style assault weapons; instate universal background checks; and close loopholes in laws connected with gun shows, domestic violence, and suspected terrorism, according to her campaign website. In the Home of Representatives just this past year, Gabbard, who is a military veteran, co-sponsored a background check bill plus a bill that would close the gun show loophole by making background checks necessary for firearms sold or traded at gun shows by private individuals. She has a F rating from the NRA.


Kirsten Gillibrand


Does she have an official gun-control policy? Yes!


Here’s what else we know about her stances: The New York Senator’s gun plan is largely a middle finger to Donald Trump: Her Plan to Combat Gun Violence is literally piece of her “Trump Damaged Promises Tour.” In it, immediately after railing on Trump for breaking his promises of supporting sronger background checks and other anti-gun violence agenda items, she says she would offer an executive categorize directing the Department of Justice to prosecute those who illegally traffick guns across state lines; she’ll expand universal background checks; close the “Charleston loophole”; establish extreme risk protection laws; close the “boyfriend loophole” to disarm domestic abusers; keep guns away from terrorists; ban military-style assault weapons and large-capacity magazines; allocate federal resources to help local law enforcement trace firearms used in crimes and need that they participate in the national statistics collection system for gun crimes; repeal the Tiahrt Amendment group in attempt to let firearms trace statistics to be used in lawsuits; reinstate statistics on gun use; and repeal the law that makes gun manufacturers practically immune from lawsuits.


In the Senate, Gillibrand co-sponsored expenses that would ban assault weapons in both 2019 and in 2013, and co-sponsored a background checks bill in 2019. Nevertheless she hasn’t routinely been so pro-gun control. While serving in the Home of Representatives in 2007, she had a A+ rating from the NRA, having co-sponsored the Second Amendment Enforcement act that allowed folks to openly carry loaded assault weapons on the street; helped overturn Washington, DC’s handgun ban; actually fought for the Tiahrt Amendment; and more anti-gun control measures. Then, she was nominated for Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat in 2009, and

Leave a Comment

Have something to discuss? You can use the form below, to leave your thoughts or opinion regarding Here's Where All The 2020 Candidates Stand On Gun Control.

Submit Comment