Pennsylvania Senate Democrat candidate John Fetterman stated twice in 2022 he supports banning the “ownership” of rifles, videos unearthed by the Republican National Committee and shared exclusively with Breitbart News show.
Fetterman’s call to ban the “ownership” of rifles is striking because the policy statement is a step further than simply banning the sale of rifles, which he has also supported through ending the filibuster.
“I’ve always supported a ban to the assault rifle ownership,” Fetterman stated on April 11th. “We should not have weapons of war in the hands of civilians.”
“I have seen with my own eyes at the scenes in my community what a military grade round does to the human body. And we have no need for civilians to own those kind of weapons,” Fetterman doubled down.
At the same event, exclusive video shows Fetterman wants to eliminate the filibuster to ban open-carry laws. “The truth is if a state that you’re in has open carry laws, there’s nothing that you, as senator, can do directly. That’s the truth,” he claimed. “Some of these states have open carry laws and it’s perfectly legal and a United States senator can’t directly intervene and change that.”
“But what we can do is eliminate the filibuster and pass comprehensive gun reform legislation federally that supersedes and eliminates the option to have open carry,” Fetterman said.
Pennsylvania Lt. Governor and U.S. senatorial candidate John Fetterman at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, on September 11, 2022. (KRISTON JAE BETHEL/AFP via Getty Images)
It is not the first time the radical Democrat has advocated for greatly diminishing the right to bear arms. In April 9 video, Fetterman admitted he wanted to element the filibuster to ban the “ownership” of rifles.
“That’s one of the main reasons why I called for the elimination of the filibuster. Eighty to ninety percent of Americans support the elimination — excuse me — banning assault rifle ownership and common sense gun control legislation,” he said.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, right, and John Fetterman (Bill Clark, Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Fetterman has not always wanted to ban the ownership or sale of rifles. In 2008, when he was a member of former President Barack Obama’s Pennsylvania Sportsmen and Sportswomen for Obama Steering Committee, Fetterman attacked two-time failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for not showing enough support of gun owners right to own rifles.
Fetterman’s drastic change in Second Amendment policy is notable because he is in a heated campaign with Republican Senate candidate Mehmet Oz. Polling shows the race is tight with Fetterman slightly leading.
Fetterman’s most recent gun policy position also appears ironic. In August, a PAC supporting Oz aired an ad slamming Fetterman for pulling a gun a black jogger the Democrat apparently believed was committing a crime.
“I believe I did the right thing but I may have broken the law during the course of it,” Fetterman recounted the incident in the ad.
Fetterman later said he believed pulling a gun was a necessary preventative measure to prevent further crime until the police could arrive on the scene. “So I made that decision at that point to intervene to stop him from going any further until the first responders could arrive,” Fetterman concluded.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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