Everyone running for President and Vice President in November has held elected office—President Trump, Senator J.D. Vance, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Governor Tim Walz. Each candidate has a record on the Second Amendment. This article will discuss the pro-gun and anti-gun actions of each person on each ticket.
Click here to see Former President Donald Trump’s Record
Click here to see Senator J.D. Vance’s Record
Click here to see Vice President Kamala Harris’ Record
Click here to see Governor Tim Walz’ Record
Former President Donald Trump’s Record
If President Trump is elected, he promised gun owners that all of President Biden’s gun control executive orders will “get ripped up and torn out my first week.” And despite two assassination attempts, President Trump has repeatedly affirmed his support for the individual right to keep and bear arms for self-defense during the 2024 election cycle. When asked a tough question at a recent townhall, President Trump stated:
We have a Second Amendment and right to bear arms… People need that for security. They need it for entertainment and for sport, and other things but they also in many cases need it for protection.
Speaking to GOA members at our first inaugural convention, GOALS, President Trump also stated:
Hello, Gun Owners of America! I’m so proud of your work defending our constitutional rights, especially our always-under-siege Second Amendment… When I’m president, I will always listen to Gun Owners of America. I want to congratulate all of you, because you’ve really come a long way in a short period of time. You are strong on guns and that’s the way we want it.
At Gun Owners of America’s inaugural Advocacy and Leadership Summit, President Donald Trump virtually addressed the crowd of attendees with both words of encouragement and a warning about the siege facing Second Amendment rights in the lead up to the November election.
On the campaign trail, President Trump has also repeatedly noted that Chicago has some of the toughest and most unconstitutional gun control restrictions in the United States and yet it also has some of the worst violent crime rates.
It is also worth remembering that gun owners scored several notable victories under the Trump Administration.
VICTORY #1. President Trump nominated and confirmed three generally pro-Second Amendment Supreme Court Justices and over 200 pro-Second Amendment Federal and Circuit court judges. The impact of this action cannot be overstated. Barring the Democrat’s plan to pack the Supreme Court, the confirmation of these judges and justices will enshrine our right to keep and bear arms as our nation’s precedent for generations to come. President Trump’s work led directly to Supreme Court decisions such as NYSRPA v. Bruen and Garland v. Cargill in additions to lower court victories against the Harris-Biden ATF rules.
VICTORY #2. The Trump Administration worked closely with Gun Owners of America during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Responding to a letter from GOA, the Department of Homeland Security issued a memo designating the firearms industry as “essential business.” Because many states directly referenced the DHS guidelines for “essential business,” many gun stores were immediately protected. In other states, this DHS designation became an essential tool for GOA when fighting to overturn unconstitutional state shutdown orders.
VICTORY #3. President Trump directed his administration to restore your right to keep and bear arms on over 400 lake and river projects, totaling over 11 million acres of public lands in 43 states which was blocked by the incoming Harris-Biden Administration.
VICTORY #4. President Trump kept his campaign promise by signing House Joint Resolution 40 into law, which rejected a final anti-gun rule submitted by the Social Security Administration. Without the President’s actions here, an estimated 75,000 otherwise law-abiding citizens would have had their names submitted to the NICS system as prohibited persons each year.
VICTORY #5. President Trump unsigned the UN Arms Trade Treaty before thousands of gun owners, saying the following:
We will never allow foreign bureaucrats to trample on your Second Amendment freedom. This treaty threatened your […] rights. […] Under my administration, we will never surrender American sovereignty to anyone.
VICTORY #6. President Trump empowered his administration officials to repeatedly attempt to allow Second Amendment activists to publish 3D printed gun files. While the Obama Administration began this infringement, the Trump State Department settled the lawsuit in 2018, allowing for “unlimited release.” Unfortunately, several states’ attorneys general filed a lawsuit and won an injunction against the opposition of the Trump Department of Justice.
VICTORY #7. President Trump’s Department of Justice filed an Amicus Brief with the Supreme Court in the case New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. New York City in support of the defendants. While the high court dropped the ball with the case, the Administration’s brief was a huge show of support for the individual right to keep arms.
VICTORY #8. President Trump’s Administration successfully completed a modernization of export control regulations on the American arms manufacturing industry. It also removed a regressive federal registration fee of $2,250 that small gunsmiths and firearm companies were forced to pay even if they did not manufacture, or export firearms or ammunition. This was a huge win for small gun businesses and the firearms industry.
Instead of facing vehement and unrelenting assault by a Hillary Administration, gun owners were handed a couple losses and this series of public political victories over four years of President Trump.
No, we did not get Concealed Carry Reciprocity or pass the Hearing Protection Act, but we also have not sent the majority of pro-gun elected representatives we needed to Washington D.C. And President Trump renewed his promise to sign Concealed Carry Reciprocity: “I will support such legislation. If it comes across my desk, I will sign it.”
Gun owners also suffered two notable setbacks over GOA’s strong objections during Presidency of Donald J. Trump, namely “Fix” NICS and Bump Stocks.
STRIKE #1. Gun Owners of America sued the Trump Administration over the unconstitutional ban on bump stocks because it could have been weaponized into a total semiautomatic gun ban. It would take six years, a half dozen lawsuits, and a conservative majority on the Supreme Court to vindicate GOA in the case Garland v. Cargill which ruled that President Trump’s ban on bump stocks violated the law. This is one major strike against President Trump’s record.
STRIKE #2. The second major setback that gun owners suffered under the Trump Administration was the enactment of the Fix NICS Act, which GOA opposed start to finish. Fundamentally, Gun Owners of America disagrees with many Republicans on the constitutionality and efficacy of the FBI’s broken NICS background check system—and therefore we opposed expanding it. But the Fix NICS expansion was so broken that gun owners with unpaid out-of-state speeding tickets would be subject to a federal gun ban! Republican leadership in the House and Senate fought GOA’s efforts to block the bill. Ultimately, congressional Republicans forced this onto President Trump’s desk in an omnibus government funding bill, which he signed.
To his credit, President Trump did listen to GOA’s hard-hitting criticisms of Fix NICS and eventually redefined the prohibited person category, “fugitive from justice.” This resulted in the successful elimination of tens of thousands of names from the NICS background check system and outraged anti-gun Democrats. The Trump Administration wasn’t perfect on the Second Amendment, but gun owners were far better off than if Hillary Clinton had won the election and it resulted in a bunch of victories for the Second Amendment too.
Senator J.D. Vance’s Record
On this episode of the Minuteman Moment, Ben reviews Trump’s VP pick, JD Vance’s voting record.
President Trump also chose an outstanding running mate to be his nominee for Vice President. Senator JD Vance has publicly stated that he wants to abolish the ATF and we love to hear it!
As a gun owner himself, Senator Vance is alarmed that his own name likely appears in the Biden ATF’s secret gun owner database – a story which was first revealed by GOA in November 2021.
Not only that, JD 100% gets where this is headed. As he said to Tucker Carlson:
“Once you allow a gun registry, you effectively allow the disarming of your citizenry. This is ultimately about destroying the Second Amendment.”
And J.D. Vance has actually promoted a three-point plan to stop the disarmament of the American people with this illegal ATF gun registry:
STEP 1: End the illegal gun owner database;
STEP 2: Figure out who authorized the illegal database; and
STEP 3: Abolish the ATF.
GOA supports the next Vice President’s plan to protect the Second Amendment, and we look forward to Inauguration Day 2025 so we can begin working with then-Vice President Vance to put it into motion. The ATF is terrorizing innocent Americans and depriving citizens of our constitutional rights and we can’t afford to wait another four years or more.
But Senator Vance isn’t all talk. Since taking office in 2023, Senator Vance has sponsored nine different pieces of pro-gun legislation and SCORED 100% when it comes to voting in line with the Second Amendment. Senator Vance correctly:
VOTED FOR a GOA-backed resolution to invalidate the Harris-Biden pistol ban, which could have outlawed as many as 40,000,000 lawfully owned firearms such as AR-15s.
VOTED AGAINST a funding bill which GOA opposed because it permanently reauthorized archaic and unconstitutional gun control, the Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988.
VOTED FOR an amendment to stop Harris-Biden Administration bureaucrats from disarming an estimated 20,000 veterans per year, which would eventually be signed into law.
VOTED AGAINST a funding bill which GOA opposed due to the inclusion of tens of millions of dollars for anti-gun “research” at the Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health—including radical new ideas like a “firearm retirement” age for confiscating guns from senior citizens.
Only three other Senators share that perfect voting record this Congress – Senator Mike Braun, Senator Mike Lee, and Senator Rand Paul. Those are some great names to be associated with!
And, you can also judge him by the enemies he’s made on the anti-gun Left. Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown has published hit pieces on Senator Vance for his pro-2A stances.
Everytown’s ad even features Senator Vance’s plan to ABOLISH the ATF.
Senator J.D. Vance has earned an “A+” rating from Gun Owners of America for his record on gun rights.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ Record
On this episode of the Minuteman Moment, Ben details Kamala Harris’ record. If elected to the Presidency, she might just surpass Joe Biden as the most anti-gun President ever.
On the other hand, a Kamala Harris presidency would be catastrophic for gun owners and the Second Amendment.
Ever since her days working as the District Attorney for San Francisco in 2004, Kamala Harris has always been anti-gun and is no friend to the Second Amendment, despite her attempt to appeal to the gun community with fake gun owner Tim Walz.
During her time as District Attorney, Kamala Harris pushed for increased penalties for concealed carrying and charged anyone breaking California’s unconstitutional “assault weapons” ban with a felony!
During Kamala’s time as the Attorney General of California, she continued her enforcement of this ban on self-defense firearms and bragged about confiscating ten thousand guns from those gun owners she deemed unworthy to exercise their Second Amendment.
She also called for the government to tyrannically and invasively inspect gun owners in their own homes when she said:
Just because you legally possess a gun in the safety of your locked home, doesn’t mean that we’re not going to walk into that home and check to see if you’re being responsible and safe in the way you conduct your affairs.
And in her zeal to ban as many AR-15s as possible, Kamala also pushed to “close” the fake “bullet button loophole” to make owning a common home defense rifle even more difficult for Californians.
On this episode of the Minuteman Moment, Ben takes a look at the history of Kamala’s record on firearms, and how that matches up with her newly revealed personal gun ownership.
Kamala Harris also claims to own a Glock for home defense. But she does not support your individual right to do so.
While serving as Attorney General for the State of California, Kamala Harris wrote an amicus brief against the individual right to keep and bear arms and in favor of a total ban on handguns in the D.C. v. Heller Supreme Court decision. Then-Attorney General Harris argued in the brief that, “The Second Amendment only provides for militia-related right to bear arms,” and that handgun firearm laws allowed for the “prohibiting of the carrying of concealed weapons… and sale of weapons.”
Kamala Harris and the other Attorneys Generals who wrote the brief were actively arguing against your individual right to concealed carry and even own a handgun, in what was arguably the most consequential (and clearly necessary) Supreme Court case on the Second Amendment in modern history.
After Kamala Harris’s sudden rise from Attorney General of California to the United States Senate, her stance on the Second Amendment continued to worsen.
During her three-and-a-half-year tenure in the United States Senate, she endorsed a staggering 21 anti-gun bills:
To ban 3D printed firearms;
To weaponize domestic violence funding;
To ban common home and self-defense rifles;
To ban standard capacity magazines;
To legalize gun confiscation;
To make purchasing a firearm harder;
To enable universal gun registration checks; and
To ban semiautomatic weapons.
In 2020, Kamala Harris and Joe Biden won the election where ascending to the Vice Presidency it seems, made her more anti-gun.
Running the newly created unconstitutional White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, Vice President Harris has done as much to reduce crime as she has to close the border as our nation’s border czar: nothing.
Vice President Harris’s open border policy and inaction has led to countless heinous criminal acts committed against innocent American citizens, which she of course has used to justify restricting your Second Amendment rights.
On this episode of the Minuteman Moment, Ben reads between the lines of the new executive order to see how it affects law-abiding gun owners.
And as Vice President over the past four years, Kamala Harris is just as responsible as Joe Biden for all ATF’s unconstitutional rules, including her:
Ban on up to 40 million stabilizing-braced pistols;
Ban on homemade firearms;
Permanent ATF Forms 4473 registration; and
Backdoor registration checks.
The Harris-Biden Administration has taken incredible efforts to infringe upon the Second Amendment, including by:
Signing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act;
Reauthorizing the Undetectable Firearms Act;
Shutting down gun stores with “Zero Tolerance”;
Censoring CDC’s pro-gun statistics;
Weaponizing research to promote gun control;
Using bureaucrats to disarm veterans;
Expanding the misdemeanor gun ban;
Allowing the Surgeon General to declare gun violence a “public health crisis;”
Creating mandatory wait periods for 18–20-year-old adults;
Supporting the ability of police, in Caniglia v. Strom, to use “wellness checks” to confiscate firearms in the home; and,
Opposing the right to carry for self-defense in NYSRPA v. Bruen.
Kamala Harris has finally released new information about her platform on her website and on this episode of the Minuteman Moment, Ben breaks it all down.
Finally, if you needed any other indication that a President Harris Administration might surpass Joe Biden as being the most anti-gun administration in history, the moment Joe Biden decided against running for reelection, her candidacy was immediately endorsed by all notable anti-gun groups. Kamala Harris has earned an “F-” rating with Gun Owners of America for her tyrannical efforts to abuse public office to infringe on the Second Amendment.
Governor Tim Walz’ Record
On this episode of the Minuteman Moment, Ben takes a look at political history of Kamala’s VP Pick Tim Walz.
Kamala Harris’ Vice Presidential running mate is also no friend to the Second Amendment. Tim Walz built his career feigning support for the Second Amendment and fundraising as a “pro-gun” Democrat who backstabbed gun owners nearly every chance he got.
Gun Owners of America first rated Tim Walz as a “D.” Later, GOA downgraded him to an F after a litany of anti-gun votes.
So why did he earn such poor marks from the only No Compromise gun lobby in Washington D.C.?
Tim Walz was first elected to Congress in 2006 and, in his tenure up till 2018, he voted against gun owners consistently. In Congress, Tim Walz:
VOTED FOR a national registry of concealed carry permit holders;
VOTED AGAINST the First and Second Amendments by attempting to force GOA to disclose our membership list (as a registry) to create a gun owner registry for the Federal Election Commission;
VOTED FOR exposing gun owners’ personal medical history, leading to bans and confiscation;
VOTED FOR restricting the ability of Gun Owners and Hunters to use the Washington Rochambeau National Historic Trail area to create a 600 mile gun-free zone for sportsmen and hikers; and,
VOTED FOR banning the carrying firearms for self-defense in national parks.
These votes caused Gun Owners of America to rightfully downgrade Walz from a “D” to an “F.”
During his career as a congressman, Tim Walz feigned support for the Second Amendment, even though his record showed otherwise.
But since becoming Governor of Minnesota, he has completely come out of the closet to reveal his true colors. Hiding behind his hunter and veteran “status” he supported:
Backdoor gun registration checks (by weaponizing background checks);
Gun confiscation laws (with fake due process);
A “no-fly, no-buy” gun ban (with no due process);
Eliminating concealed carry permit reciprocity between states (to infringe on self-defenders);
A backdoor semiautomatic firearms ban (with a fake “bump stock ban);
Banning commonly owned self-defense firearms (with a so-called “assault weapons” ban)
Mandatory storage requirements (with criminal penalties for access to self-defense firearms);
Banning firearms on government lands (despite them being open to the public);
Clearly, being a hunter or a veteran does not automatically make a politician pro-Second Amendment.
On this episode of One in the Chamber, Tiffany breaks down this gamble by the Harris campaign to court hunters and gun owners with gun control.
But Governor Walz didn’t just propose gun control, he actively infringed on the Second Amendment. As governor, Tim Walz:
Created backdoor registration checks by signing Universal Background Checks;
Weaponized gun confiscation laws with no due process against at least 71 American citizens; and,
Banned lawful semiautomatic firearms with ATF-approved binary triggers.
These gun controls would never have infringed the rights of Minnesotans if Governor Walz had honored his oath to the Constitution.
Governor Tim Walz has earned an “F” rating with Gun Owners of America for his feigned support for the Second Amendment tyrannical efforts to abuse public office to infringe on our right to keep and bear arms.
The Bottom Line
On this episode of One in the Chamber, Tiffany discusses the importance of this election and why the outcome could have been different with just a few votes.
Gun owners must understand this election is the most consequential and important election of our lifetime.
Gun owners cannot be complacent with relying on SCOTUS to strike down unconstitutional anti-gun laws because they take years to go through the judicial process. In the meantime, gun rights are infringed and gun owners will be jailed.
We began to see the greatest all-out assault on the Second Amendment with the Harris-Biden Administration, and a Harris-Walz Presidency will be much, much worse. Kamala Harris earned herself an “F-” with GOA and so has Tim Walz. The Harris-Walz ticket has earned an abysmal “F-” for the gun grabbing they have facilitated and future promises to infringe on the Second Amendment from the White House.
On the other hand, the Republican presidential ticket is a lot more friendly to gun owners and President Donald Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance has a perfect “A+” with GOA.
To protect the Second Amendment from certain infringement, gun owners must get out and vote for the Second Amendment on November 5th, 2024!
