Byrne: 'Gun control in Alabama means you use both hands'

MONTGOMERY — Speaking to the River Region Republicans on Tuesday, Congressman Bradley Byrne (AL-01) spoke about his 2020 U.S. Senate bid and rallied local conservatives to urge Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) to oppose voting to remove President Donald J. Trump from office.

As Jones participates in the ongoing Senate impeachment trial, the GOP field competing to face the incumbent junior senator is ramping up their respective campaigns.

Recent internal polling by former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ campaign showed that Byrne’s television advertising has pulled him into second place, albeit well within the margin of error of former Auburn University head football coach Tommy Tuberville in third place.

Byrne on Tuesday campaigned like a candidate feeling a surge of momentum himself, enthusiastically hitting on several hot button national issues and serving up some red meat at the Republican lunch meeting.

The Coastal Alabama congressman addressed the Sunday leak of former Trump administration National Security Advisor John Bolton’s manuscript to the New York Times. Bolton’s upcoming book became available for preorder the same day.

“Now, if you believe that that’s a coincidence, I need to introduce you to the Tooth Fairy,” Byrne quipped. “It’s all a put-up …”

He emphasized that the Senate has “enough” evidence to consider regarding impeachment and that witnesses are not necessary.

“The American people are sick and tired of this sham,” Byrne added to applause. “It’s time for our Republican senators to say no more witnesses, put this thing up for a vote, acquit the president, let him come before the Congress and the nation in the State of the Union Address next Tuesday night and let’s get moving on the stuff that really matters.”

Byrne, during remarks spanning almost 25 minutes in total, framed himself as a fighter who comes from a family of fighters. He used fighting against impeachment, fighting for Trump and fighting corruption in Alabama’s two-year college system as core examples.

He outlined that when he got to Washington in 2014, he discovered “a bigger swamp” than what he cleaned up in the state community college system. Byrne said this is “the swamp you’re seeing in action before the United States Senate today.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is a great country,” he continued. “But the swamp wants to hold it back. They want to turn this country into a country that you and I don’t recognize. Because the swamp doesn’t share the values you and I have. They don’t believe in the things that we believe in.”

Byrne then gave an example of his assertion.

“Doug Jones, our senator, on his maiden speech before the United States Senate, talked about gun control,” Byrne decried.

“I want to pick up the phone and call him and say, ‘Hey, Doug — you represent Alabama. Gun control in Alabama means you use both hands,’” Byrne said, with that line resulting in laughter and applause from the crowd.

Byrne then listed Jones voting against banning late-term abortions through the “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.” Jones is well known as an adamant supporter of abortion as a “constitutional right.”

“I believe that life begins at the moment of conception,” Byrne commented.

Byrne subsequently talked about his support for fully building the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and his opposition to “Medicare for All.”

“I’m turning 65 next month, this is not an abstract thing for me,” he remarked. “I’ve paid into that system like all of you did. Medicare for All will destroy Medicare for me. And it will put the government in charge of healthcare for everybody. So the government will tell you when you get healthcare, what type of healthcare you get, who’s going to give it to you — whether you get healthcare. That’s nuts. That’s not American.”

The Republican Senate candidate similarly bashed the Green New Deal.

Of Democrats, Byrne summarized, “They’ve got crazy ideas that will bankrupt this country and make all of our lives immeasurably worse.”

He concluded by asking Alabama voters to put him “back in the ring” to fight for the state’s values in the U.S. Senate.

Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn