Comments by Senate candidate Mike Durant from a 2011 during speech in front of the U.S. Army War College resurfaced on Saturday, causing some to question where the candidate stood on gun rights.
During the speech, Durant said “[F]rom a military perspective, the first thing that needs to be done is disarm the population. Let’s face it, if we could do that in some of our U.S. cities, that would be a pretty good step toward law and order.”
According to Durant, the comments have been “mischaracterized,” and he supports the Second Amendment.
One of Durant’s opponents in the Senate race isn’t buying Durant’s defense and said this just reveals how Durant doesn’t really support a citizen’s right to bear arms.
Tuesday, on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program,” U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville), a candidate for the U.S. Senate, discussed why he was alarmed by Durant’s comments.
“I am very much disturbed that Mike Durant would oppose the Second Amendment right to bear arms,” he said. “Very much disturbed that when he kind of says ‘well it’ll be hard to do,’ no that’s not the reason you don’t strip citizenry of their weaponry. The reason you don’t strip citizenry of their weaponry is because the Second Amendment right to bear arms.”
The congressman said this wasn’t the first time that Durant had shown his opposition to gun rights.
“Mike Durant was for red flag laws,” he explained, “where you confiscate a person’s guns first and then, if it turns out to be a bad confiscation, the citizen can litigate, that’s costly, can litigate to get their guns back. So this is the second time that Mike Durant has proven himself to be weak on the Second Amendment right to bear arms.”
Brooks claimed this was proof that Durant doesn’t actually support the Second Amendment.
“I think he opposes it,” he protested, “based on these two comments he has made. Now in an election mode, he might pretend that he’s for the Second Amendment. That’s what a lot of candidates do.”
The Senate candidate explained what he believed to be the true importance of citizens’ right to bear arms.
“Those of us who are very familiar with the Second Amendment and also crime,” he continued, “understand very well that what you’re really doing is taking guns from law abiding citizens. The criminals are still going to have them, thereby stripping the law abiding citizens of self defense capability.”
UPDATE 2:00 p.m.:
Senior campaign advisor Scott Stone issued a response to Brooks, calling it “just another ridiculous attack.”
Statement reads as follows:
Those of us who are very familiar with the Second Amendment? Is Mo Brooks really suggesting he’s more familiar with the right to keep and bear arms than Mike Durant? Mike is an American patriot and special forces soldier who served his country in defense of the Constitution and has shot more rounds in a month than career politician Mo Brooks has in his lifetime. This is just another ridiculous attack from career politicians.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.