U.S. Sen. Doug Jones: ‘I can have much more influence’ on protecting the Second Amendment than Tommy Tuberville

There is less than a month until Alabama voters head to the polls to vote for either former Auburn head football coach Tommy Tuberville, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, or incumbent U.S. Sen. Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook) to represent the state for the next six years.

Among many things, Second Amendment issues are a significant issue for Alabama voters, and Jones insists that in some ways, he could do a better job as a Democrat in the U.S. Senate than Tuberville could as a U.S. Senator.

During an interview with FM Talk 106.5 “Midday Mobile” host Sean Sullivan, Jones argued that the notion he was anti-gun is a misconception and declared that he was a “Second Amendment protector.”

“[I] think everybody has this misconception about me — I can’t say all Democrats, but about me — that I want to take away everybody’s guns, that I want to ban guns, that I am not a Second Amendment guy,” Jones said. “I’ve got a safe full of guns out there because my son and I are hunters. We like to just go shooting. I grew up with guns. I am a Second Amendment guy. The thing that sets me apart, a little bit, from some folks who have strict views on it, is that I do believe that we have to do something to allow law-abiding citizens to get their guns, keep their guns, get their guns safe in a way, an efficient way but yet keep the bad guys from getting guns. That includes taking the background check system we have now, and expanding it a little bit into gun shows and other things — nothing that restricts a law-abiding citizen from getting a gun when you do that. We need to close a couple of loopholes that are out there right now so that people who are stalking women, or one of those kinds of things — if they get convicted, then they don’t get a gun. They forfeit that right we have with the Second Amendment.”

“So, it’s just some common sense protection, but I am a Second Amendment protector,” he continued. “I don’t want anybody coming for my guns. I’m not going to let them come for my guns. And I want to make sure that the people who are law-abiding citizens out there can hunt, can shoot, they can pass down those guns from generation to generation. That’s what I am all about. And that is why it is so frustrating to watch the just absolute — the only way to put it is a lie for both my opponent, as well as others, to just absolutely lie about what I’m doing and to twist my words into something that it’s not.”

Jones went on to say that he, as a member of the Democratic caucus, would have much more sway within his caucus, and therefore do a better job on Second Amendment issues.

“If you look at that — you have some voices coming from the left, the far-left that do that,” Jones added. “But if you look carefully at most of the voices from the Democratic Party, you’re going to see a lot more voices like mine. And it is more important, Sean — it is more important to have a voice like mine that is in the Democratic Party that is in the United States Senate — because everybody knows where somebody like Tommy Tuberville will be on that. It’s more important — I can have much more influence to make sure we can protect the Second Amendment where I am than somebody who is just going to have a carte blanche like Tuberville does. That’s the other thing that people need to recognize and see. Don’t put the baggage on. Keep people in office that can vote the way and do things that you want them to — not just simply a fringe group on either party does. That’s the importance of my voice in the Democratic caucus.”

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.