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| Ted Cruz warns at Republican debate: government could 'take your guns' | Ted Cruz warns at Republican debate: government could 'take your guns' |
| (about 9 hours later) | |
| Endorsements from gun-rights advocacy organizations were brandished with gusto on the debate stage on Thursday, with Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio and Donald Trump dueling over who would do more to protect the second amendment rights of Americans concerned about their access to firearms. | Endorsements from gun-rights advocacy organizations were brandished with gusto on the debate stage on Thursday, with Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio and Donald Trump dueling over who would do more to protect the second amendment rights of Americans concerned about their access to firearms. |
| Related: Where was Ted Cruz born and does it matter for his presidential bid? | Related: Where was Ted Cruz born and does it matter for his presidential bid? |
| Cruz went furthest in playing to such fears, pointing out that the next president could have multiple supreme court appointments to make, which he said meant: “The government could confiscate your guns.” | Cruz went furthest in playing to such fears, pointing out that the next president could have multiple supreme court appointments to make, which he said meant: “The government could confiscate your guns.” |
| Fox Business Network host Maria Bartiromo ignited the battle when she asked Bush whether, in light of the revelation that the suspect in the fatal mass shooting that claimed nine lives in Charleston last year was able to procure a weapon despite not passing a federal background test, there was anything that could be done to limit access to deadly weapons by those who would use them to commit violent crimes. | Fox Business Network host Maria Bartiromo ignited the battle when she asked Bush whether, in light of the revelation that the suspect in the fatal mass shooting that claimed nine lives in Charleston last year was able to procure a weapon despite not passing a federal background test, there was anything that could be done to limit access to deadly weapons by those who would use them to commit violent crimes. |
| Bush touted his A-plus rating from the National Rifle Association and said that the failure lay not with loopholes in the law, but with the federal government. | |
| “The FBI made a mistake,” Bush said. “The law requires a background check.” | “The FBI made a mistake,” Bush said. “The law requires a background check.” |
| The true area of the federal government’s focus, Bush said, should be with mental health, rather than restrictions on firearms. | The true area of the federal government’s focus, Bush said, should be with mental health, rather than restrictions on firearms. |
| When asked if he believed in enacting any restrictions on access to guns, Trump – who has previously described himself as “a big second amendment person” – responded that such restrictions may have led to the deaths of 130 people in terrorist attacks in Paris. | |
| “Even in Paris, if they had guns on the other side, going in the opposite direction, you wouldn’t have 130-plus people dead.” | “Even in Paris, if they had guns on the other side, going in the opposite direction, you wouldn’t have 130-plus people dead.” |
| With a variation on an old line, he added: “The guns don’t pull the trigger, the people pull the trigger.” | With a variation on an old line, he added: “The guns don’t pull the trigger, the people pull the trigger.” |
| Rubio, in a bid to top Trump, declared that any president who was willing to take guns away from American citizens wasn’t a president worth having. | Rubio, in a bid to top Trump, declared that any president who was willing to take guns away from American citizens wasn’t a president worth having. |
| “I am convinced that if this president could take away every gun in America, he would,” Rubio said. “The first impulse of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is to take rights away from law-abiding citizens.” | |
| Echoing Trump’s insistence that gun restrictions contributed to the fatalities in the Paris terrorist attacks, Rubio said that restrictions would only aid those who would commit crimes while armed. | Echoing Trump’s insistence that gun restrictions contributed to the fatalities in the Paris terrorist attacks, Rubio said that restrictions would only aid those who would commit crimes while armed. |
| “Isis and terrorists do not get their guns from a gun show,” he said. “[Obama’s] immediate answer, before he even knows the facts, is gun control. Here’s a fact: We’re in a war with Isis.” | “Isis and terrorists do not get their guns from a gun show,” he said. “[Obama’s] immediate answer, before he even knows the facts, is gun control. Here’s a fact: We’re in a war with Isis.” |
| Related: Ted Cruz: ‘Trump would be disqualified’ for president under birther logic | Related: Ted Cruz: ‘Trump would be disqualified’ for president under birther logic |
| Christie, in his take on the president’s record on the second amendment, gave a variation on a line he has used before. | Christie, in his take on the president’s record on the second amendment, gave a variation on a line he has used before. |
| “This guy’s a petulant child,” Christie said. He followed that up by saying that “we’re not against you – we’re against your policies” and that “we’re going to kick your rear end out of the White House come this fall”. | |
| Cruz also questioned the fidelity of his rivals to the second amendment, saying that as a Republican candidate for president, “unless you are clinically insane, that’s what you say in the primary”. | Cruz also questioned the fidelity of his rivals to the second amendment, saying that as a Republican candidate for president, “unless you are clinically insane, that’s what you say in the primary”. |
| “But people’s actions don’t always match their words,” he added. | “But people’s actions don’t always match their words,” he added. |