Believe it or not, but Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) was once rated an “A” by the National Rifle Association (NRA) for his pro-Second Amendment stance before turning over to the dark side.
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During his second term as Minnesota governor, Walz served as a U.S. congressman from 2007 to 2019. He was applauded for his commitment to protecting law-abiding Americans’ rights to own guns and opposed gun-control measures pushed by his Democratic colleagues.
The NRA gave him an “A” rating for his 2A support and constant donations. Walz even earned himself a spot on Guns & Ammo magazine’s 2016 list of 20 top politicians for gun owners.
At the time, Walz said that he grew up hunting, and after spending more than 20 years in the military, he understands how important the Second Amendment is to Americans.
However, it wasn’t until his 2018 gubernatorial campaign that he began to shift toward a far-left stance on gun rights.
In 2019, shortly after becoming Minnesota’s governor, Walz passed several gun-control laws, such as giving law enforcement officials more tools to confiscate weapons from those who are deemed a risk to themselves and others. He also signed a bill that expanded background checks for firearm sales.
In addition, Walz signed a bill that increases penalties for acquiring a weapon on behalf of someone else who is not eligible to own a firearm, which went into effect earlier this month.
In a 2018 op-ed, Walz declared his support for an assault weapons ban and signed a controversial “red flag law” a few years later in 2023.
The NRA declared Walz to be a “political chameleon” who changes “his positions to further his own personal agenda. In Congress.”
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“In Congress, Walz purported to be a friend of gun owners to receive their support in his rural Minnesota district. Once he had his eyes set on other offices, he sold out law-abiding Minnesotans and promoted a radical gun control agenda that emboldened criminals and left everyday citizens defenseless. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz cannot be trusted to defend freedom and our Constitutional rights,” Randy Kozuch, chairman of the NRA Political Victory Fund, said in a statement.
2024 GOP Vice Presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) criticized Walz for his extreme gun-control measures, accusing the Democrat of using his military history as a way to push for strict anti-Second Amendment laws.
“He said, ‘We shouldn’t allow weapons that I used in war to be on America’s streets.’ Well, I wonder, Tim Walz, when were you ever in war? When was this? What was this weapon that you carried into war, given that you abandoned your unit right before they went to Iraq, and he has not spent a day in a combat zone? What bothers me about Tim Walz is the stolen valor garbage,” Vance said.