“We could do things to keep people safer without infringing on the Second Amendment rights of responsible people,” Mark Kelly once stated.
Arizona residents have long questioned Kelly’s full stance on gun rights. A recent video from Project Veritas Action Fund indicates Kelly’s campaign might be misleading the public on his policy positions. The video shows Angelica Carpio, who works for ‘Mission for Arizona’ and Kelly’s campaign. In the recording, she admits that Kelly’s positions are somewhat secretive.
“Arizona is a very Republican state, a red state in general, and I know right now it’s purple, technically, but I just think he wants to get those independents. He wants to get those Republicans that don’t trust Trump anymore, and one of their main issues is guns,” Carpio stated. “So I don’t think he’s like fully been out there saying like I want a full gun control type measure, and I think it’s because he just wants to get elected first, and then he wants to go further,” she continued. “I think he wants to be elected, and then he’ll implement the measures.”
However, many will argue that Kelly has been more than upfront with his stance on gun rights. His wife, Gabby Giffords, was nearly killed by a gun shot from a man who opened fire at a grocery store when she was meeting constituents. They have since founded a nonprofit, Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The foundation tracks which states have the most gun deaths and has found a clear connection between lax firearm regulation and more fatalities. He also has three clear gun safety policies he promotes. Kelly supports universal federal background check legislation, he believes the U.S. should crack down on domestic violence offenders with guns, and he wants to promote red-flag laws. These laws permit family members, law-enforcement officers, or others who are worried about someone’s mental state to temporarily restrict that person’s access to guns.
“We need some stronger gun laws, but laws that are common sense, that most Americans agree with,” Kelly said. “I’m a supporter of the Second Amendment. I probably own more firearms than your average Arizonan. But we could do things to keep people safer.”
A few days before, Mark Kelly’s campaign claimed that three men from Project Veritas Action showed up Wednesday at his home. According to AZCentral, Jacob Peters, a Kelly campaign spokesman, the middle-aged men showed up at Kelly’s home at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. They identified themselves, and wouldn’t leave for close to 30 minutes.
“They refused to leave Mark and Gabby’s front door for more than thirty minutes, and it took repeated requests to get them to step away and leave the property,” Peters said in a written statement. “They set up a camera and recorded something from the front driveway before eventually leaving.”
Project Veritas Action is a 501(C)(4) group founded by James O’Keefe. According to their website, their goals are to “investigate and expose corruption, dishonesty, self-dealing, waste, fraud and other misconduct.” Other videos this cycle have focused on alleged pay-to-play schemes and ballot harvesting. O’Keefe teased in a tweet that more Arizona video is coming.
