By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
The establishment media in recent days has been focusing on how Democrat Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz—Kamala Harris’ anointed running mate—went from being a “gun rights champion” to an ardent supporter of gun control, seemingly to portray him as a man of conscience as Democrats prepare for their convention.
Different news organs are even using very similar headlines in their effort to sell Walz to then masses. In its weekend report detailing Walz’ shift, the Washington Post headlined its story, “How Tim Walz went from NRA-endorsed to a gun-control advocate.” The 1,288-word report said the governor changed his stance on guns following the Las Vegas mass shooting in October 2017, and the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
In a Friday, Aug. 9 story headlined “How Tim Walz went from NRA favorite to ‘straight Fs’ on gun rights,” The Guardian essentially told the same story with the addition of a quote from a gun prohibition advocate in a joint statement supporting Walz by Everytown for Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action.
For the Democrat party’s far left base, Walz seems like the ideal candidate, a once-staunch supporter of gun rights with an “A” rating from the NRA to a more enlightened liberal who had undergone an “evolution on guns.”
He Washington Post report quotes Rob Doar, senior vice president of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, observing, “He tried to find a middle ground, saying he was a strong advocate but also supported common-sense regulation.” However, after Parkland, Walz “went full-bore on gun control,” Doar said.
A one-time member of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus when he served in the U.S. House from 2007 to 2019, Walz is now being touted by the Harris-Walz campaign as the reformed politician who was “moved to take a hard look at the facts and decided to support common sense gun reform that would prevent future tragedies.”
“That level of introspection is something to be commended, not critiqued,” a Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson told the WaPo.
The NRA doesn’t quite see Walz as the heroic politician who came to a moral crossroads and became a gun control advocate. Randy Kozuch, head of the NRA’s Political Victory Fund, said in a statement, “Tim Walz is a political chameleon — changing his positions to further his own personal agenda.”
Last year, Walz signed several gun control measures, a fact Minnesota gun owners haven’t forgotten.
But Walz’ transformation didn’t happen overnight. As far back as 2018, Walz was beginning to show his new colors when he wrote an Op-Ed in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune stating, “I’ve never been a member of the NRA, but I know many gun-owning Minnesotans still think of the organization as it was when I was growing up: as an advocate for sportsmen and women that held gun-safety classes. Today, though, it’s the biggest single obstacle to passing the most basic measures to prevent gun violence in America — including common-sense solutions that the majority of NRA members support.”
What will be the result of Walz’ presence on the Democrat ticket next to ardent anti-gunner Harris? That may have been explained by an article appearing at Ammoland News, suggesting this position will lose the votes of gun owners nationwide.
While the Harris-Walz team will no doubt get the votes of some gun owners, Second Amendment activists see a Harris victory in November as perpetuation of gun control policies with Joe Biden’s fingerprints all over them.
