Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz emphasized the fact that Donald Trump is a convicted felon who, though he has deemed himself a defender of the Second Amendment in the past, cannot legally own a gun.
Walz spoke on the daytime talk show “The View” on Oct. 21, and Joy Behar asked him to expound on why his National Rifle Association rating has dropped from an A to an F in recent times.
She jokingly congratulated him about his NRA rating dropping as the organization has defined an A-worthy candidate as a “solidly pro-gun candidate” and a recipient of an F-rating as “a consistent anti-gun candidate who always opposes gun owners’ rights,” according to The Trace, an organization dedicated to shining a light on America’s gun violence crisis.
“So you’re out hunting pheasants,” Behar noted. “Is that enough to convince people there’s a middle ground on this issue because right wingers are coming after you for how you handle your shotgun,” she asked.
Walz wasted little time with a sharp response, “I can shoot better than all of them. I got the trophies to prove it.”
The NRA posted a video last week on X of Walz handling his shotgun with the caption, “Tim Walz previously claimed he kept a shotgun in his car so he could hunt pheasants after football practice. This is Tim Walz attempting to load his shotgun this past weekend.”
The attempt to embarrass Walz backfired when a community note was added to clarify that Walz was in fact practicing gun safety. “He is attempting to unload the tube without cycling the action. Safely,” the note read.
NRA was mercilessly mocked under the post the remains up. “You still haven’t deleted this? Man talk about a self own,” wrote one user.
Tim Walz previously claimed he kept a shotgun in his car so he could hunt pheasants after football practice.
— NRA (@NRA) October 15, 2024
This is Tim Walz attempting to load his shotgun this past weekend. pic.twitter.com/C52Q3S4rEA
Though both Walz and Kamala Harris have both publicly spoken on their pride in gun ownership, the vice presidential candidate did nod to the fact that his grade with the NRA dropped due to his stance following the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary School mass in 2012, leading to the death of 20 children and six adults in the Newtown, Connecticut, school.
“The idea that you can protect the Second Amendment, which the vice president and I obviously do, but our first responsibility is to our kids and their safety so they’re not shot dead in schools,” he stated.
Walz stressed that both he and Harris are longtime gun owners.
“First time, maybe, on the Democratic ticket in modern times,” he said. “The Republican nominee can’t pass a background check to get a gun.”
While Trump has always positioned himself and his campaign as strong backers of the Second Amendment right to bear arms, the 45th president of the United States is a convicted felon who cannot own guns.
A Poynter Institute analysis of Trump’s gun rights found that he told the Washington Times in 2012 that he had a concealed carry permit in New York City and owned “a couple of different guns,” and he subsequently told a French publication that he “always” carries a weapon, but under federal law, his felony convictions mean he can no longer possess guns.
It is currently unclear whether Trump does still own firearms.
In 2023, he did visit a gun store in South Carolina, Poynter reported, but Trump reportedly did not buy any firearms.
Though he was found guilty on all felony counts against him this spring, there are ways Trump could restore his right to own a gun.
Those convicted of a felony in New York can have their gun rights restored in some cases, an attorney with New York law firm Rosenblum Law, Jobin Joseph, told PolitiFact.
Because Trump’s 34 felony counts were all Class E, deeming his offenses less severe crimes, he would be eligible for gun rights restoration.
He could apply for a “Certificate of Relief from Disabilities” to gain his right to possess firearms, according to Poynter.
This a route he could take only as long as his felony charges are considered part of the same criminal occurrence.
Trump was convicted of his charges in New York but lives in Florida, meaning he is restricted from having a gun under Florida’s state laws as well.
Trump was not convicted of these felony counts in Florida, so he could not regain his gun rights under that state’s law.
