Gun control ads are hitting Montana’s airwaves and Vice President Joe Biden is lobbying around the country for gun control. As a U.S. Senate candidate, I feel compelled to respond.
The Second Amendment is not about hunting, period. I believe most Montanans realize that more restrictions on our right to bear arms will do nothing to stop the lawless from obtaining or using guns. I believe Montanans also know that guns are the only possession that when used by someone to commit a heinous crime, a law-abiding owner of that same possession is attacked with a threat on their rights.
As the president, vice president and Senate Democrats continue to push more bad ideology and attempt to keep it at the forefront of their idea of good governing, we need to recognize the gun control issue for what it truly is: a distraction. While gun control dominates federal legislation and mainstream media’s reporting, the real issues fall by the wayside. Those issues are uncontrolled spending, unsustainable debt and jobs for hardworking Americans.
The budget proposed by Senate Democrats is all about spending, taxing, minimal cuts and no balanced budget in sight. The budget introduced by the president is as bad: increased spending, increased taxes, more debt, no balanced budget. Fully 85 percent of Americans support a balanced budget as common sense and morally correct. Liberals in control continue to ignore and subvert the will of the people on these issues and many more.
Obamacare, or a “train wreck” as its author Sen. Max Baucus calls it, will deal a crushing financial blow to seniors and millennial voters. Proposed immigration legislation threatens Social Security solvency and our senior citizens who rely on it. Millennial voters are experiencing unemployment rates as high as 16.2 percent and a student loan debt average of $26,600. Women in business are having difficulties accessing start-up monies and low-interest loans. Veterans are not receiving timely treatment for service-connected conditions and are waiting up to 18 months for decisions on their disability claims.
Yet, gun control marches on. Distraction.
Let’s not allow ourselves to get sidetracked. Using some lingo from my military days, we can about-face this great country. A balanced budget, not spending more than we take in, and a government that is smaller and leaner, but not meaner, will do more for our economy than any “stimulus” program ever will. I believe we can do this. BELIEVE with me. Believe that we can restore the American dream. ??
Rep. Champ Edmunds, R-Missoula, is a candidate for U.S. Senate.