"We oppose attempts to prohibit ownership of guns by law-abiding citizens, and stand against all laws which would require the registration of guns or ammunition... We call for the repeal of all federal firearms legislation, beginning with Federal Firearms Act of 1968."
Aug. 11, 2008 Chuck Baldwin

"John McCain believes that the right of law abiding citizens to keep and bear arms is a fundamental, individual Constitutional right that we have a sacred duty to protect. We have a responsibility to ensure that criminals who violate the law are prosecuted to the fullest, rather than restricting the rights of law abiding citizens. Gun control is a proven failure in fighting crime. Law abiding citizens should not be asked to give up their rights because of criminals - criminals who ignore gun control laws anyway...

John McCain believes that banning ammunition is just another way to undermine Second Amendment rights. He voted against an amendment that would have banned many of the most commonly used hunting cartridges on the spurious grounds that they were 'armor-piercing.'"
Nov. 29, 2007 John McCain

"I oppose registration. I oppose a lot of the - there is a Second Amendment and it's real. The question is, though, there are certain things that I have strongly supported: eliminating cop killer bullets, assault weapons, the dealing with the ability to have multiple rounds in a gun...I don't view that as any infringement on the Second Amendment...

...[Y]ou have others in our party who believe very strongly that if they could they'd legislate no hand guns under any circumstances. They'd legislate restrictions and registration, which I do not support."
 Apr. 27, 2007 Joe Biden

"No."
Nov. 9, 2007 Mike Gravel

"The Second Amendment is primarily about tyranny and self-defense, not hunting. The Founding Fathers wanted us to be able to defend ourselves from our own government, if need be, and from all threats to our lives and property.

Second Amendment rights belong to individuals, not cities or states. I oppose gun control based on geography.

I consistently opposed banning assault weapons and opposed the Brady Bill."
 Nov. 30, 2007 Mike Huckabee

"It seems every election year, some liberal politician dons an NRA cap and grabs a shotgun for a hunting photo-op, as if that means they support our right as Americans to keep and bear arms. I, myself, thoroughly enjoy hunting, having just recently spent a great weekend hunting elk in Arizona. But, the Second Amendment is not about hunting. It is about the right of you and me to be secure in our homes. We must vigorously defend against all attempts to chip away at the Second Amendment. You know as well as I do that there is one thing criminals prefer over any other: unarmed victims."
Nov. 28, 2007 Duncan Hunter

"There are already enough regulations on guns except regarding the assault weapons. In the modern context of the type of aggressive high grade weapons that are available, we should be concerned with allowing assault weapon distribution to proliferate. We need to enforce the laws that are in place now."
Nov. 30, 2007 Daniel Imperato

"The gun control mentality is ruthlessly absurd. It suggests that you pass a law which will bind law-abiding citizens. They won't have access to weapons. Now, we know that criminals, by definition, are people who don't obey laws. Therefore, you can pass all the laws that you want. They will still have access to these weapons, just as they have access to illegal drugs and other things right now. That means you end up with a situation in which the law-abiding folks can't defend themselves, and the crooks have all the guns...

The answer to crime is not gun control, it is law enforcement and self-control. And when we remember that, we will see the rates of crime go down in Chicago, and everywhere else."
Oct. 21, 2004 Alan Keyes

"No. In fact, quite the opposite. The Second Amendment is clear -- 'the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.' This is not a murky issue. The 20,000+ US 'gun control' laws are not only blatantly unconstitution, but have proven themselves utterly ineffective in reducing violent crime. It's time to repeal them."
Nov. 9, 2007 Steve Kubby

"Although the Federal Government has instituted several nationwide gun laws, I believe that further gun control or ownership issues are more properly addressed on the state and local level. It is up to the individual states to establish the laws that they feel are fair and necessary concerning the ownership and use of guns. As an outdoorsman, hunter and recreational shooter, I do not see guns as inherently evil and believe that further action by the Federal Government to restrict gun ownership is not necessary."
Nov. 13, 2007 Frank McEnulty

"I share our Founders' belief that in a free society each citizen must have the right to keep and bear arms. They ratified the Second Amendment knowing that this right is the guardian of every other right, and they all would be horrified by the proliferation of unconstitutional legislation that prevents law-abiding Americans from exercising this right.

I have always supported the Second Amendment and these are some of the bills I have introduced in the current Congress to help restore respect for it:

H.R. 1096 includes provisions repealing the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act and the Federal Firearms License Reform Act of 1993, two invasive and unconstitutional bills.

H.R. 1897 would end the ban on carrying a firearm in the National Park System, restoring Americans' ability to protect themselves in potentially hazardous situations.

H.R. 3305 would allow pilots and specially assigned law enforcement personnel to carry firearms in order to protect airline passengers, possibly preventing future 9/11-style attacks.

H.R. 1146 would end our membership in the United Nations, protecting us from their attempts to tax our guns or disarm us entirely.

In the past, I introduced legislation to repeal the so-called 'assault weapons' ban before its 2004 sunset, and I will oppose any attempts to reinstate it.

I also recently opposed H.R. 2640, which would allow government-appointed psychiatrists to ban US veterans experiencing even mild forms of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome from ever owning a gun.

You have the right to protect your life, liberty, and property. As President, I will continue to guard the liberties stated in the Second Amendment."
Nov. 30, 2007Ron Paul

 

 

 

 

 

"Full disclosure, my rating from the NRA is 'A'. I'm a westerner, I'm a hunter. Now, I believe, I've always believed, that the key to dealing with violence, senseless violence, is instant background checks, including at gun shows. Now, am I for uzis? No. But do I believe that the solution to every crime is to take the sportsman weapons from people? No... Would I take any initiatives for gun control? No."
Aug. 31, 2007 Bill Richardson

"When it comes to protecting the Second Amendment, I do not support any new gun laws including any new ban on semi-automatic firearms. As President, I will follow President Bush's precedent of opposing any laws that go beyond the restrictions in place when I take office. The laws I do and will support include decades-old restrictions on weapons of unusual lethality like grenades, rocket launchers, fully automatic firearms and what are legally known as destructive devices and would include similar restrictions on new and exotic weapons of similar or even greater lethality. I am proud of my record of defending life and the Second Amendment."
Dec. 30, 2007 Mitt Romney

"No. I oppose gun control laws. I will restore your right to self-defense. Your right to bear arms is not negotiable.'Gun control' laws only restrict law-abiding people, they do not make people safer. Criminals can always obtain their guns and they will ignore gun bans.Federal gun regulations simply result in victim disarmament. We must have strong laws and enforce them against the perpetrators of violent crime, not the tool they use.

Fundamentally and most important, private firearm ownership is the our ultimate insurance against tyranny. The biggest threat to our freedom lies with the federal government abrogating liberties--with the most critical being our right to firearm ownership.

As Noah Webster stated: 'Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States.'"
Dec. 5, 2007 Christine Smith

[Note: Emphasis added by Christine Smith and not by ProCon.org]

"I fully and completely support the right of the people to keep and bear arms. The failure of the ACLU to defend this right, and of federal courts to make the second amendment binding on the states, as they have made the first amendment and most others, testifies to their intellectual hypocrisy."
 Dec. 3, 2007 Tom Tancredo

"I strongly support the Second Amendment of the Constitution, which protects an individual's right to keep and bear arms. Gun control is touted as a major crime-control measure. But some of the places with the strictest gun-control laws also have high violent-crime rates. Disarming law-abiding citizens does not prevent crime. The answer to violent crime is smart, effective, and aggressive law enforcement. The real effect of these gun-control measures is to place onerous restrictions on law-abiding citizens who use firearms for such legal activities as self-defense, sport-shooting, hunting, and collecting."
  Nov. 29, 2007 Fred Thompson