The Elephant in the Room
Congressman Brian Mast, speaking at the Abacoa chapter meeting on Monday, confronted his critics and doubled down on his call for age limits and the ban on the sale of “gas operated, semi automatic” rifles, such as the AR-15 and AK-47. (Actually that definition probably applies to many of rifles sold that are not single shot bolt action devices.)
In an attempt to guide the audience down the path of his thinking, he asked a series of questions, starting with “who would keep the gun laws as they are?” (most raised their hands.) Very few agreed with “expanding background checks”, “raising age limits”, or banning other categories of equipment, but there was support for restrictions based on mental health. He referenced the “national firearms act”, in place since the 30’s that bans the retail sale of automatic weapons, and argued most don’t think that infringes on the second amendment.
A self described owner of many firearms himself, who grew up around weapons and was trained in the military, Congressman Mast supports the usual gun rights position that guns are tools and you don’t blame the tool for the action of the wielder. That said, he does object to the “lethality” of semi-automatic rifles in the hands of the mentally defective, and believes that the sale of these weapons should be stopped “at least for a while”, while we figure it all out.
Banning the sale of the AR-15 and the like would obviously lead to banning the possession of such of course, and by some counts there are over 3 million AR-15 variants in the hands of American citizens, who are almost entirely law-abiding. That, presumably is part of “figuring it all out”.
While Brian also touched on other topics, such as his support for the tax cuts, opposition to the omnibus spending bill, opposition to sugar subsidies (controversial in Florida), and his initiative to open a Congressional office in the VA hospital.
He also deflected criticism he has received from low conservative “scores” from Heritage Action and Freedomworks. Heritage assigned him 46% on their “key votes” where the average house Republican is at 64%. Freedomworks has him at 49%.
“I wasn’t elected to represent Heritage Action” was his defense, and suggested that he supports President Trump in areas where these organizations do not.
To be fair, the scoring is somewhat one dimensional and a vote is not always what it seems. Your really have to look at the votes and decide for yourself. Heritage Action dinged him for example, for reauthorizing the CHIP program and supporting FAA reauthorization without the privatization they wanted. Most bills have pros and cons, and there is room for interpretation.
During the Q&A, most focused on his position on guns. Teri Hughes lit into him for blaming guns for Parkland, even though there were so many governmental failures that did not adequately deal with the shooter before hand.
Then Linda Wummer asked the question many of us were thinking – how are you going to win your base back and get re-elected? Many people in the room have been strong fans of the Congressman, worked for him in 2016, and have defended him against critics since he was elected. His current difficulties are self-inflicted. Calling for a gun ban is tilting at windmills – it is not likely to happen, and there is no upside to proposing one (if you are a conservative).
Brian is now facing a primary challenge from Mark Freeman and Dave Cummings – something that would have not have happened without this stumble. The Democrats have Lauren Baer and Pam Kieth – neither likely to draw many Republican votes, but in this narrow R+4 district, turnout in November will be key.
Politicians always break your heart at some point, and Brian has broken many over the last few months. This seat is too important to lose over a single issue though, and we have to put on our big-boy pants and consider the big picture. If you disagree with Brian only on the gun control proposal, it is painful but not likely to make a substantive difference in the debate that has already moved on. Consider what losing this seat to a Democrat will do to the Trump agenda, and maybe you will choose the pragmatic course.