Walz, who was once endorsed by the NRA, said last year he now gets “straight F’s” from the organization—“and I sleep just fine.”
Topline
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz may be asked about his evolved record on gun legislation at Tuesday’s vice presidential debate, as the congressman-turned-governor went from a former darling of the National Rifle Association to one of its foes after vocally supporting restrictions.Key Facts
Before becoming governor, Walz represented a rural district in Minnesota in Congress, where he developed a pro-gun rights record that earned him “A” ratings from the NRA and the group’s endorsement, with Walz saying in a 2010 statement he was “proud to stand with the NRA to protect our Second Amendment rights.”
As a congressman, Walz voted in favor of legislation that made it easier for veterans deemed “mentally incompetent” to own guns and restricted gun control measures in Washington, D.C., and he sponsored a bill that expanded hunting and recreational shooting access, among other measures.
After the 2018 shooting in Parkland, Florida, Walz—then a gubernatorial candidate—came out in favor of stricter gun measures in a Minneapolis Star-Tribune op-ed, in which he said the NRA was “the biggest single obstacle to passing the most basic measures to prevent gun violence in America” and emphasized he had long supported “common-sense reforms” like universal background checks, banning “bump stocks” for guns and prohibiting people on the No Fly List from purchasing guns.
