Glenn and Helen Reynolds (he of Instapundit.com) did an interview with U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican candidate for the party's presidential '08 presidential nomination. You can listen to or download the podcast at this link.
Summarizes Glenn:
We talk to Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) about why he wants to be President. We caught up with Rep. Hunter as he was getting ready to go to Iraq, and talked with him about the war, gun control, stem cell research and cloning, and much more. (His core principles statement is online, but we noticed a surprising omission.) Plus, what his son learned serving in Fallujah.
So, what is the "surprising omission" from Hunter's "core principles" statement on his campaign website?
Guns.
Hunter's "core principles" include no statement regarding the Second Amendment and the individual's right to to bear arms.
That's odd, especially so considering that Hunter is rated A+ by the National Rifle Association, indicating a pro-gun rights voting record. You can check out his voting record on recent gun legislation here.
How do other GOP presidential candidates stack up on gun rights? OnTheIssues.org has the details for most of them:
Mayor Rudy Giuliani - Sen.John McCain - Gov.Mitt Romney - Rep.Newt Gingrich - Gov.Mike Huckabee - Sen.Sam Brownback - Gov.Tommy Thompson
Hunter's website does have a statement regarding the Kelo property rights/eminent domain decision by the Supreme Court, saying he is "deeply concerned" with the ruling, which greatly broadened local government's use of eminent domain, allowing state and local government to seize private property and transfer it to another private developer in the name of "economic development."
Kelo essentially gutted private property rights in America, and it's nice to see a presidential candidate including undoing the damage of Kelo as a "core principle" driving his campaign.
Millions of NRA members are property owners too.
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