“ . . . [W]hen one of the country’s first mass shootings occurred in his home state [of Kentucky] about 30 years ago, [Mitch] McConnell opposed an assault weapons ban embraced by his Democratic opponent.
“Instead, he partnered with the National Rifle Association, which has rewarded him with more than $1.2 million in contributions in his career, according to a database compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
“McConnell, who joined Congress in 1985, often describes the gun issue in the context of a cultural war, in which he is defending rural America’s heritage against progressives.“’The liberal establishment in Washington doesn’t understand Kentucky values and it doesn’t want to,’ McConnell said in 2014, after receiving the NRA’s “Defender of Freedom” award.
“That’s why I’ve been one of the biggest champions of protecting our constitutional right to bear arms. … So as long as Washington attacks our heritage, I’ll fight back’”
(“Despite Back-to-Back Mass Shootings, McConnell Unlikely to Accept Gun Control Legislation,” by Phillip M. Bailey, Louisville Courier Journal, August 5, 2019, updated August 6, 2019)
“ . . . [W]hen one of the country’s first mass shootings occurred in his home state [of Kentucky] about 30 years ago, [Mitch] McConnell opposed an assault weapons ban embraced by his Democratic opponent.
“Instead, he partnered with the National Rifle Association, which has rewarded him with more than $1.2 million in contributions in his career, according to a database compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
“McConnell, who joined Congress in 1985, often describes the gun issue in the context of a cultural war, in which he is defending rural America’s heritage against progressives.“’The liberal establishment in Washington doesn’t understand Kentucky values and it doesn’t want to,’ McConnell said in 2014, after receiving the NRA’s “Defender of Freedom” award.
“That’s why I’ve been one of the biggest champions of protecting our constitutional right to bear arms. … So as long as Washington attacks our heritage, I’ll fight back’”
(“Despite Back-to-Back Mass Shootings, McConnell Unlikely to Accept Gun Control Legislation,” by Phillip M. Bailey, Louisville Courier Journal, August 5, 2019, updated August 6, 2019)