The 2020 Democrats and Their Stances on Gun Control

Following mass shootings in Odessa, Texas, El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, Democratic presidential candidates have been renewing their gun control proposals and pursuing more progressive plans. We have gathered some information on candidates who have put out their proposals and who plan to do so.

Former candidate Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., carved out a plan he called “the most comprehensive gun violence prevention plan of any candidate for president in decades.” This policy, which he announced in May, would have required all gun owners to obtain a license through the federal government. At present, 16 states have similar laws to varying degrees.

According to ABC, his plan “ultimately pushed federal licensing into the conversation for Democrats, prompting Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., former Obama administration Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke to echo their support for a national gun licensing program or include it in their own policy announcements.”

Rep. Beto O'Rourke demanded banks and credit card companies to stop processing assault weapon sales and firearm transactions when there is no background check. His plan was to “drum up public pressure” by calling on financial institutions to deny services to all gun manufacturers that produce or sell assault weapons.

While gun control is usually a topic in a Democratic presidential primary, this year's mass shootings have repeatedly brought gun control to the forefront.

Here's a look at where the 2020 Democrats stand on gun policy: https://t.co/E47lmlNBXH

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When it comes to buyback programs, those have been supported by former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. Biden is in favor of universal background checks and renewals of bans on assault weapons.

Castro, a candidate no longer in the race, unveiled a gun policy following the El Paso shooting. Castro has described buybacks as having “had mixed success,” but as being “good policy” in some circumstances.

Warren did not include support for buybacks in her gun policy. She “described her focus on reducing the power of the NRA, putting $100 million annually toward gun safety research and reducing gun deaths in the country by 80%,” reported ABC.

“Historically, when Congress works to address big national issues, we don't simply pass one law and cross our fingers. Instead, we continue the research – into new policies and around the consequences of our existing policies – and then come back on a regular basis to update the law,” she wrote in her plan. “We don't do this with guns.”

“This ends when I'm president,” Warren said. She was one of the last front-runner candidates to unveil a gun policy. Following the shooting in Parkland, Florida in 2017, Warren wrote letters to major companies that invested with gun manufacturers and asked them to pressure the industry to change.

“I encourage you to take action to ensure that the gun companies in which you invest are taking steps to reduce gun violence,” Warren wrote to Fidelity, BlackRock, Vanguard Group and others.

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., announced her plan in April. She said she would “require near-universal background checks to be run by people selling more than five guns in a year and revoke the licenses of gun manufacturers and dealers that break the law,” reported ABC. She discussed the renewal of the 1994 law that banned assault weapons but expired in 2004.

ABC also reported that for Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., judging gun control legislation is about what would “hurt [her] Uncle Dick in the deer stand.” This is a perspective from her state’s value of the outdoors. “And so I come at it from a little different place than some of my colleagues running for this office,” she said.

Nonetheless, it doesn’t keep her from supporting universal background checks and a ban on assault weapons. “Would closing off the loophole in the terrorist watch list hurt my Uncle Dick in his deer stand? Not at all,” Klobuchar said in 2016.

#guns #2A US 2020 election: Where do top Democrats stand on gun control?: … limits on guns while standing up to the gun lobby, … power to prevail over the National Rifle Association (NRA). Here's a … which allow semiautomatic https://t.co/lWrWRPy3DP pic.twitter.com/Eynu4WGGxX

— Gun Buyers Club (@GunBuyersClub) October 3, 2019

Sanders also has constituents who hunt. According to ABC, “in the past, the rural connection has led to criticism by some progressives that Sanders was too moderate on gun control, especially in his early career. The Vermont senator has made a point since kicking off his 2020 campaign to show he's evolved.”

Of the nearly two dozen major Democratic presidential candidates, only Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, has not seen a mass shooting take place in their state while in office.

Following a shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado in 2012, Hickenlooper signed gun control measures that required background checks for private and online gun sales and banned high-capacity magazines. “Bennet also voted to ban high-capacity magazines, but in 2010 voted to oppose restricting the right to bear arms and in 2009 voted to allow Amtrak riders to check bags containing guns,” said ABC.

As for Biden, since there were dozens of mass shootings during his nearly five decades in public office, he has become a longtime advocate for gun control. He introduced the assault weapons ban, which was signed into law in 1994.