Most Dem Congress hopefuls don’t own gun, Balint has never fired one

By Guy Page

Two of the four Democratic candidates for Congress have never fired a gun and do not own one now, they said on an April 13, VTDigger debate.

According to VTDigger’s coverage of the debate, Kesha Ram-Hinsdale, Becca Balint, Mollie Gray, and Sianay Chase Clifford were asked: “Have you ever used a firearm, and do you own firearms?”

Ram Hinsdale, a Chittenden County senator who lives on a horse farm in Charlotte, responded ‘yes’ to firing a gun and yes to owning guns and yes to owning guns “in my household.”

Wikimedia Commons

Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint, D-Windham

Balint, a Windham County senator and leader of the Vermont senator, indicated no to both questions. So did Essex resident Sianay Chase Clifford. Lt. Gov. Mollie Gray — who grew up on a farm in Newbury — said yes to having fired guns but no to possessing one at present.

Vermont is 16th in the nation in gun ownership, according to worldpopulationreview.com. Attempted gun purchases were the highest ever in 2020 with 57,965, and second highest in 2021 with 51,549, according to applications for federal background reviews on gun purchases.

On a different issue, Balint, Ram Hinsdale, and Clifford all said they would support federal legalization of marijuana and “other controlled substances.” Gray — again the hair-splitter — said yes to decriminalizing marijuana but no to legalizing other illegal drugs.

Louis Meyers, who declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for Congress during the first week of April, offered these responses when asked by Vermont Daily Chronicle:

Firearms – “As a former uniformed reserve police officer, I have previously been trained and certified in the use of firearms, but do not currently own a gun.”

Marijuana legalization – “I supported decriminialization of marijuana and then (less cheerfully) legalization, but I see the push by states to monetize cannabis in order to boost state revenues as an alarming trend. Just as we did not examine all of the potential pitfalls of widespread use of opioid pain medications, I see the same trend in the proselytizing of marijuana.”

VTDigger, with the tacit acceptance of the four other candidates, refused an 11th-hour request by Meyers to participate in the debate, which had been billed as the first debate for Vermont’s all-women race for Congress. VDC asked Meyers to respond to all of the questions asked at the April 13 VTDigger debate; his responses will be published this week.

Guy Page is publisher of the Vermont Daily Chronicle. Reprinted with permission.

Images courtesy of Public domain and Wikimedia Commons

8 thoughts on “Most Dem Congress hopefuls don’t own gun, Balint has never fired one

  1. It’s foolish ridicule these Senators for never having owned a gun. They are much smarter than most people, soon they will own all the guns.

  2. Let the situation in the Ukraine be a prime example of why citizens should own firearms and learn to use them safely and effectively. The Second Amendment’s language is very clear about exactly who makes up the “militia” when it states that “the right of the PEOPLE to keep and bear arms SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED.” Any “gun control” measures by a government translates directly into “people control” and is in direct violation of the Bill of Rights. We the people should not tolerate any of these efforts and reject any candidate for political office that would promote them. God bless America!

  3. “If you are for gun control, then you are not against guns, because guns will be needed to disarm the people. So, it’s not that you are Anti-Gun. You’ll need the police’s guns to take away other people’s guns. So, you’re very Pro-Gun, you believe that only the government, which is of course, so reliable, honest, moral and virtuous should have guns. There is no such thing as gun control. There is only centralizing gun ownership in the hands of a small political elite and their minions”.

    Stefan Molyneux

  4. I don’t really care if they own a gun but that they will not INFRINGE on our
    rights to own one. We don’t need any that have voted to infringe sent to
    the swamp where they will most certainly try to.

  5. The aforementioned Senators have no personal experience with firearms, yet feel fully qualified to place restrictions on their use by law-abiding citizens. People who share their ideology used to deride men who made laws restricting women’s reproductive choice because those men had no personal experience with pregnancy. The joke is on them now that we know that men can indeed become pregnant.

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