What You Need to Know About Vance and Walz’s Records on Guns Ahead of Tonight’s Debate

WASHINGTON - Today, Governor Tim Walz and Senator J.D Vance will participate in their first Vice Presidential debate - and the contrast between the two couldn't be more clear. Governor Walz is a gun owner and gun sense champion who signed a sweeping package of gun safety bills into law just last year, while J.D. Vance called school shootings a "fact of life" following the Apalachee High School shooting, where a 14-year-old wielding an assault weapon shot and killed two adults, two students, and wounded nine others.

Donald Trump and J.D. Vance are running on an extreme guns everywhere agenda that threatens to reverse the steepest decline in gun violence in a generation - and with 34 days until the election, the choice in front of voters is night and day.

"As a lifelong hunter who is also a proud gun sense champion, Tim Walz is living proof that the Second Amendment and common-sense gun safety laws go hand in hand," said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. "Vice President Harris and Governor Walz are the clear choice for the decisive majority of Americans who just want to keep their families and communities safe from gun violence."

"Governor Walz keenly understands that our communities need leaders who will do anything to put an end to America's gun violence crisis," said Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action. "Our movement - and voters across the country - know exactly who understands the depth of this epidemic and the solutions we need to solve it, and those candidates are Governor Walz and Vice President Harris."

"This is a choice between a candidate that wants to build a future free from gun violence versus someone who thinks we should accept school shootings as a 'fact of life,'" said Sam Mell, a Students Demand Action National Organizing Board Member from North Carolina. "The road to the White House runs right through North Carolina, my home state, and you can bet young voters like me will show up for the Harris-Walz ticket in November. Gun violence is the leading cause for my generation, meaning there's nothing more urgent to us than keeping politicians like Trump and Vance out of power."

What You Need to Know About Governor Walz's Record on Guns:

• Earlier this year, Governor Walz signed legislation to prohibit automatic weapon modification devices and collect gun crime data.
  
• Last year, Governor Walz was named a State Gun Sense Lawmaker of Year at Everytown's Gun Sense University.
  
  • Everytown endorsed Governor Walz's 2022 gubernatorial campaign.
    
• In 2023, after winning a gun sense trifecta in Minnesota that was bolstered by four Moms Demand Action Volunteers running for and winning a seat in the Minnesota Senate, Walz signed a critical public safety omnibus bill into law.
  
  • The measures he signed into law included universal background checks, a Red Flag law, and one of the largest investments in community-based violence prevention programs of any state to date.

What You Need To Know About J.D Vance's Record on Guns:

• J.D. Vance has a long record of opposing common-sense gun safety measures - he believes that neither expanding background checks nor Red Flag laws will solve the problem of gun violence.

• He opposed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and supported arming teachers in classrooms.

• Senator Vance has called gun violence "fake problems" and efforts to address it "a huge distraction."

• The NRA spent nearly $500,000 supporting the NRA-endorsed, A-Rated candidate's 2022 Senate campaign.

• Vance advocated for abolishing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF).

In July, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and Victory Fund announced a $45 million electoral program and the launch of a new grassroots voter contact program to help elect gun sense candidates and defeat gun extremists up and down the ballot in key swing districts and states. Everytown's efforts will focus on young voters on college campuses, voters of color, and suburban women in Arizona, California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Last month, Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund and Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund announced a record $7.5 million investment in supporting Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action volunteer candidates running in key races across the country, 46% of whom are running for their state legislature.

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