Congresswoman Mary Peltola, with a D rating from the NRA and increasing criticism from Alaska gun owners, has edited her views on the Second Amendment of the Constitution.
Before this week, she said the Second Amendment, Americans’ right to own firearms, was intended for hunting. She said there needs to be stricter gun laws. She advocated for guns to be locked in safes at home.
In her latest ad, Peltola says the Second Amendment is “To defend ourselves and our food from wild animals.”
Alaskans own more guns than just about any population on the planet. Former Congressman Don Young was on the board of the NRA.
But now, Alaska’s only representative in Congress believes the constitutional protections for gun owners were designed for subsistence hunters like her family. Not for self defense, and not as the nation’s founders had intended — to protect the new federation of United States against outside enemies and invasion.
Peltola also says she will “stand up for the Second Amendment — whether it’s hunting, self-defense, or recreation — because Alaska just wouldn’t be Alaska without guns.” That’s a new spin for her, as she has seen the resistance growing to her anti-freedom stances.
Peltola pivoted in just a few short weeks from her earlier statements about guns being for hunters, and is painting over her record of pushing gun control legislation. In a public forum earlier this year, Peltola said that 18 year olds should not be able to purchase guns, and she supports universal registration.
In June, she was on the record with Alaska Public Media saying she supports “common sense gun legislation” that would be brought forward by a bipartisan committee. President Joe Biden is eager for such legislation and uses the exact wording “common sense legislation.” His federal approach includes forcing all gun owners to own gun safes and to keep guns locked away.
On Twitter in May, Peltola wrote: “We cannot continue doing things the way they’ve always been done. It’s killing us.”
Peltola is a Democrat running against Republican Nick Begich and Sarah Palin, as well as Libertarian Chris Bye. She won the temporary seat for Congress in August, after Republican voters refused to rank other Republicans on the ballot, thus handing the victory to Peltola.
Alaska is a conservative-leaning state, where President Donald Trump won by 53 percent in 2020. But Democrats are pouring tens of millions of dollars into the effort to convince Alaskans to vote for Peltola, in spite of her anti-constitution view.
