Sen. John Fetterman isn’t what anyone would think of as the prototypical senator. I mean, he’s walking around the Capitol in a hoodie and shorts, for crying out loud. Is he a senator or a football coach?
Regardless, he’s in the office and there are bigger problems than his dress code.
For example, there’s the matter of the Second Amendment. Fetterman isn’t a big fan of our right to keep and bear arms. That’s been clear from the start of his political career.
However, comments from an aide suggest it’s much worse than the Pennsylvania Democrat has presented.
🚨@SenFettermanPA's (D-PA) aide said that his boss is “okay with like overturning the 2nd Amendment."
— NRA (@NRA) June 2, 2023
This candid admission confirms their ultimate goal: to completely shred the Second Amendment.
His aide simply voiced the unspoken part aloud. @OKeefeMedia pic.twitter.com/mEC6MLdsir
Now, this is an aide speaking, not Fetterman himself. That’s important to know and understand. The aide says that he believes Fetterman would be for overturning the Second Amendment, not that his boss has actually said he’s fine with repealing a part of the Constitution protecting a basic civil liberty.
So I’m not going to attack him for what his aide said.
But the fact that he hasn’t stepped up and denied it, however, is an entirely different matter. He’s had time, after all. It’s been four days since the NRA took a shot at him, but they’re not exactly the first out of the gate with a comment on this video.
Former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has blasted the senator over this video as well and did so a couple of weeks ago.
So what has Fetterman had to say on the subject? This is all I can find:
This month, we honor the victims & survivors of gun violence and affirm that we cannot become numb to this.
— Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) June 5, 2023
We need to scrap the filibuster + immediately pass common-sense gun laws––they're called that for a REASON. pic.twitter.com/WARO8PrIXU
Yes, they’re called that because you guys decided to call them that so as to make convincing people to support them a little easier,
Regardless, Fetterman has had the time to say, “No, that’s not my position. I support these gun control measures, but not a total repeal of the Second Amendment.” He could add that his aide was speculating and, in this case, speculated incorrectly.
I’d argue that he could also make a case that the aide was told he wasn’t going to be quoted yet, in fact, he was, which goes against journalistic ethics if he so desired. It would help shift the story a bit, at least.
He’s done none of that.
Instead, he’s pretending it never happened.
The lack of a denial is troubling to me. There are a lot of times when just ignoring the issue and waiting for it to go away makes sense, but this is a matter of taking away people’s rights. Pennsylvania has a lot of gun owners, many of whom opted to vote for Fetterman. I’m pretty sure they’re not going to be pleased by this.
What’s more, the media seems unwilling to call the senator out on this at all. They’re willing to pretend like this didn’t even happen, much like how they ignored Gabby Giffords explicitly saying, “No more guns.”
That’s because the media isn’t interested in reporting anymore. They’re going to shield lawmakers like Fetterman on Second Amendment issues because they actually want to see the Second Amendment repealed.
Fetterman could address this. The fact that he hasn’t tells you all you need to know.