2020 Dems unify around assault weapons ban, putting pressure on colleagues

Democratic senators seen as possible contenders for the White House in 2020 are all taking positions in strong support of an assault weapons ban, pressuring their colleagues up for reelection this year.

Though the positioning may not effect the prospects of legislation, its support by all of the 2020 would-be candidates puts lawmakers like Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) in a tough spot months before the November midterm elections. 

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“This is where the real conflict is,” one top Democratic strategist concluded. “There isn’t really space for an anti-gun candidate in the party and yet there are senators who have a tough balancing act for sure.”

Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist, added: “The reason for the tension within the party is pretty obvious. Democrats have no choice but to press this issue. With 69 percent in favor of a complete ban, they’re on the right side of public opinion on the issue … For the 2020 Dems, a ban on assault weapons is a no-brainer.” 

No Democrat running for the White House wants to be outflanked from the left on guns.

During the 2016 Democratic primary, for example, Hillary Clinton slammed rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for not being strong enough on gun control.

“No one wants to be the lightweight when it comes to guns and particularly an assault weapons ban,” the strategist said. “They all want to be seen as the ones who really rushed to the forefront and pushed this issue when it really mattered.” 

All of the prospective 2020 Democratic candidates in the upper chamber — Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) Kamala Harris (Calif.), Cory Booker (N.J.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and Chris Murphy (Conn.) are all co-sponsors of Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (Calif.) legislation to ban assault weapons. Sanders has also said he favors banning assault weapons. 

“These weapons are not for hunting,” he said. “They’re for killing human beings.” 

Support for the ban on assault weapons has grown among Democrats over the last 11 years. In 2007, 67 Democrats supported a ban. That number continued to grow in 2013 with 83 Democrats co-sponsoring legislation. The number grew to 149 in 2015 before settling on 167 co-sponsors this year. 

As Democrats call for assault weapons to be banned, President Trump is also showing signs of movement. 

This week, Trump — sitting beside Feinstein — signaled that he might be willing to include parts of her assault weapons legislation as part of a bipartisan deal.

Sitting across from them was Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) the Democrat who refuses to support a ban on assault weapons. (“I don’t know anyone who’s committed a crime with it,” Manchin said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe this week.)

“Joe, are you ready?” a visibly excited Feinstein asked the West Virginia Senator after Trump made his remarks.

Manchin spearheaded aggressive background checks legislation in 2013 in partnership with Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), but faces a potentially tough reelection race this year in a state where Trump cruised to victory in 2016.

Manchin told Feinstein he was at least willing to consider some of her proposal. 

“Can you do that? Joe, can you do that?” Trump asked. 

But there is still a divide on the issue in the Democratic caucus, one that has lingered since a vote on an assault weapons ban failed 40-60 in the Senate in 2013, a few months after a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

Sixteen Democrats, including Heitkamp, Manchin and Sens. Michael Bennet (Colo.), Jon Tester (Mont.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Martin Heinrich (N.M.) and Tom Udall (N.M.), as well as independent Sen. Angus King (Maine), voted “no.”

Asked about her 2013 vote on Thursday, Heitkamp said she thought the legislation was “overly broad.” 

“It included banning semi-automatics, and I actually don’t think the assault weapons ban would accomplish much,” Heitkamp told The Weekly Standard. 

Democrats acknowledged the awkward divide within the party. But internal pressure aside, Bannon said the 2018 candidates can explain the daylight between their position and their Senate colleagues who may run in 2020. 

“If I were a senator like Heitkamp or Manchin, I’d use this internal fight to show that they’re not being held captive by the national Democratic party. I’d use it as a tool to stake out their own independence.”

“Even though there’s tension with their colleagues, if they’re smart enough they’ll use it to their advantage,” Bannon said. “Both sides could win.”