With the gaggle of GOP 2016 presidential contenders growing, the Republican wannabes have largely refrained from assailing one another and have instead focused their wrath on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. But now Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has launched one of the first R-on-R attacks, and he has done so regarding an issue of primal importance to the Republican voting base: guns.
A few days ago, Cruz's presidential campaign zapped out an email hitting up conservatives for donations. The solicitation showed Cruz, the tea party favorite, wearing a bright orange hunting vest, with a shotgun on his shoulder, and its message was stark: Send me money so I can support your Second Amendment rights, which "serve as the ultimate check against government tyranny." Cruz warned that he was "under attack from the left-wing media and even Republicans who want to label me as an extremist -- all for supporting a fundamental right." And then he took a shot at the other GOP 2016 contestants: "I'm the only candidate running for President who not only believes in the Constitutional right to keep and bear arms -- but has the record of fighting for it, tooth and nail."
The only Republican 2016er who's a proven crusader for gun rights? That was quite the claim -- and a dig at everyone else in the crowded field, particularly the other GOPers who are competing for tea party and conservative voters. After all, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has declared himself a champion of gun rights. He has long supported the National Association for Gun Rights -- a group that hypes itself as the conservative alternative to the NRA. Rand Paul often signs email solicitations for this outfit, such as one that asserted that President Barack Obama and the United Nations were plotting to "CONFISCATE and DESTROY ALL 'unauthorized' civilian firearms.'" (Paul was not invited to the NRA's recent convention -- because, NGAR president Dudley Brown claimed, "Paul is more pro-gun that the NRA.") Paul has repeatedly moved to eviscerate the gun laws of Washington, DC. And prior to becoming a senator, he campaigned at a gun rights rally with armed militia members who noted that guns could be used to prevent "progressive socialists" from thwarting Second Amendment and other rights. That is, Paul has established a rather die-hard stance on guns.
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