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Great Civil Beat story on Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and guns

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Honolulu Civil Beat published a great story today on Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s voting record on gun control. Reporter Nick Grube’s story is complex and nuanced, just like Gabbard’s record, which despite her progressive credentials, is not so easy to describe. Of course, her campaign website (Votetulsi.com) makes it all seem so simple.

“Tulsi has a consistent record of advocating for sensible gun control,” states her website. “She has long called for reinstating a federal ban on military-style assault weapons and high capacity magazines, requiring comprehensive pre-purchase background checks, closing the gun-show loophole, and making sure that terrorists are not allowed to buy guns. Tulsi has an F-rating from the NRA, a 0% rating by the Hawaii Rifle Association, and a 100% rating by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. She is focused on building bipartisan solutions that can actually be passed into law, rather than using the issue as a partisan political football.”

Gabbard’s campaign website also lists seven bills in which Gabbard voted for and/or co-sponsored some gun control measure and two pro-gun bills she voted against. But what’s really fascinating here is the first bill Gabbard mentions–HR 5087, “The Assault Weapons Ban of 2018,” is a prime example of the complexity Grube weaves into his story.

Yes, it’s true that Gabbard is co-sponsoring HR 5087. But it’s also true that while 164 Democrats (including Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, D–Hawaii) signed onto the bill on Feb. 26 when Rep. David Cicilline, D–Rhode Island, introduced it, Gabbard didn’t agree to co-sponsor it until Mar. 1. In fact, Grube reported that Gabbard agreed to co-sponsor the bill exactly one day after actress Amber Tamblyn called out Gabbard by name on Twitter for not yet signing onto the bill.

What’s more, Tamblyn also incorrectly tweeted that Gabbard took $500 from the NRA. According to Grube, Gabbard has taken no money from the NRA, though she did take $400 from the Hawaii Rifle Association eight years ago.

See? Gabbard’s record is exceedingly complex. For liberals, she certainly seems to do the right thing, though it seems to take some prodding from activists and the public for her to do so.

“Like a lot of what Tulsi does, I sometimes find her actions inexplicable,” Colin Moore, associate professor of political science at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, is quoted as saying in Grube’s article. “Tulsi makes policy choices that are hard to explain.”

Photo courtesy U.S. Congress

Comments

comments

  • dopamineboy

    Gabbard did respond to CB on Facebook – “This story presents incomplete and inaccurate information resulting in a misleading, one-sided opinion piece rather than an article based on
    facts. Grube’s claims that our office ignored his requests for information are patently false. I sent Grube extensive background information about Rep. Gabbard’s record on gun safety
    legislation when he first informed me he was working on a story on this topic. Grube’s assertion that Rep. Gabbard refused to respond to his questions is also false. I let him know multiple
    times that if he had questions beyond the information I sent that he should let me know his further questions. He never did. Grube also neglected to report that, as previously confirmed by the
    Huffington Post, Rep. Gabbard requested her name be added as a co-sponsor of the Assault Weapons Bill on Wednesday Feb 28, less than 36 hours after it was introduced and before Ms. Tamblyn tweeted false information on this topic.”

  • dopamineboy

    What a surprise another excuse for Maui Time to bash Tulsi again – on some b.s. And no surprise u didn’t mention Amber Tamblyn (who btw just criticized Hasidic Jews on Twitter) supports Sherry Campagna, who is running against Gabbard and lied about her getting NRA money. And you didn’t mention how the Civil Beat article bitches because Tulsi won’t give them an interview, but they were happy to quote criticism by her former political opponent Chan Hodges.

  • Angie

    Typical Tulsi bashing by Anthony Pignataro and not worth the 2 min read, unless you like badly-plagerized and inaccurate fiction by UnCivil Beat.

    Tulsi signed onto Ciciline’s bill on Wednesday (Feb 28th); it didn’t show up on Congress.gov until Mar 2 or 3, with a March 1 cosponsor date. Amber, whoever that is, didn’t do squat except squawk and parrot Tulsi’s political opponent — on March 1 via twitter AFTER Tulsi had already cosponsored the bill:

    “Gabbard did sign up to co-sponsor the bill on Wednesday, a spokesman for Cicilline’s office told HuffPost. The spokesman did not know what time Gabbard had requested to co-sponsor the bill.”

    Paraphrased from the Facebook comments:

    “Tulsi never has taken money from NRA. The money was from a local PAC 8 years ago who got 0 for their donation. Her 0% rating by Hawaii Rifle Association, F-rating by the NRA, and 100% rating by Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence speaks for itself https://t.co/1FfCl4AHrw