Indiana Senate Candidate Dan Coats and the Second Amendment

Indiana U.S. Senate Candidate Dan Coats was on Bill Bennett's radio talk show this morning. Coats took a call about where he stands on the 2nd Amendment - specifically his vote for Bill Clinton's so-called "assault weapons" ban. He danced around saying he voted for it because law enforcement came to him and asked him to support it because "AK-47s" were being imported into this country and ending up on the streets for use by drug dealers. He gave Bennett an opening to assist him by saying "No one knows better than Bill Bennett when he was Drug Czar." Bennett chimed in and said "You're right, I had a friend from Charlotte who is an NRA member call me and say 'Bill, we don't hunt with those guns down here.'" Coats went on to say this bought time for law enforcement to get a handle on the problem and the law is now expired and we don't need it anymore.

Now, there is just one thing wrong with the chain of events that Costs explained and Bennett offered cover - Coats is confusing the executive order signed by George H.W. Bush banning the import of certain semi-auto rifles - which was during Bennett's term as Drug Czar with the Clinton Gun Ban. Coats had no vote on the executive order. What he did vote for was the even more egregious Clinton Gun Ban which is why Red State believes the NRA may have difficulty supporting Coats in this race.

I like Bill Bennett but have my disagreements with him on this issue. The "NRA member friend" that said he doesn't hunt with semi-auto rifles sounds like something you would hear from Paul Helmke.

It will be interesting to see if Coats is able to convince gun owners that he has changed his ways. In any event, he better work on his explanation of that vote on the Clinton Gun Ban because my BS detector when into high gear during his answer.