Kamala Harris’s former NRA-backed running mate and his relationship with guns

Tim Walz, the running mate chosen by Democrat Kamala Harris, presents a profile quite different from the California candidate, in order to reassure part of the electorate. This former high school teacher and military man was even supported by the NRA at one time.

Tim Walz, the running mate that Kamala Harris has appointed to assist her in the event of a US presidential election, is supposed to appeal to and reassure rural America. He is passionate about hunting, loves firearms and served for more than 20 years in the National Guard. Well-known to the NRA (National Rifle Association), the powerful gun lobby in the United States, he was once a highly valued active member. The association also gives grades to political figures, and Tim Walz has already gotten an A. A very good student, then.

A staunch defender in Congress of the Second Amendment, which guarantees every American citizen the right to own guns and form militias, Tim Walz has in the past liked to wear a camouflage-style cap with the inscription “NRA approved”, tell the story Washington Post. And in 2016, a specialist magazine named him among the 20 best politicians “to defend the cause”, he was then the only Democrat in the ranking.

But he went from being an NRA supporter to an enemy of the organization. What seems to have played a big role in that shift is mass shootings. The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 killed 20 children, along with six adults. Walz publicly questioned access to assault rifles in the press. Then in 2017, in Las Vegas, a retiree opened fire on music festival goers, killing 60 and injuring hundreds.

And in 2018, the break between the politician and the gun lobby seemed complete, when he explained that the NRA was the main obstacle to the fight against gun violence in America. While he had received $18,000 from the lobby, he chose to donate it to charity. And since he became governor of Minnesota, he has voted for more restrictive measures: background checks before buying a gun, taking away guns from people deemed dangerous. “I got an A from the NRA in my first term in Congress. Now I get all F’s, and I sleep very well.”he said.

The NRA is therefore unsurprisingly defending Donald Trump in this presidential campaign. He is the champion of the lobby and the NRA is openly attacking the Harris-Walz “ticket”. It describes them on social networks as “radicals” Who “want to massively confiscate weapons”, and Tim Walz became “the traitor”.

If Tim Walz liked to wear a camo cap, he still does. But not with the same slogan. Now it’s an orange embroidered “Harris/Walz” spelled out in bold. This cap has been duplicated and sold on the official Harris campaign store. Billed as the “most iconic of political hats” from the United States, it sells for $40 each. One million dollars has already been raised for the campaign, thanks to this cap.