Opinion
By Mark Oliva
Integrity matters. That’s not unique to any vocation but it’s a defining characteristic of public service. That includes those in uniform and those elected to political office.
Integrity matters. That’s why it was so disappointing to watch Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, attempt to drape his gun control ideas in military camouflage to justify it. He claims that because he served in the military – and more specifically “in war,” – he is qualified to decide what policies don’t violate Constitutional rights. Out of the gate, his integrity was called into question. And rightfully so.
Gov. Walz embraces gun control notions that aren’t just counter to the mainstream. They’re downright unconstitutional.
He supports a ban on owning the most-popular selling semiautomatic rifle sold in America – the Modern Sporting Rifle (MSR) or AR-15-style rifle. There are over 28.1 million of these rifles in circulation. They are commonly owned – more common than there are of the most-popular selling pick-up truck in America on the road today, the Ford F-150.
Banning them would be a clear violation of the Second Amendment. That’s what the U.S. Supreme Court tells us in the Heller decision.
However, Gov. Walz supports this ban, among other questionable gun control positions. But here’s where it gets, well… weird. Gov. Walz claims that the MSR that’s in my gun safe is the same rifle he carried in war. Now, we’ve got a problem. This went from a policy disagreement to a question of integrity because, it turns out that Gov. Walz served during a time of war – but not actually in a war.
Gov. @Tim_Walz: I spent 25 years in the Army and I hunt. I’ve been voting for common sense legislation that protects the Second Amendment, but we can do background checks. We can research the impacts of gun violence. We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war,… pic.twitter.com/3IVaXi2RP2
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) August 6, 2024
“I spent 25 years in the Army and I hunt. I’ve been voting for common sense legislation that protects the Second Amendment, but we can do background checks,” Gov. Walz said in a 2018 video clip that’s since come to the surface. “We can research the impacts of gun violence. We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, are only carried in war.”
Except, Gov. Walz never went to war.
Integrity Matters
I want to be clear. I respect and honor Gov. Walz’s service to his nation and his state while serving in the Minnesota National Guard. I respect and honor the service of anyone who swears an oath, dons the uniform and carries out the orders to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Only one percent of America does this today. That’s admirable.
That calling carries with it a tremendous amount of responsibility. Chief among those burdens is integrity. Sound moral character, even when no one is looking, was drilled into my brain since the first day I stood on the yellow footprints at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, S.C. It was the trait my Marines demanded of me, and I demanded of them. Integrity matters. That’s the gift each Marine gave to themselves that no one could ever take away. It could only be given away and once lost, it is nearly impossible to regain.
That’s the trust that matters when military members place their lives in one another’s hands defending the nation. That’s what I did when I served on multiple deployments, including tours to Iraq and Afghanistan. Gov. Walz said he did the same – served in war. Except he didn’t.
Integrity matters. Gov. Walz’s service, in and of itself, is honorable, but claiming or even just allowing others to believe that your service was more than it was fails the integrity test. There are other questions, including his promotion to command sergeant major, which was administratively reduced when he didn’t complete the requisite training. Yet he has repeatedly stated he was a command sergeant major when he knew that wasn’t true. Vice President Harris’ campaign website corrected the reference to Gov. Walz retiring as a command sergeant major and now refers to his final rank as master sergeant.
For a matter of transparency, I’m open about my career in the Marine Corps but try to not be boastful. I served in public affairs, the same specialty as U.S. Sen. JD Vance. I served three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. No, I never served with or knew Sen. Vance (R-Ohio). No, my duty was not combat arms. Yes, I did face enemy fire, improvised explosive devices and mortars – multiple times. No, my duties didn’t place me near the same daily danger faced by the beloved “grunts” with whom I served. Yes, I did walk the streets of Baghdad, Fallujah, Ramadi and Habbaniyah. I did what my nation, my Corps, my commanders and most of all, the Marines with whom I served, expected of me.
Integrity matters.
Of Rifles and War
Gov. Walz said that the rifle he carried in war should be banned for Americans to possess. He never served in war. He likely carried rifles in his service that were similar to the ones I carried – the M-16A2 or A4, or the M-4. Those rifles are not the same rifles that are in my gun safe. The rifles I carried in war (and I did carry them and use them in war) were capable of automatic fire. By use of a selector switch, that rifle could fire three-round bursts – automatic fire. The MSRs in my gun safe can only fire semiautomatically – that is one cartridge expended for each press of the trigger.
That’s the same way Gov. Walz’s pheasant hunting shotgun works. And most handguns. But having served in the military – a profession of arms – he should know that. That’s why it is frustrating that he and other politicians cling to this falsehood that the two firearms are the same when it is clear they’re not. In fact, the term “assault weapon” was coined by Josh Sugarmann in 1988, when he wrote, “The semi-automatic weapons’ menacing looks, coupled with the public’s confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons — anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun — can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons.”
Sugarmann then cloaked the MSR in camouflage to scare people into believing it was something particularly dangerous. That’s no different than what Gov. Walz is trying to do today. He’s cloaking his gun control positions with a military authority of “been there, done that.” Except he hasn’t. And didn’t. And the rifle I carried in war isn’t the same as the one in my safe. Or in the safes of millions of other Americans.
Integrity matters. Especially when you serve a career in camouflage. And politics.
About The National Shooting Sports Foundation
NSSF is the trade association for the firearm industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of thousands of manufacturers, distributors, firearm retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations, and publishers nationwide. For more information, visit nssf.org
Ban Tim Walz from the office of VP in November and all owners of MSR win .
Trump / Vance
2024
Although it has never happened in our current century, any nation that would go to war with a semi-automatic rifle would be a nation destined to lose. The MSR is specifically not a weapon of war any more than a consumer version of the Ford Mustang is a NASCAR racer. They just look like it. Apparently, Walz isn’t bright enough to realize this.
If the AR15 is so very unremarkable, in the way it functions(semi auto), then why did the NSSF come up with a strange term, “Modern Sporting Rifle”, while saying the anti gun crowd’s term for AR15’s, “semi automatic assault weapons” is “camouflage”, yet, isn’t calling the AR15 anything besides what it obviously is, a semi automatic rifle, “camouflage” as well? It’d seem to me to pro gun crowd, would be better off trying to explain that the AR15 goes bang, just as fast as an old Remington Jam-O-Matic (minus the jams), or as fast as the big bad M1 Garand…… Read more »
When the Founding Fathers wrote the 2nd Amendment they were not just returning from a deer hunting trip, they had just liberated a nation.
I went to Google Earth, Street View mode, and zoomed in.
It says, “No Hunting, Baited Field”
I reserve judgment on respecting his military service. There are good people in the Ground Guard and there are also-rains in there for the $. Which one was he? Before I hear queries about my service, I was a Marine Lt. With a grunt company (Fox 2/1). Been there, done that.
BTW, his peasant hunting outfit reminds me of John Kerry’s when he was running for office, new and unused.