WASHINGTON — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to ease restrictions on gun ownership, a stance that exploits a weakness of former President Donald Trump and shores up support from a key segment of the GOP primary base.
But DeSantis’s moves highlight a dilemma for Republicans in general elections, where their strident support for gun rights threatens to cost them votes with an electorate that backs tougher restrictions after a rise in mass shootings, most recently on the campus of Michigan State University on Monday night.
Gallup in an October poll found 57% of Americans say gun laws should be more strict. Only 27% of GOP voters, though, back tougher gun policies, compared to 86% of Democrats and 60% of independents, Gallup found.
“It’s one of the things that Republican presidential candidates have to live with and hope that in the end, it’s not as important to general election voters,” said Jay Townsend, a bipartisan political consultant. “It’s a risk that they’ll take.”
GOP dilemma
DeSantis, if he won the GOP nomination, would likely be the most vocal Republican candidate on protecting gun owners’ rights in recent presidential cycles. The governor is throwing his weight behind a legislative proposal to allow Florida residents to carry concealed firearms in public without a permit or a requirement for training.
DeSantis has also said he would have vetoed a 2018 bill Rick Scott, now a U.S. senator, signed as governor that imposed a three-day waiting period for gun purchases, raised the ownership age to 21 and banned sales of bump stocks. “I don’t think that provision will actually prevent any gun crimes,” DeSantis, then a House representative, said in 2018.
DeSantis has yet to announce his 2024 bid but is already laying the groundwork. He has made his views on hot-button cultural issues such as guns, abortion and teachings about race and gender a centerpiece of his pitch to Republican voters, touting a “Free Florida” agenda.
Many other states, though, have fewer restrictions than Florida, such as Texas. Florida would be the 26th state to allow gun owners to carry without a permit.
A spokesperson for DeSantis’s office referred to comments the governor made at a press conference Tuesday, which marked five years since the Parkland, Florida, mass shooting. He touted a $1 billion investment in school safety and a commitment to roll back restrictions on juries imposing the death penalty, but did not directly comment on gun policy.
In contrast to DeSantis, Trump has a more complicated history on gun rights.
As president, he espoused support for tougher checks on gun purchasers before backing off that stance. Trump also proposed raising the minimum age to buy guns to 21 but later dropped that idea.
The Trump administration also imposed a ban on bump stocks, a move that rankled some gun-rights supporters. But Trump also received praise from those groups for putting conservative judges inclined to protect gun rights on the federal bench.
A spokesperson for Trump’s campaign didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, a gun-rights group, said he expects GOP contenders to be assertive on protecting gun-ownership rights.
“It’s extremely important, if you’re going to win a nomination, say for president, you can’t be even neutral on the issue,” said Gottlieb. “You’ve gotta be out there defending the right to keep and bear arms.”
Gottlieb, who visited the Trump White House multiple times to discuss policy, applauded Trump for consistently discussing gun rights in stump speeches and for his judicial nominations. He also said Nikki Haley, who became Trump’s first official challenger on Tuesday, was praised by gun owners for her record when she was South Carolina’s governor.
“I don’t know how they differentiate themselves,” he said of the GOP field. “What gun owners are going to look for, though, is winnability. Who has the best chance to actually win?”
Biden pushback
President Joe Biden, who’s expected to run for reelection, has hammered Republicans in the wake of recent mass shootings, pleading with them to help enact tougher measures against gun violence.
In a July tweet, he called out Florida Republicans for opposing an assault-weapons ban.
Biden in June signed bipartisan gun-safety legislation that included measures to improve the national background check system for gun buyers age 18 to 21 and close a loophole that allowed dating partners convicted of domestic abuse to buy guns. But with Republican control of the House, it is unlikely any legislation on guns will reach Biden’s desk in the next two years.
On Tuesday after the Michigan State shooting, Biden again called on Congress to “enact commonsense gun law reforms” including background checks on all sales and an assault weapons ban.
Some Democrats predict the GOP stance on gun rights will backfire with general-election voters.
“We know that Americans are on our side of this issue. The majority of Americans want stricter gun laws, they want regulation,” said former Democratic Florida Representative Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a gun-control advocate.
“Once they pass this bill and he signs it into law, he’s going to pay a very high political price for that,” she said of DeSantis’s support for permitless carry.
Everytown for Gun Safety, which advocates gun-safety measures, is backed by Michael Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP.
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(Bloomberg News writers Felipe Marques and Michael Smith contributed to this story.)
