Toi Hutchinson supported the NRA’s agenda before she was against it
The Chicago Tribune is running this brutal piece detailing Toi Hutchinson’s 180-degree reversal on gun-related issues, and they’ve obtained a 2010 NRA candidate questionnaire that Hutchinson filed with the NRA.
Hutchinson, then running for a seat in the Illinois Senate, was asked by the NRA if she would support state legislation that would restrict private possession, ownership, sale, purchase, and/or transfer of semi-automatic firearms and large-capacity ammunition magazines. Hutchinson said no.
Hutchinson was then asked by the NRA if she would support legislation making it a crime to fail to report the loss of theft of a firearm. Hutchinson said no, and she even went as far as to say that requiring gun owners to report lost and stolen firearms to the police would have “no demonstrated affect on crime and creates an unwarranted legal presumption that gun owners should answer to the police for their own victimization or misfortune.”
Early on in her congressional campaign, Hutchinson even used her campaign’s Facebook page to tout having “worked with the NRA” as a state senator. She’s since deleted the post in question, but not before I blockquoted it in this post at a blog that I no longer use, but the posts are still available to read:
We have to stop tragedies like Newtown, and that means we need an all-of-the-above strategy. We can’t afford partial solutions because we can’t lose so many innocent lives again. In my time in the State Senate, I’ve worked with the NRA, law enforcement and gun control advocates. If we have any hope of finding a solution, we need to elect someone who can bring all sides to the table to pass reasonable gun control along with programs that catch and treat mentally ill individuals before they become dangerous. In Congress, I’ll stand with President Obama to pass an assault weapons ban, outlaw high capacity ammunition clips, close the gun show loophole and other reasonable steps to curb gun violence. But just passing stricter rules on guns isn’t enough–we need a comprehensive approach that also includes anti-violence initiatives like gang intervention and afterschool programs and mental health treatment.
Toi Hutchinson supported the NRA’s extreme agenda before she was against it. The only reason she’s now moderating herself on gun-related issues because she’s now running in a special election, in the 2nd Congressional District of Illinois, to fill the seat in the United States House of Representatives that was previously occupied by Jesse Jackson Jr., and she’s one of many candidates in a crowded Democratic primary field that includes Robin Kelly, who has always been a supporter of gun control measures.
Hutchinson claims that she’s “moderated herself” on gun-related issues and has accused Kelly of running “a single-issue campaign” and trying to score “more political points” by attacking Hutchinson, as well as Debbie Halvorson, for having supported the NRA’s extreme agenda. In my view, Hutchinson is talking like a loser.
