Morrisey goes after Manchin on gun rights | Politics

With a little more than a month until the midterm elections, Morrisey, the state’s Republican attorney general, is working to paint Manchin, the Democratic senator up for re-election, as an agent of gun control.

Speaking at a gun and archery store Monday, Morrisey said with Manchin opposing both concealed carry laws and federal gun reciprocity legislation (allowing people who are licensed to carry in one state to do so in another), the incumbent is no friend of the gun world.

“This is one of the core issues, the areas of difference I have with Joe Manchin,” he said.

However, in the U.S. Senate, Manchin introduced the National Rifle Association-backed National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2012, that would allow people with valid identification and a concealed carry permit to carry weapons into any other state that allows concealed carry.

In 2013, he voted for a similar amendment, although the Senate at large voted it down 57-43, short of the 60-vote threshold. When asked to source Morrisey’s claims about Manchin on reciprocity, Nathan Brand, a Morrisey spokesman, cited a clip from a 2017 town hall in which Manchin seems to opine against federal reciprocity legislation, although the segment is limited. A Manchin spokesman could not be reached to clarify Monday evening.

Following the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 20 students and six educators dead, Manchin and Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., introduced legislation to strengthen background check measures at gun shows and on the internet. It failed, and efforts to resurrect it have not gotten off the ground.

Flanked by representatives from gun lobby groups on Monday, Morrisey said he has worked as attorney general to secure reciprocity agreements with nearly 40 states around the country.

He also expressed an openness to the idea of arming teachers to prevent school shootings, which was first expressed by President Donald Trump.

“I’ve always been open to arming teachers, but I also think that you want to really invest the time, energy and resources to make sure that these schools are safe,” Morrisey said.

Manchin, who declined an interview request through a spokesman Monday, is harder to pin down on guns.

“I haven’t talked to any teachers whatsoever that thought that was a good idea,” Manchin said of arming teachers in a March interview. “I really haven’t had a teacher come to me and say that was a good idea.”

“Let me be clear, I think that’s charitable,” he said Monday.

However, when Manchin ran for Senate in 2010 and 2012, the NRA gave him an “A” rating, not to mention the “A+” articles/20041022/nra-pvf-endorses-manchin-for-governor” target=”_blank”>he earned in his 2004 gubernatorial bid, as was noted in a PolitiFact article.

“Law-abiding gun owners in the Mountain State know that we can support common sense background checks at gun shows and internet sales that keep guns out of the hands of terrorists and criminals while also protecting Second Amendment rights,” said Grant Herring, a Manchin campaign spokesman. “Manchin and most gun owners understand that the standards at a gun shop should apply to gun sales online and at a gun show.”

Last month, Manchin’s campaign released a new ad showing Manchin shooting a lawsuit (with “Lawsuit On Coverage of Pre-Existing Conditions” stamped across the cover sheet) with a rifle.