mark kelly arizona senate giffords
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Former astronaut Mark Kelly is the co-founder, along with his wife, Gabrielle Giffords, of the gun control operation known simply as Giffords. He spent years advocating for limits on civilian gun ownership like assault weapons bans, universal background checks, red flag confiscations and the like.

Then Kelly decided to run for the US Senate and — SHAZAM! — a magical thing happened: he stopped talking about gun control. In fact he’s worked hard to avoid the topic whenever and wherever possible.

Why? Simple. Despite the state trending purple due to an influx of refugees from California, Arizona is still an avidly pro-gun state with constitutional carry and history of strong support for gun rights.

Kelly and his handlers knew that if he were to have any chance of beating his Republican opponent, he’d have to ixnay any alktay of un controlgay. So that’s exactly what he’s done since he announced his candidacy.

The only mention of gun control on his web site is discreetly tucked away near the bottom of his issues list. And what he does say about it is sufficiently anodyne so as not to spook the gun-loving horses in the Grand Canyon State.

Mark will stand up to the gun lobby and fight to protect Arizona kids and communities from gun violence. He will keep kids and communities safer by working to pass universal background checks, to keep guns out of the hands of stalkers and domestic abusers, and reduce mass shootings and suicides by allowing families and law enforcement to ensure dangerous individuals and people in crisis don’t have access to firearms.

That’s about as non-controversial as any Democrat gets these days. He’s for red flag confiscations without using the term. He takes a bold stance against mass shootings. Who doesn’t want to keep guns away from stalkers and abusers? Everyone wants to keep kids safe, right?

Except those of us who pay attention to these things aren’t fooled for a minute. Literally no one thinks Kelly’s views on civilian gun ownership have changed one iota. He’s just playing up the all-American flyboy image, saluting the flag every chance he gets, and dodging any and all mention of guns just long enough to, he hopes, beat Martha McSally.

Everyone knows how the game is played. Dupe the low-information voters long enough to get yourself into office, then vote with the far-left Democrats for gun bans, confiscations, and other limits on the right to keep and bear arms.

His own supporters know exactly what he’s doing and how this has to play out. Unless a candidate is running in a deep blue state or district, Democrats can’t campaign on the issues they really hold; higher taxes, higher gas prices, socialized medicine and…strict gun control laws.

They have to duck and dodge on those issues long enough to get themselves in office. Then they throw in with the Chuck Schumers, Nancy Pelosis and AOCs of the world when it comes time to cast votes.

But sometimes lefties will let loose with an unfortunate Kinsley gaffe the real game plan. James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas crew was recently able to get one particularly chatty Kathy, Arizona Democrat party organizer and Kelly-supporting Mission for Arizona staffer Angelica Carpio, to spill the beans on camera.

I just think [Kelly] wants to get those independents. He wants to get those Republicans who don’t trust Trump anymore, and one of their main issues is guns.

So I don’t think he’s fully like been out there saying like, ‘I want like a full gun control type measure.’ And I think he just wants to get elected first and then he wants to go further.

I think he’s trying to be elected and then he’ll implement the measures.

This is our non-shocked face. Is anyone really surprised by this? We mean, anyone who’s been paying any attention at all.

The Democrats have at least a 50-50 shot of taking control of the Senate next month. One of the seats that’s critical in that effort is flipping McSally’s seat to Kelly. So keeping from alienating Arizonans who care about their gun rights is critical.

And then there’s basement-dwelling Joe Biden. Besides saying he’ll appoint Robert Francis O’Rourke as his gun control czar if he’s elected, here are the anti-gun measures he says he wants to put in place should he win in November:

Ban the manufacture and sale of “assault weapons” and “high capacity” magazines
Hold a national “buyback” for “assault weapons” and “high capacity” magazines
Regulate “assault weapons” that aren’t turned in to the government like machine guns under the National Firearms Act
Limit the purchase of firearms to one per month
Enact a universal background check law
Ban the sale of guns, ammunition, and parts via the internet
Ban gun sales to anyone convicted of a misdemeanor “hate crime”
Extend the limit for FBI background check decisions from three days to ten days (a de facto national waiting period)
Incent all states to enact red flag confiscation laws
Incent all states to create gun licensing requirements like the Illinois Firearms Owner ID card system
Repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act

If Biden and Kelly are elected and Democrats re-take control of the Senate, is there a single item on the list above that a Senator Mark Kelly wouldn’t vote for? Think about that, Arizonans.

 

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76 COMMENTS

  1. Most of those “refugees” from CA are actually refugees being old school Regan Republicans who fleed to get away from liberalism. If anything since tougher immigration reform AZ is becoming more a solid red state.

    • I respectfully disagree on those fleeing Cali. I’m in eastern WA which has been solid red. But with decent housing costs and free of the large city blight, and super high taxes, we are getting loads here. And they vote solid blue! They will make this the same shite hole they left. We have no state income tax….yet. Last vote got closer because of them.

  3. If you sit on your a$$. Like they did in Virginia. Then don’t complain about the outcome. You shouldn’t complain since you didn’t vote. Yes I know, there’s lots of people who are proud of not voting. They have said it on TTAG for years now.

    • Speaking of Virginia, it’s worth noting that Ralph Northam ran as a moderate. He bragged about voting for “real” republican Dubbya Twice! He was practically a republican, no worries! Now look at Virginia.

      • I love how democrats are essentially neo-cons now. I was making fun of a Democrat acquaintance for rattling off a bunch of neo-con talking points as reasons to support Biden. I pointed out she was basically praising GWB, a man she venomously hated for 8 years, and her brain refused to make the connection.

        Watching the programming work in realtime is both impressive and frightening.

        • Yeah, it’s funny to watch. As soon as Trump called out unfair trade practices from China, democrats suddenly turned into free trade capitalists. They cheer when the most famous white supremacist in the country denounces Trump. It’s like they stand for nothing other than opposing Trump.

        • You neglected to note that said white supremacist endorsed Biden in the same breath…and they’re apparently okay with that, too. Biden hasn’t been required to renounce the support he’s getting from the racists.

          The progressive left as a whole is animated by venomous hatred and resentment. It’s their true raison d’etre.

      • Dude, ” He was practically a republican, no worries!”
        Reminds me of woman who said she was “practically a virgin”. She further stated that at age 36 she had only been had 2 times. When pressed for the “2” she replied only 2, once by the Army and once by the Navy!

    • Chris, I’m calling you out. We did not sit on our asses in VA. I guess you missed those pics of us crowding the streets around the Capitol on Lobby Day. The Dems knew we were coming. Many of them hid. They refused to confront us. We got the last cadre of old-school Democrats to stop the AWB. Sadly, when the package contains 10 gun control proposals, getting only the worst of these struck down, while it sucks for us, looks like “compromise” to everyone else.

      (D) holds the Governor’s mansion and both chambers of the statehouse, the first time since probably Jim Crow. We DID NOT sit on our hands during the election. My opinion of why we lost?
      1. Suburbs voting blue because they’re turned off by Trump’s manner, they’re buying in to the media’s relentless pile-on, and also the need to “stay cool”
      2. Republicans CONSTANTLY putting up candidates that only appeal to the Trump/party faithful. Eric Cantor was a “RINO”. Now the district of once the 3rd highest ranking Republican is blue.
      3. NOT because conscientious gun owners stayed home on Election Day, as you so libel.

      #2 circles back to you, my friend. You pointing the finger at us is unhelpful and incorrect, besides. The Right is lousy at sticking together for common cause. How many times here do we see comments like “Nevada is lost! Move now or you’re an idiot!” or now “Virginia is toast!” I even saw admonitions to abandon Texas. That kind of whimpering retreat-mongering is poison. The Left has fed off the dribble of hope of a full-scale revolution for a century and we can’t even take it when the polls are against us in Texas. TEXAS.

      Maybe it’s those types that say they won’t vote or won’t vote for a RINO. STOP THAT. You won’t get perfection on this Earth, but you can get better than Mark Kelly and his ilk. We need to nominate tactically, tell great stories and VOTE ALWAYS. Then remind our representatives constantly. And stop blaming and dumping on your brethren in other states!

      • I’ve heard from an interested observer in Richmond who I respect, Sonnie Johnson (Sirius/XM 125 Saturday afternoon 1:00pm-3:00pm) that Virginia Republicans had become disorganized, lethargic, and didn’t even bother to put up candidates in some counties/districts when they should have been organizing against the twin threats of Michael Bloomberg buck$ and George Soros buck$.

        BTW: You might as well face the music. The Republican Party is now Trump’s Party. That’s just the way it is. Get with the program!

        • I don’t have to get with any program, thank you. Trump is not a durable future for the GOP. Only he can do Trump. At most he lasts until 2024. Then what?

          Tactically speaking, he squeaked out a win over an amazingly awful contender. I will be surprised if that happens again. Many Trumpians are dropping like flies in their elections. I’m in VA-5 and the GOP dumped our incumbent and popular libertarian in favor of Bob Good, whose only play seems to be “I’m with him.” I predict he will lose to the young Black doctor from Charlottesville. One more seat turned blue. Nice work, purists.

    • Virginians didn’t just sit on their ass. You need to understand how that went down. The democrats spent years gerrymandering the districts through the courts. The courts got a Berkeley communist to redraw the voting map to maximize the power of democrat voters.

      The Obama administration spent years settling “refugees” and “dreamers” and just plain old illegals in Virginia. Soros spent millions on the campaigns of extreme leftists. The Chinese Communist Party spent millions on voter registration drives and get out the vote campaigns among the “dreamers” and “refugees” and just plain old illegals.

      It was not at all a matter of people just not voting. The election was rigged and they spent years and tons of money rigging it. They are trying to rig the national election now with all of the mail in voting.

      • Interested to know what you think of Amendment 2. I’m on the fence. On the one hand, I don’t trust these “redistricting committees.” On the other hand, the Dems will probably hold on to the statehouse and it’s almost time to redraw the lines.

  4. Whatever Kelly’s doing, it seems to be working. He’s been ahead in the polls since the beginning. I wonder if there is some sour grapes in Arizona over the spat between Trump and their beloved McCain?

    • Biden was 11 points ahead of Trump in the Gallup poll today. Just like 4 years ago when Hillary was 10+ points up in Oct. 2016. I guess when he get out of the hospital he should pack his bags and prepare to move.

    • It’s not what Kelly is doing that has him ahead. It’s what McSally is doing that has her behind. Absolutely the only voters McSally has tried to appeal to are the deepest, most committed Trump base of support.

      You do not win an election appealing only to your most committed base.

      Damned shame, too late to do anything about it now.

      (and yes, I am voting for McSally. That’ll be this coming weekend, when the ballot arrives in the mail)

      • Vote for McSally in confidence, knowing that postal workers, poll workers and many others will work hard to change your mail in vote for you.

        • Ever more delusional nonsense. Election fraud is incredibly rare. Even examples given by the Trump campaign amount to barely 0.01% out of more than 120,000,000 votes cast in a Presidential election year.

          His treasonous lies about the security of American voting, his effort to sow doubt and open up a path to contest the election, these are just one of the very long list of crimes against the Republic.

        • “His treasonous lies about the security of American voting, his effort to sow doubt and open up a path to contest the election”

          Perhaps you missed out on the Post Office Conspiracy Theory and Trump election interference pushed by democrats? It’s curious how you’re always so blind to their misdeeds.

        • Nothing curious about it, Dude. enuf even highlights his name in blue. He’s a troll. Anti gun and pro biden.

    • More like the devil in an angel costume… while he should have been at his wife’s side , offering encouragement, ( or at least emptying her dribble cup) during her recovery, he had to play irreplaceable hero on a nasa mission, lest his name fade from the public eye… typical hero wanna be, he has to rely on lies and subterfuge because the plebes that he needs to elect his sorry ass would see the truth if it was put in front of them. Typical leftist bullshit… hope he gets his ass kicked – by a GIRL astronaut !!!

        • I’m not so sure about out-ranking. Kelly is a US Navy Captain, and that out-ranks a USAF captain.

          (I think a USAF full (bird?) colonel is equivalent…)

        • Geoff. The rank of Captain in the Navy is the same as a full colonel in the Army, Marines and Airforce.

          The Navy also has a title of ‘captain’. No matter his pay rank the officer in command of a ship is that ships captain.

      • And he seems to have forgotten his oath that he took in the military. that fact might fit into a political ad real well.

  8. Although possible that CA “refugees” are turning AZ blue, it’s more likely that immigration is doing to AZ what it did to VA.
    Also, the last thing AZ needs is another Senator from China; Kelly’s China connections need sunlight.

  9. He wouldn’t get my vote if I was a Az.voter as I don’t vote for Marxist’s and certainly not Marxist sock puppet masters, next Commie Rat Basturd and I could care less of their rank or title.

    • He’s up there in rank. A US Navy Captain I *think* is a low flag rank.

      It’s substantially higher than a USAF rank of captain…

      • Navy Captain is the same officer rank as Full Bird Colonel in Army Marines Air Force. Flag Rank in the Navy is Admiral of some level which Kelly is not. Kelly is a scum sucker trying to ride a sympathy for his wife into office. AZ voters, for not vote this socialist/ communist Anti-American, Anti Constitutional piece of garbage.

    • Pretty sure she retired as a Colonel. There is at least one picture of her with the rank on her service dress. AF Colonel (O-6) = Navy Captain (O-6).

      • Yup my screw up.
        Navy Captain is commendable.

        If my dad was alive, he’d kick my butt for that.

  11. Can his wife seriously OWN a gun?
    Don’t Dems want to restrict gun ownership to the mentally deficient?
    Just curious and not trying to throw salt in the face of what happened to her.
    I’m just wondering if Kelly proposed anything gun-law-wise that would restrict his own wife from owning a firearm seeing as he has no morals on this issue (AR15 buying screw-up, etc.).
    “No, no. Gabby’s fine.”
    Right.

      • To much upkeep dragging her around. The whole pity me dryer out or is drying out. He has to look for new suckers. Up in the Prescott area we have thousands of new cali style homes being built and lots of cali cars driving around. In a cali home you can jump from your roof to your neighbors. Cali drivers don’t know what to do at a red light except excelerate. For get about teaching them about round-abouts.

  12. Kelly has had millions in out of state dollars pour in beginning last year. This is probably going to be the most expensive race in the country.

    McSally lost to Sinema due to ballot harvesting. She was winning untill they counted the drop off votes, which were overwhelmingly D (against history where they trend slightly R).

    Dispite her fighter pilot bonifides

  14. Arizona is absolutely not turning blue due to refugees from California. It is turning blue due to a whole shit load of factors of which that is a minor part.

    The major factor is Trump, pure and simple. Every single poll shows it. Telling yourselves comforting daydreams about why Arizona is moving “Purple” is just plain self-delusion.

    Martha McSally should be kicking Mark Kelly’s ass. She is not. McSally has an outstanding background, impressive as can be. The reason she is 8 to 11 points behind Kelly is that she is clinging mightily to Trump’s coattails. McSally has been trying to out-Trump Trump. When she does that she comes across as strident, angry and shrill.

    In other words she comes across as having a similar demeanor to Shrillery Clinton. Which is a damned shame as Clinton has no accomplishments to brag about without making up tall tales, while the factual truth of McSally should be campaign gold.

    Personally, I blame all those people who bought into Trump’s con game back before the 2016 Republican Convention. This ruin of the GOP is your fault. You had so many actual conservatives to pick from, and you picked a narcissistic man-child with massive ego and honesty and failing business issues instead.

    Then, as it turned out, surprise surprise but Shrillery couldn’t pull off a national campaign to fight her way out of a wet paper bag.

    Thank’s a bunch.

    • enuf…You are a POTUS slandering pos and a democRat lint licker who falls for democRat polling. You are also a McSally and 2A back stabber.

    • “Arizona is absolutely not turning blue due to refugees from California.”

      It’s blue because of refugees from a lot of places including Mexico.

      • Yes and it is just that sort of self delusional nonsense that weakens the conservative cause and ends up in electoral defeats.

        Nice going. You may as well register as a Demoncrap.

        • Isn’t it fascinating how you people manage to ignore what I say and make up fictions all your own? Nice, convenient, simple minded bullshit fictions.

          I am no fan of Biden. He is the distasteful medicine to a terrible affliction.

          Get that one thru your head, and apologize for the incredibly foolish, ignorant, anti-American act of supporting Trump in 2016 over actual conservative candidates.

          Want to know who fucked us all over sideways?

          Look in the mirror.

        • When was the last time the Republican party had an actual conservative candidate? McCain? Romney? There has not been a conservative candidate for high office in the republican party for a long time.

        • “Want to know who fucked us all over sideways? Look in the mirror.”

          It’s tough being a one man army trying to right the wrongs of the world. enuf is the only person to figure out that in order to fight for REAL conservative values, one must vote for Biden. 🤪

        • “apologize for the incredibly foolish, ignorant, anti-American act of supporting Trump in 2016 over actual conservative candidates.”

          Not that it matters, but I didn’t vote for Trump in the 2016 primaries. Going by the comments around here, I’m guessing that there’s plenty of other people that didn’t vote for him in the primaries. It was either Trump or Hillary in 2016. Now it’s either Trump or Biden. 2016 primary votes don’t matter.

    • A successful politician is almost always charismatic. Hillary lacked that, and it sounds like McSally might lack that as well. That can make a difference. It isn’t just about policy, it’s a popularity contest.

  15. I have been writing the RNSC for months, trying to get them to hammer Kelly on 2A. Crickets…..I finally saw a mention of gun control in an ad last week. Might be too little, too late….

    Voting straight (R) in AZ….

  16. You have got to have a head full of fake news and be insane to ever vote for a lying, lowlife, self serving democRat.

    TRUMP/PENCE 2020.

  17. McSally should be hammering Kelly on his gun control stance, instead all I hear on this subject is crickets!

  18. Kelly will complete the takeover of AZ politics. This is what happens when They move into your state.

  19. POS astronut received too make radiation floating up there. If he is pro gun, Pelosi is pro life.

  20. Most gun owners want to teach the electorate a lesson by staying home and not voting. Those of us who believe staying home makes a difference are as insane as the liberals who use our freedom only to take it from us. Wake up, there is no such thing as a moderate or conservative Democrat anymore. If they are a Democrat, they fund raise for Democrats and will vote left. Liberal Republicans are anarchists who infiltrated the party. Look at the background and there you have it. When a elected official doesn’t trust you, the first thing they do is take your rights away under the guise of safety and or your a racist bigot as another ploy to insure the idiot votes come marching in, more crime, poverty and good bye America. So stay home indeed.

  22. History has shown each time a country or group of people vote themselves into Socialism. Their Society is destroyed and they discover the only way out is through death or violent overthrow. Unfortunately the human species rarely learns from examples of the past. Believing that “This Time WE” can make it work. This leaves a paradox for those who understand the Evil’s of Socialism. Do they continue to resist as their society slowly devolves into it’s destruction or do they destroy all vestiges of it’s influence. Knowing this will require the violent destruction of much of their Society. This has been a question of the ages requiring answers that few wish to comprehend and yet must be addressed. For even “Those who choose not to decide, still have made a choice”.(Rush) A Citizenry that Fears the Consequences of Fighting for Their Freedoms…More than They Fear the Loss of Those Freedoms…Have Become Subjects and Allowed Tyranny to Prevail. Choose Wisely and Keep Your Powder Dry.

    • Yeah, but this time the world is overpopulated, we are not constrained by fear of extinction. Hunt them down and eliminate them, as they will be doing to us. Population may get down to 200-250 million, no problem.

  24. “Mark Kelly Knows He Has to Lie”
    He does NOT have to, it comes naturally for a Democrat Establishment Elite.

    Let’s get rid of these Socialist/Leftists.

    Make America Godly Again

  25. He is a Typical Democrap LIES just by existing. Hopefully the people of Arizona won’t buy his lies and will vote for a TRUE American in other words a Republican.

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