Betsy Johnson served as a Democrat in Oregon’s State Senate for an excruciatingly long time, where she proved many times that she takes the Second Amendment more seriously than public safety or party loyalty. Now she has retired her senate seat in order to run for Oregon governor — as an unaffiliated candidate.
According to today’s Oregonian/OregonLive, a few weeks following the Sandy Hook School massacre (Dec 2012), Johnson spoke to a small town high school journalism class. In her response to a student’s question about gun control she said, “I can legally possess a machine gun and actually have one. So I take the Second Amendment pretty seriously.”
According to the original report, “Johnson’s answer ‘left several students with their mouths wide open.’”
Yesterday, a campaign spokesperson told the Oregonian that “Betsy and her husband have collected unique and vintage guns for many years” and the submachine gun “was last fired over 25 years ago and is stored securely in a safe.”
See, fully-automatic, but no worries. It is very, very important that gun collectors are able to hoard guns.
Machine Gun Betsy voted against expanded background checks (2015) and a red flag law (2017) along with most Republican state senators.
Here’s hoping that Machine Gun Betsy finally does something for Democrats by splitting the Republican vote in the race and helping us get a progressive governor.
Tina Kotek is the only Democrat who will be on the ticket in November.
www.tinafororegon.com--Tina Kotek is Oregon’s proven progressive fighter. The first openly lesbian Speaker of any State House in the country, Tina raised the minimum wage, passed paid family leave, and voted to put Oregon on a path to 100% clean electricity. Now she’s running for Governor to continue building a future of opportunity and justice for every Oregonian.