Integrity matters. That’s not unique to any vocation but it’s a defining characteristic of public service. That includes those in uniform and those elected to political office.
Integrity matters. That’s why it was so disappointing to watch Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, attempt to drape his gun control ideas in military camouflage to justify them. He claims that because he served in the military – and more specifically “in war,” – he is qualified to decide what policies don’t violate Constitutional rights. Out of the gate, his integrity was called into question. And rightfully so.
Gov. Walz embraces gun control notions that aren’t just counter to the mainstream. They’re downright unconstitutional. He supports a ban on owning the most-popular selling semiautomatic rifle sold in America – the Modern Sporting Rifle (MSR) or AR-15-style rifle. There are over 28 million of these rifles in circulation. They are commonly owned – more common than there are of the most-popular selling pick-up truck in America on the road today, the Ford F-150.
Banning them would be a clear violation of the Second Amendment. That’s what the U.S. Supreme Court tells us in the Heller decision.
However, Gov. Walz supports this ban, among other questionable gun control positions. But here’s where it gets, well… weird. Gov. Walz claims that the MSR that’s in my gun safe is the same rifle he carried in war. Now, we’ve got a problem. This went from a policy disagreement to a question of integrity because, it turns out that Gov. Walz served during a time of war – but not actually in a war.
“I spent 25 years in the Army and I hunt. I’ve been voting for common sense legislation that protects the Second Amendment, but we can do background checks,” Gov. Walz said in a 2018 video clip that’s since come to the surface. “We can research the impacts of gun violence. We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, are only carried in war.”
Except, Gov. Walz never went to war.
Integrity Matters
I want to be clear. I respect and honor Gov. Walz’s service to his nation and his state while serving in the Minnesota National Guard. I respect and honor the service of anyone who swears an oath, dons the uniform and carries out the orders to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Only one percent of America does this today. That’s admirable.
That calling carries with it a tremendous amount of responsibility. Chief among those burdens is integrity. Sound moral character, even when no one is looking, was drilled into my brain since the first day I stood on the yellow footprints at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, S.C. It was the trait my Marines demanded of me, and I demanded of them. Integrity matters. That’s the gift each Marine gave to themselves that no one could ever take away. It could only be given away and once lost, it is nearly impossible to regain.
That’s the trust that matters when military members place their lives in one another’s hands defending the nation. That’s what I did when I served on multiple deployments, including tours to Iraq and Afghanistan. Gov. Walz said he did the same – served in war. Except he didn’t.
Integrity matters. Gov. Walz’s service, in and of itself, is honorable, but claiming or even just allowing others to believe that your service was more than it was fails the integrity test. There are other questions, including his promotion to command sergeant major, which was administratively reduced when he didn’t complete the requisite training. Yet he has repeatedly stated he was a command sergeant major when he knew that wasn’t true. Vice President Harris’ campaign website corrected the reference to Gov. Walz retiring as a command sergeant major and now refers to his final rank as master sergeant.
This is the nail in the coffin. @tim_walz you have no shame. Lying about being in Afghanistan is one thing, but lying about watching a KIA funeral procession on the flight line? @MAGAIncWarRoom @DonaldJTrumpJr @JDVance @CoryMillsFL @RepBrianMast @EliCrane_CEO pic.twitter.com/uN2sueeMGf
— JR Majewski (@JRMajewski) August 12, 2024
For a matter of transparency, I’m open about my career in the Marine Corps, but try to not be boastful. I served in public affairs, the same specialty as U.S. Sen. JD Vance. I served three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. No, I never served with or knew Sen. Vance (R-Ohio). No, my duty was not combat arms. Yes, I did face enemy fire, improvised explosive devices and mortars – multiple times. No, my duties didn’t place me near the same daily danger faced by the beloved “grunts” with whom I served. Yes, I did walk the streets of Baghdad, Fallujah, Ramadi and Habbaniyah. I did what my nation, my Corps, my commanders and most of all, the Marines with whom I served, expected of me.
Integrity matters.
Of Rifles and War
Gov. Walz said that the rifle he carried in war should be banned for Americans to possess. He never served in war. He likely carried rifles in his service that were similar to the ones I carried – the M-16A2 or A4, or the M-4. Those rifles are not the same rifles that are in my gun safe. The rifles I carried in war (and I did carry them and use them in war) were capable of automatic fire. By use of a selector switch, that rifle could fire three-round bursts – automatic fire. The MSRs in my gun safe can only fire semiautomatically – that is one cartridge expended for each press of the trigger.
“We can make sure those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at.” – Tim Walz during a speech to ban AR-15s.
One problem.
He never deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan or any combat zone.
What battlefield was Walz carrying a rifle on? pic.twitter.com/ypPpwBta4C
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) August 7, 2024
That’s the same way Gov. Walz’s pheasant hunting shotgun works. And most handguns. But having served in the military – a profession of arms – he should know that. That’s why it is frustrating that he and other politicians cling to this falsehood that the two firearms are the same when it is clear they’re not. In fact, the term “assault weapon” was coined by Josh Sugarmann in 1988, when he wrote, “The semi-automatic weapons’ menacing looks, coupled with the public’s confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons — anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun — can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons.”
Sugarmann then cloaked the MSR in camouflage to scare people into believing it was something particularly dangerous. That’s no different than what Gov. Walz is trying to do today. He’s cloaking his gun control positions with a military authority of “been there, done that.” Except he hasn’t. And didn’t. And the rifle I carried in war isn’t the same as the one in my safe. Or in the safes of millions of other Americans.
Integrity matters. Especially when you serve a career in camouflage. And politics.
Mark Oliva is Managing Director of Public Affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. He is a retired Marine Master Gunnery Sergeant with 25 years of service, including tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti, Albania, and Zaire.
“I’ve been voting for common sense legislation that protects the Second Amendment,”
A more factual statement: I’ve been voting for nonsense legislation that does Not protect the Second Amendment.
“Gov. Walz claims that the MSR that’s in my gun safe is the same rifle he carried in war.”
I can guarantee you that’s a 100% lie. The U.S. military has never fielded or issued the civilian commercial market MSR for use in any war by U.S. troops, nor has any government military force on earth ever fielded or issued the civilian commercial market MSR for use by its troops in any war. There’s a reason for that, many actually, but one is the civilian commercial market MSR IS NOT a ‘weapon of war’ or an ‘assault rifle’ nor can it meet the requirements for use by troops in combat and in fact the U.S. military has tested these rifles and declared they are not and do not meet the requirements to be used in combat as ‘weapons of war’ or ‘assault rifles’ by U.S. troops.
I don’t care what Waltz thinks. What does the Constitution say? And remember the words of Thomas Jefferson:
On every question of construction (of the Constitution) let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit of the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.
I am sure this proves Waltz wrong.
In 2020, Tampon Tim Walz ordered Police and National Guard to terrorize and fire on innocent peaceful citizens to enforce a curfew.
… supposedly with paintball guns, but there were muzzle flashes observed and paintball guns don’t have muzzle flashes. Now, I don’t know about what you think but the reality is there is no legal or constitutional justification in any state in the United States that allows a governor to deploy armed Police and National Guard (state government troops) to enforce a curfew and use that force against innocent peaceful citizens on their own property on their own porches and issue orders through basically the barrel of a gun concept to these innocent peaceful citizens, especially while that governor facilitates the, basically, violent terrorism actions of ‘protestors’ which were the reason the curfew was imposed. And these Police and troops were willing to obey an unlawful order and pull the trigger on their own innocent peaceful citizens, not protestors, because Walz ordered it.
Now, what would Harris and Walz do if they wanted to confiscate guns? Yep, Walz has shown he is willing to use the ‘Chairman Mao porotocol’ to impose his tyranny – what was that thing Mao said….oh yeah… “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun” and he confiscated firearms and literally slaughtered millions of innocent peaceful defenseless citizens. This man, and Harris, are Mar – x – ist Soci- a – list commun – ist just like Mao was.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfUwgBEjXxc
These people consider Mao a far right extremist
Where’d you get that picture with 30 AWFLs and cucks standing around looking virtuous, behind their faux heroic blowhard leader?