Tim Walz Embraces ‘F Rating’ From NRA, Pushes Elimination of AR-15 Rifles

Democrat VP candidate Tim Walz embraced his “F Rating” from the NRA while on ABC’s The View, and pushed for elimination of AR-15s and similar rifles.

Walz appeared on the The View on Monday, and Joy Behar brought up his slide from an “A Rating” with the NRA to the “F Rating” he has now.

She congratulated him for his “F Rating” and Walz responded by saying, “…Thank you. I sleep just fine.”

Behar went on to talk about Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s claim that she owns a Glock and that she said — in Behar’s words — “she’s not afraid to use it on intruders.”

She then talked about the viral video of Walz hunting pheasants earlier this month. That is the video in which Walz, a self-proclaimed hunter, could be seen struggling to load his shotgun.

Walz said that when he was in school he kept a shotgun in his car outside the school so he could hunt with it after football practice. He jumped from this to say that he and Harris both want to protect the Second Amendment, “but our first responsibility is to our kids and their safety so they’re not shot dead in schools.”

He then pushed for the elimination of AR-15s and similar rifles, saying, “There is no reason we need ‘assault weapons’ on our streets or in our schools.”

Walz did not mention Harris’s opposition to teachers being armed for classroom defense. On July 25, 2024, Harris used the word “extremists” as a label for those who support allowing teachers to undergo training and be armed to defend classroom children who are otherwise defenseless.

And AR-15 rifles were one of the first targets Harris and Walz set their sights on during their first campaign appearance this year.

On August 6, 2024, Breitbart News reported that Harris and Walz took the stage together in Philadelphia and pushed a ban on AR-15s and other firearms that Democrats refer to as “assault weapons.”

The AR-15 is the most popular rifle/rifle platform in America. On July 21, 2022, Breitbart News pointed to National Shooting Sports Foundation figures showing there were more AR and AK-style rifles in circulation “than Ford F-Series trucks on the road.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, a Pulsar Night Vision pro-staffer, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly: awrhawkins@breitbart.com.