Tim Kaine Loses to the NRA (Again)

When Hillary Clinton selected Tim Kaine to be her running mate, Kaine was quick to claim he did not fear running on a pro-gun control ticket because the NRA has “never beaten” him.

But they have and they did it again on November 8.

Clinton and Kaine ran on a gun control platform that included universal background checks, making gun makers and sellers liable for gun crime, passing an “assault weapons” ban and a “high capacity” magazine ban, and loading the Supreme Court with anti-gun justices. They were strongly opposed by the NRA at every turn in the road and, in the end, the NRA won. And this was by no means the first time the NRA defeated Kaine.

Breitbart News previously reported that Kaine suffered three resounding loses to the NRA between April 2013 and June 2016:

He assumed the office of U.S. Senator for Virginia in January 2013 and immediately threw his support behind Senator Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) post-Sandy Hook gun control legislation. The NRA opposed the legislation and it was soundly defeated on April 17, 2013.

Moreover, just one day after the December 2, 2015 San Bernardino terror attack Senate Democrats tried to use the heightened sense of emotion to squeak through a gun control bill adding terror watch-lists to background checks–although the San Bernardino attackers were not on any list. MSNBC reported that every Democrat Senator except Heidi Heitkamp (D-SD) voted for the gun control. The NRA opposed it. The measure was defeated.

Following the June 12, 2016 Orlando terror attack Kaine co-sponsored an amendment which would have added watch-lists to background checks thereby expanding gun control. The amendment was authored by Senator Dianne Eeinstein (D-CA), and would have given the Attorney General of the United States the power to intervene without due process and block people suspected–but not convicted–of crimes from buying a gun. The NRA opposed this amendment and it was defeated on June 20.

But he ignored these loses when speaking to the Progressive National Baptist Convention on August 11, 2016. The Washington Post quoted him, saying, “The NRA, I know these guys, because they’re headquartered in Virginia, and when I run, they run against me, every time. And I’m 8-0 in races — they’ve never beaten me.” While he did acknowledge that he could lose “next time,” he said, “If they were that strong, I would have lost one before now.”

In the end, it appears that the NRA is “that strong.” And they beat Kaine (again).

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of “Bullets with AWR Hawkins,” a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.