Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) stood firm on his stance of preserving the Second Amendment and refusing to take "anyone's guns away," as he believes such measures would not prevent mass shootings.
RFK Jr. made this statement Saturday, June 24, during a town hall meeting in New Hampshire.
"Anyone who tells you that we can end the violence to our children that's going on now by removing people's guns, in the margin that has been left to us by this very expansive Supreme Court decision, is not being truthful with you," said RFK Jr..
He referred to last year's Supreme Court decision in the case of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, noting that it is impossible to "do anything" to secure gun control, even if the public was interested in fewer gun rights. The presidential bet also pointed out that gun ownership is a huge cultural aspect for many American communities, saying taking the guns away just polarizes people even further.
"Something has changed in this country. It's not the guns. We've always had guns," said RFK Jr., who pointed out that Switzerland, which has a similarly high number of guns owned by civilians, has not had a school shooting in 21 years.
In a different interview, this time with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and venture capitalist David Sacks, RFK Jr. said that he considers himself a "constitutional maximalist" especially when it comes to the Second Amendment, believing that any issues with regard to the right to keep and bear arms has already been settled by the Supreme Court.
"We can argue about whether the Second Amendment was intended to protect guns. The Supreme Court has now settled that argument," he said, adding that he understands personally "the heartbreak of gun violence."
"We have to stop school shootings. If it comes down to protecting schools like we protect airlines, we'll do that," he said.
There could be a link between psychiatric drug use and likelihood to commit mass shootings RFK Jr. believes that more attention needs to be placed on the spread of psychiatric drugs in American society, and that policymakers should divert their attention away from firearms to researching how psychiatric drugs are affecting children, suggesting that they may have played a role in many high-profile shootings.
Should RFK Jr. assume the presidency, he promised to immediately conduct a thorough investigation into any role that psychiatric drugs have potentially played in high-profile mass shootings. "We have to look at the role of psychiatric drugs," said RFK Jr.. "Prior to the introduction of Prozac, we had almost no events like this."
This position has been well-received by conservative commentators.
"This, and not fixating on regulating guns, should be the policy question being asked by our leaders," wrote Jose Nino for Big League Politics. "However, the U.S. ruling class is filled with petty despots who care more about micromanaging people's lives as opposed to preserving freedoms and asking uncomfortable questions about our societal ills."
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Watch Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s statement on gun rights during the New Hampshire town hall.
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