GOP Rep. Rehberg: With Obama As President, We Need More Trigger Locks

Rep. Dennis Rehberg (R-MT)
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Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT) offered some advice to a local company in his state that makes parts for guns: With President Obama in office, you’ll need to develop more trigger locks.

As the Ravalli Republic reports:

But as a politician who bills himself as a straight shooter, Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg also had a bit of off-color advice for Bonnie and Randy Jones, proprietors of Bitterroot Tool and Machine, makers of airplane bolts, grain mills and bullet-loaders.

“If Obama is president, maybe you need to spend more time developing a gun lock, a trigger lock,” Rehberg said with a chuckle, sitting across a lunchroom table from the Joneses in a suede jacket emblazoned with the U.S. government seal.

The comment came in response to Randy Jones asking about gun rights.

When asked for comment, Rehberg’s office gave me this statement from the Congressman, saying that his joke was a reference to Obama wanting to impose onerous gun control regulations — that is, the Congressman appears to be brushing off any accusation that this was a reference to violence against Obama:

“To those of us who believe the 2nd Amendment guarantees an individual’s right to own a gun, the Obama Administration represents a real threat. Dating back to his days in the Illinois legislature, President Obama has a long history of supporting gun control, including trigger locks. In fact, he voted for trigger locks when he was in the U.S. Senate and his most recent Supreme Court Nominee, Elena Kagan, made a name for herself in the Clinton years as a champion of federal requirements for trigger locks. Which is exactly why I, in all seriousness, advised a gun parts manufacturer in Montana that trigger locks may be a growth industry for their business if the President and his allies get their way. This administration is a threat to gun rights and when it comes to defending the 2nd Amendment I’m going to continue to fight them at every turn.”

I asked Rehberg spokesman Jed Link if the office would categorically say this was not a reference to violence against the president. “Absolutely,” said Link.

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