Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) invited Vice President Joe Biden to a debate on Friday.
The conservative firebrand spoke at the annual meeting of the National Rifle Association in Houston, Texas, touting his efforts to prevent new legislation expanding background checks on purchases of new firearms. Cruz said that instead of curtailing Second Amendment rights, President Barack Obama’s administration should instead focus on policy prescriptions on criminals who possess weapons.
To kick off the conversation, Cruz invited Biden to engage in an hour-long debate on how “we stop crime.”
The Texas Republican said that he disagreed with the vice president’s prescription on what would make for adequate protection. Seeking to lobby the public and Congress on new legislation limiting assault weapons in the wake of the shooting in Newtown, Biden advised in February that shotguns provide better protection.
“If you want to protect yourself get a double barrel shotgun, you don’t need an AR-15,” Biden said, referring to a type of semi-assault weapon. “You don’t need an AR-15, it’s harder to aim, it’s harder to use…buy a shotgun. Buy a shotgun.”
Cruz, however, told cheering attendees that a shotgun is “very useful if it so happens you’re being attacked by a flock of geese.”
