Republican Mark Greenberg, who is endorsed by the National Rifle Association, is seeking to unseat Democrat Elizabeth Esty.
Views by candidates vying for the Fifth Congressional District seat differed on a range of issues at Thursday night’s debate, including social security, government spending, and foreign policy. But it was on gun control where – surprisingly – they agreed.
Republican Mark Greenberg, who is endorsed by the National Rifle Association, is seeking to unseat Democrat Elizabeth Esty. Greenberg said, “I believe in universal background checks. I believe that we have to make sure that those folks who have mental issues should not possess a gun.”
Esty was clearly taken aback. “This must come as a surprise,” she said. “The statement that Mark Greenberg just made to the NRA, which has given him an A rating: I’ll tell you no member of Congress who supports universal background checks gets an A rating.”
Greenberg went on to say he’d never opposed background checks. “As a matter of fact,” he said, “I was as shocked as everybody was to get the A rating from the NRA since I didn’t seek it. I didn’t even fill out their questionnaire.”
Greenberg added that he might be downgraded to an F after the debate. (Update: he was.)
Connecticut’s Fifth Congressional District includes Newtown, where 20 children and six adults were killed in a massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary school in 2012.
WSHU Public Radio contributed to this report.
