A lot of focus has been on the presidential election with just five weeks left in the campaign. But there’s also a U.S. Senate race going on, among races.
In Connecticut, Republican State Representative Dan Carter is attempting to unseat U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal.
Carter appeared on WNPR’s Where We Live to talk about where he stands on issues like the economy, jobs, and gun control, which he said is more of a political debate than an effort to solve the issue.
"I’ve taken on the NRA pretty hard and even the, I’d say, anti-gun folks pretty hard as well," Carter said. "Because we’ve come to this point where it’s so politically divided that it seems to be no room to compromise for anybody anymore. And that’s just really sad. And I took a lot of heat because I’ve taken on both sides."
Carter, 49, is a former Air Force officer who’s served in the Connecticut House of Representatives since 2010, representing parts of Bethel, Danbury, Newtown, and Redding.
Carter was the only representative for Newtown to vote against the new gun laws passed in Connecticut in 2013, months after the deadly shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
"My bills would have actually prevented something like Sandy Hook from happening," said Carter. "Now, with respect to the Newtown bill, I do not believe for a minute that taking the AR-15 and making it an assault weapon, because it looks like it does when there are far more dangerous guns. That was a political decision. It was a political goal and meanwhile we have ignored what’s happening on the streets of Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven."
Carter introduced legislation containing numerous gun control proposals, including universal background checks and restrictions on parole and early release for gun crimes.
Blumenthal and Carter are scheduled to debate Sunday, October 23.
