“GOP Ohio Sen Candidate Bernie Moreno Mocks Gun Owners,” The Monday PJ Media headline to editor Paula Bolyard’s timely exposé reads. “’Do You Really Need 100 Bullets?’”
Boylard found a 2019 podcast in which Moreno and Fortify Your Data host Michael Hudak raise points straight from the gun-grabber playbook to ridicule gun owners. And her report is timely because Ohioans will go to the polls on March 19th for the primaries. Gun owners need to pick the best candidate to face Democrat prohibitionist Sherrod Brown, and they need someone who won’t be another useless Vichycon like Rob Portman, “A”-rated by NRA turned “bipartisan” backstabber.
“What kind of gun do you need to have a hundred bullets in it?” Moreno asked. “And are you going to eat a deer that has a hundred bullets in it? Can’t there be some common sense that says that one [gun] is probably out, right, without infringing on someone’s rights? Can’t we have universal background checks?”
He doesn’t want to take away guns, but some are “out”? Which ones and why? That’s not “infringing”? Why does he sound like every anti-gunner in the world with the deer cracks? And no private sales? Does this guy even have a clue?
The podcast is a valuable find. I’d been looking for more on Moreno’s Second Amendment positions back when I was evaluating Ohio’s Senate candidates in 2021 for Firearms News, and here is all I found:
“I believe that our 2nd Amendment– and the entire constitution–must be protected,” Moreno declares. “Our Second Amendment is currently under threat. I will always fight hard to protect and defend our Second Amendment rights.”
“It would be nice if he spent more energy and emphasis on this and told gun owners ‘how,’” I wrote at the time.
Moreno’s podcast banter raises legitimate questions of just what it is he thinks he’s “defending,” assuming he actually means to, and just how deep his understanding of the Second Amendment goes.
What we can tell he understands is politics, as evidenced by some of the key endorsements he’s secured, foremost among them Donald Trump’s (who, screaming crowds of gun owners notwithstanding, needs to be constantly monitored and steered away from doing something we’ll regret. He’s also managed to bring in current Senator J.D. Vance (once a Never-Trumper until his as-yet-to-be-fully-explained “conversion”) and Ohio Attorney General David Yost (who answered all the questions on my political questionnaire back in 2009).
Curiously, Moreno was also a Never Trumper, who “deleted tweets critical of the former president”:
Bernie Moreno, a Republican businessman running for the US Senate in Ohio, once said there was “no scenario” in which he would support Donald Trump. He’s called Trump a “fake Republican” who stokes “hatred and fear” and suggested that the former president’s popularity is the result of “ignorance in our society.”
Prior to Bolyard’s revelations, Moreno had been given an “AQ” rating by two important gun rights groups, Ohio’s Buckeye Firearms Association (which endorsed Secretary of State Frank LaRose), and the National Rifle Association, which gives LaRose and “A” and Moreno an “AQ,” but no endorsement, meaning they won’t publicly disagree with Trump.
The third “Republican” primary contender has earned those quotation marks. From my Ohio Senate article:
State Senator Matt Dolan, a “moderate Republican,” may as well be a Democrat as far as gun owners are concerned. Described by CNN as a “non-Trump Republican … in the McCain lane, the Romney lane…” Dolan penned an op-ed in support of the state’s proposed STRONG Act, essentially a “red flag” edict that promises due process before gun confiscations without really delivering it, and requires “background checks” on private sales, and adds liability penalties to sellers.
It’s on the NRA to explain how they gave this character a “B.”
It’s critical that Ohio gun owners choose a candidate who can go up against Sherrod Brown and prevail, and doubts about Moreno could take the fire out of a lot of bellies, especially if more surprise revelations continue to pop up. Since time is short until we go to the polls, if Moreno wants to ease any doubts, he needs to address this disturbing podcast and prove he understands what it was he said that was wrong and why. And he needs to do one other thing: Since “AQ” means that, unlike with LaRose, his ratings were wholly based on answering questions, release the questionnaires in their entirety and be prepared to defend and expand on his answers.
If he refuses to do any of this, there are gun owners who will keep that in mind on March 19. The last thing we need is another enemy inside the gates.
The podcast is embedded below. The gun conversation starts at around 45:40.
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
Moreno, you’re embarrassing yourself and America. The Founders hadn’t just returned from deer season when they penned the Second Amendment. They weren’t planning on eating tyrannical politicians with 100 rounds in them….
After spending 12 years on the Texas border and seeing first hand what we’re facing in this country, focusing on the true numbers of around 40 to 50 million illegals that have entered our country in the last three years alone, we better have a hell of a lot more than 100 rounds per rifle The reports are slowly coming out County sheriff here FBI leak there if you’re paying attention, it’s not IF but WHEN shit WILL hit the fan in this country. My guts telling me sometime soon after the November election regardless of which way it goes.… Read more »
It is possible that Trump still harbors vestiges of his New York, rich guy sensitivities. He “thinks” he is pro2A because his children can go on safari. I understood his bumpstock BS, as a successful businessman confronting a problem that nobody has an answer to. We have all seen piss poor decisions made reflexively due to the “We have to do SOMETHING!” syndrome. By this time I would have hoped Trump had taken the time to understand the 2A issue, and the recommendations presented to him by his advisors. After his first time through the political bloodbath he should know… Read more »
Thank you, David. That needed to be said.