VP Candidates Address Fire Fighters Union Convention
Guess which one brought up gun violence?
Image via IAFF
By: Caitlin Clarkson Pereira
Last month, both major party Vice Presidential candidates were invited to speak at the International Association of Fire Fighters 57th Convention in Boston, Massachusetts.
Current Governor of Minnesota and Democratic VP pick, Tim Walz, spoke first on Wednesday, August 28. While the majority of Walz’ talking points were related to collective bargaining and retirement benefits, he didn’t shy away from a topic that has been critical to the Harris/Walz campaign: guns.
“And we believe that kids should be able to go to school without being shot dead in the hall,” said Walz. “And I want to say something about this — I know guns. I’m a 24-year veteran. I’m a hunter. I was one of the best shots in Congress, and I’ve got the trophies to prove it. I could out shoot them every year. But I am not going to stand by and let someone say this is about the Second Amendment, when our first responsibility is the protection of our kids. It is not a false choice. We can have and protect the Second Amendment, and keep guns out of our schools that are killing out kids.”
It is no secret that, as a whole, firefighters tend to be conservative-leaning. Since this is the case, no one would’ve blamed Walz for skipping over the whole “keep our kids safe” talking point, especially in an effort to play to the crowd.
But Walz didn’t do that. He dug right in with confidence and conviction. And surprisingly, he was met with resounding applause.
Then U.S. Senator/Republican VP candidate, JD Vance, gave his remarks at the Convention on Thursday morning — and he didn’t mention guns at all.
Given the fact he was addressing a traditionally right-friendly crowd, it was also interesting that before he said a word boos were heard as he arrived at the podium. The IAFF convention was attended by union leadership, so that initial reaction may have been due to his ticket’s lack of support for unions. Vance was booed again later when he claimed he and Donald Trump “would be the most pro-worker Republican ticket in history.”
Gun violence is the leading killer of kids in our country. We can’t change this without making our communities safer. And we can’t make them safer without first talking about gun violence honestly and openly.
Caitlin Clarkson Pereira is Executive Director at GVPedia and an IAFF professional firefighter in Connecticut.