Misfire: Inside the Democratic Efforts to Win Over Gun Owners

Reporters are used to catching flak from Senate candidates. Literal shrapnel is a different story.

Last week, local Missouri TV reporter Ryan Gamboa became the latest victim of a gun accident, after Missouri Senate candidate Lucas Kunce fired an AR-15 at a steel target and parts of the bullet ricocheted into Gamboa’s upper arm.

The reporter was not severely injured. He actually continued on assignment before eventually heading to the hospital. But the accident may do more harm than good — both physically for Gamboa and politically for Kunce — as Democrats try to court gun owners.

As part of their push to reach moderate voters, Democrats want to signal their support for the Second Amendment. For years, Republicans have been able to claim that the GOP is the only major pro-gun party, even as some Democrats argue that some gun reforms would actually make some communities feel more comfortable with some firearms.

But for a lot more than some Democratic candidates, particularly those in red states, it’s essential to embrace guns and push back against the most extreme gun restrictions. Kamala Harris’ recent disclosure that she owns a Glock was an important signifier that she isn’t trying to confiscate guns and, in fact, supports the right to bear arms for personal protection. And as Democrats court moderates and Donald Trump-resistant Republicans, their ability to show comfort with guns is a paramount part of their crossover appeal.

Kunce’s literal embrace of an AR-15 was meant to be, as it’s becoming known, the latest example of “vice signaling.” The fact that the AR-15 is a controversial gun is the point. He needed to show that he’s more accepting of guns like an AR-15 than other Democrats.

And yet, the fact that Kunce’s stunt ended with an injury just undermines the narrative that he’s desperate to prove: that he’s a gun guy.

“It’s clearly not a responsible use of firearms, and so it does sort of impact the message,” Ashley Lantz, executive director of Brady PAC, told NOTUS. “That was painful to see.”

“We want to see people acting responsibly,” she added. “And that was not a situation where responsible action was taken.”

In a statement from his campaign, Kunce said the accident happened at a bipartisan event that focused on the Second Amendment.

“Safety is important to us, which is why the range was set up and run by an NRA Training Counselor,” said Kunce, who did two tours in Afghanistan and one tour in Iraq as a Marine. “But any time you are handling weapons, you need to be prepared. We acted quickly with on-site first aid, and I’m glad the reporter was okay and able to keep reporting for the rest of the event.”

Pictures from the event show a makeshift range at a private residence, with steel targets appearing to be less than 10 yards away. Despite Kunce’s assurances, experts told NOTUS shooting steel targets at that distance would be dangerous.

“Whoever was running that range was a doofus,” Rick Vasquez, a firearms safety expert who previously worked with the ATF, said. “Holy crap.”

“I wouldn’t have been any closer than 50 with a rifle,” he added.

Dave Parke had a similar reaction. A combat veteran and firearms safety expert, Parke sent out a flurry of posts on X after the accident. When he first saw the pictures, he thought the targets were cans. When he realized they were steel plates, he was incredulous.

“I was like, ‘What? What are they doing?’” Parke told NOTUS.

The accident is just the most recent gun gaffe involving a Democrat to make headlines with conservative outlets, but it’s not the only one. Earlier in October, a video of Tim Walz struggling with his shotgun delighted Republicans eager to discredit his outdoorsman image.

While Republicans were quick to seize on the video, those on the ground with Walz for the pheasant hunt had a different perspective about his outdoorsman bona fides. And it’s clear Walz is no stranger to shotguns. He actually won shooting competitions in Congress when he was a member of the Sportsmen’s Caucus, and he served 24 years in the Army National Guard. It’s part of the reason why Harris selected him in the first place. He’s just as at home hunting as he was in the halls of Congress.

But regardless of what really happened between Walz and his shotgun — it appeared to be a problem ejecting the cartridges — the GOP reaction was that Walz isn’t the top shot he claims to be.

For Republicans, it’s just the latest evidence that Democrats are cravenly trying to win over gun owners while not actually having the firearm familiarity that they claim.

Harris’ admission that she owns a Glock — and warning that, “If somebody breaks into my house, they’re getting shot” — was greeted with mixed reactions.

In a look at whether women gun owners resonated with her comments, The Cut found that some voters felt Harris’ rhetorical shift was disingenuous.

One gun owner, Lara Smith, told The Cut that, without addressing gun owner concerns about her policies, Harris’ words “come across as, ‘Oh, we’ve figured out that we’re ticking off gun owners, so we’re trying to find a way to fix that, and we’re doing it with statements instead of policy.’”

“It’s trying to be part of the crowd without understanding their needs,” Smith, who described herself as “left of Harris,” added.

Harris’ own comments about her Glock have since been overshadowed by Kunce’s ricochet and Walz’s gun jam. But the miscues haven’t happened in a vacuum. Both parties have made intentional efforts to turn out gun owners for their side this election cycle.

Giffords PAC, the political arm of the gun violence prevention group founded by former Rep. Gabby Giffords (who was shot in the head in 2011 at a constituent meetup), announced a $1.8 million ad campaign last week featuring a gun owner advocating for Harris. The ads will target women and Latino voters in Michigan and Nevada and feature a gun owner, Steve Kling.

Kling is a member of Gun Owners for Harris-Walz, which Giffords also launched earlier in October. The group has over 400 members spread across 45 states — plus Washington, D.C. — and is dedicated to organizing and mobilizing gun owners to vote for Harris, according to a Giffords press release.

Brady PAC, the campaign arm of Brady United, is another gun violence prevention group trying to reach moderate voters in swing states. Lantz, of Brady PAC, told NOTUS she hopes their ads will appeal to gun owners who value “common sense” gun legislation. In 2022, a Gallup poll found that 92% of Americans wanted background checks for all gun sales, a policy Brady’s ads promote.

Although not explicitly partisan, industry groups like the National Shooting Sports Foundation and the U.S. Concealed Carry Association have organized outreach and used online sites to help gun owners register as voters. Both organizations emphasize it’s a nonpartisan service, saying they trust gun owners to decide for themselves who will protect gun rights.

And even if you could be forgiven for thinking the intention of those outreach efforts is to turn out votes for Republicans, left-leaning groups insist supporting the Second Amendment and supporting Democrats isn’t at odds.

“There’s really a place in the Democratic Party both for gun owners and for gun safety,” Lantz said. But Harris and the party’s attempt to moderate its firearms rhetoric while simultaneously calling for stricter gun regulations has fractured a previously consistent message.

Advocating for specific gun regulations has been a trademark of Joe Biden’s administration. It created the first White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which Harris led. Under their administration, the ATF issued new gun rules to reclassify stabilizing braces, regulate ghost guns and address sales loopholes — with potentially chaotic consequences. Its political white whale, voiced repeatedly and insistently by Biden and Harris, was an assault weapons ban.

Harris also carried Biden’s emphasis on gun safety through the early parts of her campaign, handing prime Democratic National Convention speaking slots to Giffords and Rep. Lucy McBath, whose son was shot and killed when he was 17. Both women are staunch gun safety advocates.

But since the convention, Harris has tried to sound less like McBath and more like Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola, who’s staunchly pro-gun.

The new messaging, and the active appeal to gun owners, makes the impact of gun gaffes more complex — particularly Kunce’s range accident.

Gun control advocates have long sought to ban the AR-15, a weapon used in many school shootings. But again, using a controversial gun signals his distance from other Democrats on the matter — and ironically calls attention to his efforts to court gun owners.

“I was glad that they’re out shooting AR-15s; good for them,” Ryan Cleckner, a conservative firearms expert, said.

But, he said, there was room for improvement. “I wish they were doing it more safely,” he said.

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Ben T.N. Mause, John T. Seward and Emily Kennard are NOTUS reporters and Allbritton Journalism Institute fellows.