Soon, McDaniel was forced to clarify that he didn’t — technically speaking — support his own bills, at least not as written.
He wants the tax credits for firearms purchases, but that part about requiring everyone to own a gun? It was a tactic to try to bait the left.
“I wanted the media and the other side to jump on it, to show that our Second Amendment rights are under attack,” McDaniel said. “I don’t actually support mandates, hardly ever.”
But he didn’t expect the national media to get involved, a development that has cast a harsh light on his efforts, he said, because of the timing of the mosque attacks in New Zealand. He called the massacre, which left 50 people dead, “horrific” and said he “should have known” that the media would seize on his legislation in the wake of a tragedy. It’s true, he acknowledged, that his intention had been to elicit breathless coverage in the press, but only from “local news organizations,” he said.